ANSWERS TO APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS.
OLD TESTAMENT
1. (GEN. 4:17) WHERE DID CAIN GET HIS WIFE?
(1) There were no women to marry. There was only Adam, Eve (4:1), and his dead brother Abel (4:8). Yet the Bible says, Cain married and had children.
Cain married his sister (or possibly a niece). The Bible says Adam "had other sons and daughters" (Gen. 5:4).
2. (LEV. 18:6) HOW COULD CAIN MARRY A RELATIVE WITHOUT COMMITTING INCEST, WHICH THE BIBLE CONDEMNS?
There was no command in Cain’s day not to marry a close relative. This command (Lev. 18:6) came thousands of years later in Moses’ day (1500 BC).
3. (DT. 24:16) HOW CAN THIS PASSAGE STATE THAT CHILDREN WILL NOT BE KILLED FOR THE SINS OF THEIR PARENTS WHEN THERE ARE EXAMPLES OF THIS IN OTHER PASSAGES?
(1) (David’s son 2 Sam. 12:14-15; Jehu killed Ahab’s family 2 Kings 9:6-8, 10:17).
This verse in Deuteronomy limited the human courts of Israel to issue capital punishment on the children because of the parent's sins. However, it doesn’t restrict the right or authority of God to do it. It just limited the government from doing it.
4. (DT. 17:17) DID GOD APPROVE OF POLGAMY?
(1) The Bible teaches "You shall not multiply wives" (Dt. 17:17). However, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). David had many wives (1 Chron. 14:3).
Monogamy is God’s standard for man.
a. GOD SET THE PATTERN FOR MONOGAMOUS RELATIONSHIPS (ADAM & EVE GEN. 1:27; 2:21-25; MT. 19:4).
b. THE WARNING AGAINST POLYGAMY IS REPEATED IN (DT. 17:17; 1 KINGS 11:2).
c. THE NT STRESSES MONOGAMOUS RELATIONSHIPS (1 COR. 7:2; 1 TIM. 3:2, 12).
d. POLYGAMY WAS NEVER ESTABLISHED BY GOD FOR ANY PEOPLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. HE ONLY PERMITTED IT BECAUSE OF THE HARDNESS OF THEIR HEARTS (DT. 24:1; MT. 19:8). MANY POLYGAMIST IN THE BIBLE PAID DEARLY FOR THEIR SINS.
5. (EX. 32:28; 1 COR. 10:8) DOES PAUL MAKE A MISTAKE IN QUOTING HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED?
(1) Paul says in this verse that 23,000 people died. In (Ex. 32:28), the number of people listed as having died is 3,000. This would seem to be an error.
First, the people killed in (Ex. 32:28) were killed by the sword, and those Paul mentions are those killed by the sword and a plague. (Ex. 32:35) says "And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made." Paul gives a complete total from the plague as well as the sword. But (Ex. 32:28) gives only the number of those killed by the sword.
NEW TESTAMENT
1. (MT. 27:5; ACTS 1:18) DID JUDAS DIE BY HANGING OR BY FALLING?
(1) Matthew declared that Judas hanged himself. However, Luke tells us that he fell and his body burst open.
These accounts are mutually complementary. Judas hung himself and afterwards he fell and his body opened up after falling headlong.
2. THE WORDING ABOVE CHRIST'S HEAD ON THE CROSS IS RENDERED DIFFERENTLY IN EACH GOSPEL ACCOUNT. IS THIS A CONTRADICTION?
"This is Jesus the king of the Jews" (Mt. 27:37).
"The king of the Jews" (Mk. 15:26).
"This is the king of the Jews" (Lk. 23:38).
"Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews" (Jn19:19).
All of these accounts have the same phrase, "The king of the Jews." (Jn. 19:20) tells us that there were at least 3 different languages in which the sign above Christ’s head was written. Some of the differences may come from it being rendered in different languages.
3. (MT. 28:5) THIS VERSE REFERS TO THE "ANGEL" AT THE TOMB AFTER JESUS' RESURRECTION, AND YET JOHN SAYS THERE WERE "TWO ANGELS" THERE (JN. 20:12)?
Matthew does not say there was only one angel. Matthew probably focuses on the one who spoke and John referred to how many angels they saw.
4. (MT. 12:40; JN. 19:14) JESUS ROSE ON SUNDAY (MT. 28:1), BUT HE STATED THAT HE WOULD BE "THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH." IF CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED ON FRIDAY, HOW COULD HE HAVE BEEN THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE EARTH AND RISE ON SUNDAY ONLY TWO DAYS LATER?
Most scholars take the phrase "three days and three nights" to be a Hebrew figure of speech referring to any part of three days and nights. So it could mean "within three days and nights."
5. (MK. 15:25; JN. 19:14) WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED IN THE THIRD HOUR OR THE SIXTH HOUR?
(1) Mark's Gospel account says that it was the third hour (9 a.m. Jewish time) when Christ was crucified (Mk. 15:25). John's Gospel says that it was about the sixth hour (12 noon Jewish time) when Jesus was still on trial (Jn. 19:14). This would make His crucifixion much later than specified by Mark. Which Gospel is correct?
Both Gospel writers are correct. The difficulty is answered when we realize that each Gospel writer used a different time system. John followed the Roman time system while Mark followed the Jewish time system.
According to Roman time, the day ran from midnight to midnight. The Jewish 24 hour period began in the evening at 6 p.m. and the morning of that day began at 6 a.m. Therefore, when Mark asserts that at the third hour Christ was crucified, this was about 9 a.m. John stated that Christ's trial was about the sixth hour (6 a.m. Roman time). This would place the trial before the crucifixion and this would not contradict any testimony of the Gospel writers.