Since the Bible Can Not Contradict Itself, How Do We Reconcile Parallel Account Discrepancies or Clear Numerical Discrepancies?
1) Direct Answer
There are no contradictions in God’s Word. What people call “discrepancies” are differences of perspective, emphasis, time-reckoning, rounding of numbers, or transmission issues in copies and translations. When you take all the witnesses together, the record harmonizes.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible says all Scripture is inspired and cannot be broken (2 Timothy 3:16; John 10:35). God does not contradict Himself.
- God established truth by “two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15). The Gospels give multiple witnesses. Different details are not denial; they are completion.
Samples of harmony:
- One or two? Demoniacs and blind men: Matthew mentions two (Matthew 8:28; 20:30). Mark and Luke highlight one (Mark 5:2; 10:46; Luke 8:27). Does any verse say “only one”? No. Then two were there; one was emphasized.
- Angels at the tomb: Luke records two (Luke 24:4), Matthew and Mark focus on one who spoke (Matthew 28:2-5; Mark 16:5). Does any verse say there was not a second? No. Then both are true—two present, one speaking.
- Judas’ death: He hanged himself (Matthew 27:5). His body later fell and burst (Acts 1:18). Do these exclude each other? No. They are two stages of one tragedy.
- Hours of the crucifixion: Mark uses Jewish daytime reckoning (third hour ≈ 9 a.m., Mark 15:25). John uses Roman civil time (sixth hour ≈ about 6 a.m. before the final sentence, John 19:14). Different clocks, same day.
- Genealogies: Matthew gives the royal/legal line through Joseph (Matthew 1). Luke traces the bloodline from Mary going back through David’s son Nathan (Luke 3). Two lines, one fulfillment—Jesus is truly David’s Son.
- Census or numerical variations (e.g., 2 Samuel 24:9; 1 Chronicles 21:5): writers may count different categories (men of war vs. valiant men), round numbers, or report at different points in the process. Where numerals in copies vary, that is in the hand of man, not a flaw in God’s revelation; no doctrine is touched.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Silence is not contradiction. If one account mentions one person and another mentions two, the one is not denying the second; it is focusing.
- Different vantage points tell the same truth. Four witnesses around one event will not repeat every detail with the same wording.
- Time can be reckoned differently (Jewish sunrise day vs. Roman civil day). That explains hour differences without any conflict.
- Inclusive counting and round figures were common in Scripture. “Three days” can mean part of day one, all of day two, part of day three, as the Jews counted.
- God inspired the Word; men copied and translated it. If a digit looks different in a later copy, the Spirit still preserves the doctrine, the story line, and the prophetic harmony. The message stands perfect.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, when you ask the simple questions—Does any verse deny what the other affirms?—the supposed contradictions fall away. The Scripture is one voice. Read it with the Author’s Spirit, compare Scripture with Scripture, and the harmony appears every time.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Godhead explained
61-0119A §15
...ther outstanding question: Is women to be preachers? Yes, or no? Some place it says, "I'll pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Another says, "I forbid ... not a woman to speak in the church even." Now, that don't zero. It don't zero, so they... Just don't leave it like that because the seminary, the factory, said it was ... that's as good as you're going to get it. No, sir. No, sir. It's got to zero, or it is no good. Well, now if it zeroed for them, it'll zero for me. I...
The Seed of Discrepancy
65-0118 §18
Judas only played church. He wasn't really sincere, he didn't actually have faith (he'd have never betrayed Jesus). But, you see, he sowed that seed of discrepancy. He thought that he could make friends with the world, mammon, and also have friendship with Jesus, but it was too late for him to do anything about it. When the dead hour came, when he did this evil thing, he crossed the separating line between going forward and returning back. He had to go on in the way that he went, as a deceiver. He sowed the seed of...
A Paradox
65-0117 §53
...m would do the same works. Isn't that right? God who makes the law, or promise, must keep that promise to be God. He does keep it. To think, the God... Why, it's a paradox, itself---for God, who makes the promise, and cannot break that promise, to give that promise of the things that He did to His people, to follow throughout the age until He returned again. "Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. [Every creature, all the world.] He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and he that...