The Harmony of the Four Gospels
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The four gospels contain no contradictions. They offer additional details. We call Matthew, Mark and Luke the Synoptic gospels. Synoptic is from Greek, meaning “with agreeing eyes,” or “from the same point of view.” This does not mean that John’s gospel contradicts the others. For example, Matthew recorded one angel at Jesus’ tomb. Luke recorded two, of which only one spoke. This is not a contradiction, but additional supporting detail. If two angels were there, of course, there had to be one.
The fact of additive and non-contradictory detail strengthens the gospels’ reliability. If all four gospels were identical, they would simply be copies. Since the gospels do contain differences, but no contradictions, they act as independent, corroborating witnesses. This is powerful evidence. I recently heard of a seminary student who felt that the Old Testament was reliable but felt that the New Testament was in doubt. I pointed out that, while I consider the whole Bible true, we have only one witness of the Torah, Moses, whereas we have four highly credible witnesses of Jesus’ life – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – not to mention the writers of the epistles. So, the New Testament has more authority to validate the Old Testament than the Old Testament has to validate the New.
If the evangelists had decided to invent the story of Jesus and devise clever lies about His miracles, it would have been terribly difficult to keep all the accounts in perfect accord. We see in today’s electronic media that different reports of current not only disagree in many facts, but also often miss the basic truth. This happens both accidentally and because of deliberate media bias. It is also true about non-inspired books from the ancient world.
For example, the early Church fathers – Christian leaders and thinkers in the first four centuries after Christ – wrote a good deal about Jesus and His followers. These men seem to have been sincere believers, anxious to defend and promote the faith. Yet their works contain internal and external contradictions. Unlike the gospels, the quality and reliability of their surviving manuscripts is frequently doubtful. Even though the Fathers are believers probably doing their best to communicate the truths of God, we simply cannot treat their books with the same faith that the Bible deserves.
The integrity of Scripture is one of the reasons that we can know the Bible is divine, rather than human, in origin. Its reliability is more than remarkable; it is unique in the record of human achievement. Billions of written words throughout history prove amply that human authors simply cannot achieve a comparably harmonious testimony, however hard they try.
Ancient writers, especially Hebrew writers, felt no need, as we do today, to write chronologically. They habitually grouped thoughts together topically. This is very clear in the clustering of parables in Matthew 13. Did Jesus tell all these parables in one sitting? Maybe. But the writing feels very much like Matthew decided to draw together many parables with complimentary meanings in one place. Jesus may have said them over several years, and He probably said them many times over the years, to help his disciples remember His message.
Skeptics attack the gospels and especially the Gospel of John. But their criticisms are, without exception straw men.
One example of an apparent contradiction in John’s Gospel is the telling of Jesus chasing the money changers from the Temple. John places this event early in Jesus’ ministry, while Matthew and Luke place it on Palm Sunday, Jesus’ last triumphal entry to Jerusalem, and Mark places it on the Monday after Palm Sunday.
Is this a contradiction? Does it mean the gospels are unreliable? Not at all.
John clearly fixes the first cleansing of the Temple in time – the first Passover of Jesus’ ministry, Thursday, April 4, 30 A.D. Matthew and Luke clearly place the second cleansing of the Temple on Palm Sunday, March 27, 33 A.D. Mark clearly reports that Jesus cleansed the Temple a third time, on Monday, March 28, 33 A.D.
Jesus cleansed the Temple three times. No wonder the Pharisees were upset with Him!
John inserts extensive time markers into his gospel. The synoptic evangelists include them, too. Today we can use computer programs to compare Jewish festival dates, astronomical events, and the Roman calendar in the First Century. This makes it possible to fix many events in time and check for contradictions. But it is not always simple. Sometimes it requires careful and laborious analysis to understand how the various calendars and events coincide. Yet they always do. This is nothing short of miraculous when you consider that the gospel writers had none of our sophisticated computer tools – they had memory, honesty, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And they never, not even once, got a date wrong!
If we can rely on John’s accuracy in ordinary events, we can rely on his reporting of Jesus’ supernatural works, like the raising of Lazarus from the dead. (The other gospels record Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter and the widow’s son, but only John records the raising of Lazarus.)
It is said that Matthew wrote his gospel to the Jews, Luke to the Gentiles, and John to the world.