Most Striking Contradictions in the Gospels among the Four Evangelists

This article is not concerned with any contradictions to be found between the Old and the New Testament; nor any between the Gospels and other, subsequent books of the New Testament; nor any between the Gospels and positive history or common sense.

Here are only enumerated some of the most striking contradictions to be read in the four Gospels; instances where the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)—in the Gospels themselves, as well as in the Book of Acts which is nowadays widely accepted as being the work of Luke—contradict each other or, sometimes, their own selves; and not contradictions in the Bible as a whole—which would be an immense and tedious task.

As you will read below, instances where contradictions occur in the Gospels—the core texts of the Christian doctrine—are not few, nor little-stunning to be overlooked or easily explained by any disposed-to-defend-their-divine-nature, yet reasonable person; and they should lead to any of the following three conclusions:

The Holy Ghost lied to them repeatedly concerning various matters.
The Holy Ghost is not omniscient.
The four preachers wrote the books of their own human accord and by their own human means.

This article is in no way intended to insult anybody’s religious sentiments. Apart from pointing out these contradictions for the sake of doing so, this article is to a certain degree aimed to be satirical. And the reader is pleaded to perceive it for what it is: humor.

All the quotes have been borrowed from the Bible’s English Standard Version.

Who was Joseph’s father?

Matthew 1:16

…and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Luke 3:23

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

Both Matthew and Luke give us very early in their gospels the genealogy of Jesus’s father (or step-father, or whoever he was anyway… it’s not clear). The two accounts differ from each other in nearly every generation, even including the very first preceding Joseph. Apparently, Jesus didn’t like much to speak to them about his grandpa.

When was Jesus born?

Matthew 2:1

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,

Luke 2:2-3

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Matthew and Luke, while discussing the events related to Jesus’s birth, give us slightly different accounts with regard to the public circumstances of the time. Logically, one of the two must be wrong, as Quirinius was appointed legate of Syria in 6 AD, a whole decade after Herod’s death in 4 BC; and only after Herod’s son, Herod Archelaus’s banishment, in the anyway contextually absurd case one might argue that he was the one Herod referred to.

Where was Jesus born?

Matthew 2:19-21

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

Luke 2:2-6

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

Still discussing Jesus’s birth, the two Evangelists do not quite agree whether the holy baby was taken or born in Bethlehem.

How did Joseph and Mary treat little Jesus?

Matthew 1:20-23

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”(which means, God with us).

Luke 1:30-33

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Mark 6:4

And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”

Here, Matthew and Luke finally agree that Mary and Joseph had every good reason to honor their son. However, according to Mark, Jesus himself does not seem to believe that he has received the due honors.

Is the Mosaic Law subject to ever undergo change?

Matthew 5:18

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Mark 7:19

…since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

Here, in the first passage, we have Jesus—quite emphatically too—leaving no room for the Law to ever change… and then declaring all food clean, thus renouncing one of the Law’s most fundamental decrees.

How many signs?

Mark 8:12

And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

Matthew 12:39

But he answered them,“An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

John 2:11, 4:54, 6:2

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

No comments…

How did Jesus recruit his first disciples?

Matthew 4:18-22

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Mark 1:16-20

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them,“Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Luke 5:1-11

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,“Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master,we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

John 21:1-6

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them,“Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

John 1:35-42

The next day again John {the Baptist} was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be calledCephas” (which means Peter).

Here we read the four Evangelists’ accounts of how Jesus recruited his first disciples. In the nearly identical, first two versions of Matthew and Mark, the four fishermen appear to be naively docile, therefore Jesus’s task being a ridiculously easy one. In the two following versions of Luke and John, Jesus appears to have sweated a bit, being obliged to exhibit his impressive fishing skills in order to entice (or maybe bribe) his first followers.

In the final passage, we read John—a man who’s often regarded as one of history’s most famous loonies—contradicting all the above reports, including his very own. He leads us to believe that, not the naivete of the time’s laymen, nor miraculous fishing techniques, could prove sufficient reasons for Jesus to start growing his following. But he rather needed to resort to the aid of an already well-established prophet of the time in order to do so.

Should the disciples carry staffs with them?

Matthew 10:9-10

Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.

Luke 9:3-5

And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.

Mark 6:8

He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff–no bread, no bag, no money in their belts–

We here read Mark contradicting the statement of his colleagues regarding whether Jesus allowed them to carry a staff with them on their upcoming preaching journey. Maybe he misheard… maybe it was especially allowed to him because of some knee injury… who knows…

How sure was John the Baptist of Jesus’s divinity?

Luke 1:41,44

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

John 1: 29,36

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, whotakes away the sin of the world!

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, whotakes away the sin of the world!

Luke 7:18-20

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

John the Baptist—yet another of history’s famous lunatic Johns—is here portrayed by Luke and John to have been quite certain of Jesus’s divinity (before he even left his mother’s womb!). However, it is a known fact that the hardships of prison life can drastically make one contravene even his most fundamental beliefs. Thus here, while rotting in Antipa’s gruesome dungeons, John seems to after all doubt Jesus’s divinity.

On how many donkeys did Jesus sat when entering Jerusalem?

Matthew 21:1-7

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.

Luke, Mark, and John all describe the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem sitting on a donkey. So does Matthew, too, in the above passage. But, unlike his co-preachers, he mentions thrice a colt being brought together with the donkey, and explicitly says that Jesus sat on them. I am inclined not to take his account very seriously and rather align with the one-donkey version of the other three; not only because of the majority rule, but… I mean, why should anyone want to ride two donkeys simultaneously, anyway? After all, the man was striving to make for himself a name as a prophet, not as an acrobat.

How long did it take for the fig tree to wither away?

Matthew 21: 18-20

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it,“May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”

Mark 11:14, 20-21

And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

We here have Matthew and Mark narrating the story of how Jesus, after arriving in Jerusalem during the days of the Passover, fancied eating some figs. But after finding nothing but leaves on that fig tree that happened to be on his way, he cursed it to never bear fruit again and wither away. According to Matthew, the tree withered at once; according to Mark, only the morning after. Whichever variant is true, I think it is of little importance. The question here is: why on earth did he act in such a vengeful and malicious way against the poor tree; when, in fact, the only one to blame here was actually his father because he so created fig trees to not bear fruits before late summer… Come on, man! Did you seriously expect the fig tree to fruit in spring!?

Did the last supper take place before or after the Passover?

Mark 14:12

And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”

Luke 22:7

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

Matthew 26:17

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?”

John 19:14

Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews,”Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

The first three passages inform us of how the students were to prepare Jesus’s last supper on the first day of the Passover. In the last one, John tells us that on the same day Jesus was already being trialed by Pilate and was about to be sent to the cross while he had already eaten his last meal the evening before.

How did Judas kill himself?

Matthew 27:5

And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Acts 1:18

Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

Two different theories about Judas’s suicide by Matthew and Luke.

Why was the Field of Blood thus named?

Matthew 27:6-8

But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers.

Acts 1:18-19

(Now this manacquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

Matthew and Luke explain here why Akeldama (a burial ground on a hill in Jerusalem) became known with this name, which translates to the Field of Blood. Luke, quite conveniently, combines his explanation with his story of Judas’s suicide. Matthew, having a different story of Judas’s death, needs to come up with another explanation.

Where was Jesus led immediately after his arrest?

Matthew 26:57

Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.

Mark 14:53

And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.

Luke 22:54

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance.

John 18:13,24

First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.

Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

The first three reports agree that Jesus was immediately brought to the High Priest after his arrest. John says that he was first taken to the Priest’s father-in-law. Most probably, John was not paying much attention to the events. But one may also argue that the other three might have been lazy to get into much detail.

What was Barabbas’s crime?

Mark 15:7

And among the rebels in prison, who hadcommitted murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.

Luke 23:18-19

But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas“– a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.

John 18:40

They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

This time, as to what was the crime committed by Barabbas, John keeps disagreeing with his colleagues. Who knows… maybe it’s just an attempt on his side to stand out from the crowd. He could have been anxious not to be called a plagiarist after all.

Who was the first to find Jesus’s empty tomb?

John 20:1

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

Matthew 28:1

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

Mark 16:1-2

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.

Luke 23:55, 24:10

The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.

Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles,

We here have all the four Evangelists in discord as to which woman/en was/were the first to find the empty tomb of Jesus. I may guess that the most consistent one here is John, as he apparently refused altogether to yield to the entreaties of the other women to be fraudulently included, so to show off later. Luke, on the other hand, proved to be the most recessive of all, putting them pretty much all in.

Whoever found the tomb, whom did they meet there?

Matthew 28:2-4,9

And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

And behold, Jesus met them and said,“Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

Mark 16:5

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.

Luke 24:4

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

John 20:11-14

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.

And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

Phew, this one was confusing. I think that whoever it was who found Jesus’s empty tomb was too dazed of surprise and excitement to be able to clearly discern who was an angel… and who was a man… and who was a guard… and who was Jesus… and who was one… and who was two…

To whom did the women speak about the empty tomb?

Mark 16:8

And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Matthew 28:8

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

John 20:18

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”–and that he had said these things to her.

Luke 24:9

and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Mark is definitely wrong: If they’d said nothing to anyone, we’d not be discussing the whole thing now at all. As for whether they only spoke to the disciples, or to all the rest as well, it makes no significant difference; the disciples themselves were to soon shout it out to the whole world, anyway.

Where and when did Jesus’s ascension take place?

Luke 24:50-51

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

Acts 1:3,9-12

He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

Here, in one of the Bible’s most disputed and bizarre inaccuracies, we have Luke contradicting his own self as to where and when Jesus’s ascension took place. I think that—if either needs to be taken for granted—the first variant would be the more reliable one: by the time Luke wrote the Book of Acts, he must have been quite old, and his memory could have dimmed.

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