Contradictions among Gospels Part 1 :The Gospels

The Gospels

The four Gospels are the heart of the New Testament. The first three Gospels are called

synoptic because they generally correspond to each other. Yet, the origin of these

Gospels is the greatest mystery of Christianity. There are so many mysteries relating to

the Gospels. Who did actually write them? When and where were they written? These

Gospels are full of contradictions. Apologists through complex and elusive interpretation

might handle some contradictions. Others are shy of explanation or outright

unacceptable.

The careful reader that is interested in reading the titles of each chapter in the Bible

may ask why the titles of all four Gospels have the word “according to”, like the Gospel

according to Saint Matthew. Why “according to”? Why did the authors not identify

themselves first? In the Gospel according to Matthew 9:9:

“And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew”

Why did Matthew not say, “he saw me” instead of “he saw a man, named Matthew”?

In John 21:24 “This is the disciple which testify of these things, and wrote these

things: and we know that his testimony is true.”

194

Who are “we”? And why did John talk about himself as third person “his”? And why in

the following verse, he referred to himself as “I”? Was verse 21:24 written by someone

else and verse 21:25 written by John?

Gospel According to Matthew

Matthew was one of the apostles of Jesus, although not a distinguished one. According

to tradition, he was the author of the first Gospel and therefore one of the four

evangelists. However, little is known about Matthew. The first three Gospels state that

he was a tax collector who would have been a man of some education, skilled in

arithmetic and able to speak both Aramaic and Greek. Some scholars suggest that he

left to Ethiopia for preaching Christianity where he died there at 63 or 70 AD.

There are evidences to indicate that this Gospel was written for the Jews,

because the Gospel includes many references to Jewish scripture. The Gospel was

written in Hebrew, then an unknown person translated it to Greek, and the original

Hebrew manuscript has perished. This raises a serious question about the knowledge

and intention of the translator. Was he knowledgeable enough in the two languages?

What was his background? Was he a Jew or a Gentile? Did he try to push certain

concepts in the Gospel? Early Christian writers suggested that Matthew wrote his

Gospel in Palestine; others favored the city of Antioch in Syria. The date of writing, as

frequently suggested, was around the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, perhaps from

65 to 80 AD. The date of writing the original manuscripts is unknown. Why did Matthew

wait 40 years after Jesus to write his Gospel? Was it really written by Matthew or

someone from the second generation, perhaps one of his students? The author of

Matthew used Mark and “Q” as his two major sources.

Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is the promised Messiah of the Jews. Jesus

states that he did not come to destroy the Law of Moses, but to fulfill (5:17). Also, Jesus

commands his disciples to preach “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:6). The

influence of this Gospel on Christianity has been authoritarian ever since its writing. This

is because the Gospel was used in the formulation of doctrine and the divine nature of

Jesus, an importance shared only by the Gospel of John.

Matthew includes some exclusive stories: the visit of the wise men from the East

(2:1); the travel of Jesus’ family to Egypt to escape the slaughter of male children by

195

Herod the Great; and their return from Egypt after Herod's death. The death of Jesus'

betrayer, Judas Iscariot (27:3-10), the dream of Pontius Pilate's wife (27:19), Pilate's

washing his hands of liability for Jesus' death (27:24-25), the earthquake following

Jesus' death (27:51-53), the guard at the tomb (27:62-66), the earthquake at the time of

Jesus' resurrection (28:2-4), and the appearances of the risen Christ to Mary Magdalene

and the other Mary (28:9-10) and to his disciples in Galilee (28:16-20). Matthew (1:18-

2:23) shows similarities between Moses and Jesus to appeal to the Jews. Both were

hidden from an evil king that massacred children, and both lived in Egypt in their

childhood.

Many scholars regard Matthew as a writer with wild imagination. He includes stories

in his Gospel that are unbelievable. An example, of his outrageous imagination, is the

description of the events relating to the crucifixion of Jesus. The whole country became

dark for three hours, the temple was torn into two pieces, the tears started at the top and

tore all the way to the bottom, an earthquake happened, and many dead people were

resurrected and went to Jerusalem, and were seen by many (27:51-53). This is a big

story. It should have been reported in the other Gospels. Did these stories convert a

large number of people to Christianity? These stories have no correspondence in the

other three Gospels.

The most debatable story in the Gospel of Matthew concerns Jonas’ sign

(12:38:40). When the Pharisees ask Jesus for a proof, Jesus replies that the son of man

will give the miracle that happened to Jonas. Luke has the same story, but Mark is in

contradiction with Matthew and Luke with regards to the sign of Jonas.

Matthew reports the saying of Jesus on the Cross: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani?” This

means My God, my God, why did you abandon me? (Matthew 27:46), which is identical

to Mark 15:34.

The conclusion is that the author of this Gospel is unknown, the place of writing this

Gospel is unknown, the time of writing this Gospel is unknown, and the Gospel

contains stories that contradict other Gospels. Yet the Church wants us to believe

that the Almighty inspired the whole Bible, word for word.