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.
A Paradox
65-0117 §12
Now I'm... Wore out one Bible, since I started the healing campaigns, or praying for the sick, rather. At Houston, Texas, was given me a Bible years ago, some eighteen years ago, by Brother Kidson and his group. And I wore that Bible, back and forth, around the world, until it just completely wore out. Pages come out of it. I was just given a new Bible. And the strange thing---I'm not superstitious. I hope you people don't think me to be superstitious. When this Bible was given to me, it had a little, two little ma...
Pride
55-0807A §7
And now, before we can open the book... We can open the pages that way, but there's only One who can unravel that Word, and that's the Holy Spirit; that's all. He was the one Who wrote it. Do you believe that? He did, He wrote the... Men of old, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, wrote the Bible. And it was wrote by ... I'm sorry, I did know, but I don't know now, just how many writers of the Bible. I'm sorry I can't quote that now, because I got two different numbers in my mind. I'm afraid I'd be mixed on it....
A Court Trial
64-0412 §14
...he building and discern the thoughts of the heart... Now I've only used three or four little scriptures with you, which God knows that all scriptures join together. There's not one error in any of it. Not one contradicts the other one. Now, people say it does. I've offered a year's salary to anybody'll show it to me where the Word contradicts itself. It does not contradict itself. If it does, it's no good to me. It must be exactly the truth. Now, God is going to judge the world by something. If He judges it by the...
Paradox
64-0206B §68
So was the Hebrews right in what they was saying about Jesus Christ, see. But it was according to their shadow that they were walking in. It was a glare of another day, not the light of that day. Could the history repeat itself again? The Bible says it does, see. Now we find out that there was... It was strange that God chose this one---little, uneducated, unaffiliated with them---to show and bring those people the Word---instead of that school, a fine cultured, educated man, smart. He chose Micaiah. That's a parad...
Hear ye Him
56-0611 §57
Look at the resurrection of Lazarus. He went away. Lazarus had been dead four days. He said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." They said, "He doeth well." He said, "He's dead. And for your sake I'm glad I wasn't there." See, the Father sent Him away. When He got back to the grave, listen at Him: said, "Father, I thank Thee Thou hast already heard. But I say it for these who stand by: Lazarus, come forth," and a man that'd been dead four days, stood on his feet and lived again. The Father had showed Him. Take any Scrip...