Discrepancies in the Gospels

In a previous blog entry, I noted that the gospel accounts of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist differ slightly. Does this prove that the gospels are unreliable, and that the stories they tell about Jesus’ miracles and his resurrection are not to be trusted? On the contrary, such minor discrepancies establish the gospels’ reliability.

If we view the gospel accounts—and particularly, the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke—not as dictation from God,[1] but as the testimony of people who witnessed the extraordinary events they relate or who had personal contact with the eyewitnesses, then we would expect slight discrepancies, for even truthful people perceive and remember events differently—as any lawyer, judge, or detective can attest.

Scholars believe Matthew’s Gospel was probably written by the tax collector himself, although it is possible it was written by one of his disciples. The early church fathers tell us that Mark was the interpreter for the apostle Peter and based his Gospel on the stories and preaching that he heard from Peter. Luke came to the party late, long after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. However, Luke tells us in the beginning of his Gospel that he had “investigated everything carefully from the beginning,”[2] so he must have spoken with many of the eyewitnesses to Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.

Mark’s Gospel was the first to be written, followed by Matthew and Luke, both of whom probably had access to Mark’s Gospel when they wrote theirs. The last gospel to be written was that of John.

It would hardly be surprising if Matthew read Mark’s Gospel and said to himself, “That’s not exactly how I remember it.” Mark’s Gospel, after all, was based on hearsay and memory—Mark’s recollection of what he had heard from Peter. Matthew would have written his own Gospel based on what he remembered, drawing upon Mark’s Gospel to help refresh his recollection. Similarly, Luke would have written his Gospel based on what he learned from the eyewitnesses he interviewed, whether or not that agreed in every detail with Mark’s Gospel.

If three witnesses in court agreed in every detail of their testimony, we as jurors would likely conclude that their testimony had been carefully choreographed and rehearsed ahead of time—and therefore was untrustworthy. A truthful witness does not change their testimony in an effort to agree with that of other witnesses because the truth is the truth—it does not change merely because another witness saw or remembered things differently. In fact, we expect minor discrepancies in court testimony for the very reason that no two people perceive or remember events exactly the same way.

Likewise, if Matthew and Luke had merely parroted what Mark said, we would have every reason to question their reliability and trustworthiness as independent witnesses—but such is not the case.

Why would we think the gospel writers would be different from all other people who have ever lived? Minor discrepancies in the gospels demonstrate that the writers were trying to truthfully relate what they saw and heard, not merely copying what another writer said. And there is remarkable agreement in the substance of their testimony, including Jesus’ claims about himself, his miracles, and his crucifixion and resurrection. That is exactly what we would expect from truthful witnesses.

This does not end our inquiry, for many other reasons exist for believing that the New Testament writers were truthful witnesses, as I discuss in Chapter 2 of my book, Beyond Blind Faith, entitled “Is Jesus’ Resurrection Fact or Fairy Tale?: The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.” You can read an excerpt from that chapter here. You can find excerpts from other chapters of that book here, and a list of all of my books here. And I will be coming out with another book in the near future—but more on that another time.

[1]. I know of no scripture that says the Bible was written or dictated by God. 2 Timothy 3:16 does say that “All Scripture is inspired by God”—literally, “God-breathed”—but that falls well short of saying that God actually wrote every word of the Bible himself. The books of the Bible, in the original languages, vary considerably in their style, vocabulary, grammar, and sophistication, so it seems unlikely that the biblical authors were simply taking dictation from God.

[2]. See Luke 1:1-4. The quotation is from Luke 1:3.