Alleged Discrepancies of the BibleLesson 3

The Design of the Alleged Discrepancies

Rationale: In this lesson, the student will be compelled to consider why God, who is Holy, omnipotent, and omniscient, would even allow alleged discrepancies in the Bible, and by allowing these, what benefits did God have in mind for his people. Thus it is intended that the student will conclude that it is apparent that the alleged discrepancies are by divine design.

1. To Stimulate the Intellect: The Christian and students of the Bible are engaged in a truth war, and perhaps God did indeed design the alleged discrepancies to stimulate the intellect of His people. Consider; what book ever caused the writing of so many other books? There have been thousands of books written by opponents of the Bible, and even more books written by proponents of the sacred literature.

Perhaps God has allowed these alleged discrepancies to awaken the intellect and skill of His students to examine deeply two or more passages which appear to contradict each other for example consider two passages from John, and other passages:

John 15:15 (NASB) “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 16:12 (NASB) “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

•The Bible stimulates the intellect from its stagnant state by making other statements that only appear to be contradictory:John 11:25-26 (NASB) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

•Psalm 22:6 (NASB) But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. •Hebrews 2:6-7 (NASB) 6 But one has testified somewhere, saying, “WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? 7 “YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;

•Matthew 5:44 (NASB) “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,•Luke 14:26 (NASB) “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

•Matthew 27:32 (NASB) As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.•John 19:17 (NASB) They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

•Matthew 27:32 (NASB) As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.•Hebrews 1:3 (NASB) And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

•Theologian Richard Whately states: “The seeming contradictions in scripture are too numerous not to be the result of design; and doubtless were designed, not as mere difficulties to try our faith and patience, but as furnishing the most suitable mode of instruction that could be devised, by mutually explaining and modifying or limiting or extending one another’s meaning.”

•One unnamed theologian states: “Not only do these “hard” things induce men to investigate the sacred volume; but meanwhile resolving themselves before the steady and patient eye of the student, they unfold deep and rich meanings which amply reward his toil.”

•Disprove Collusion among the Biblical Authors: What appears to be a disagreement in scripture were beyond question designed to be a strong proof that there was no collusion among the Biblical authors. The differences between the Biblical writers establish their credibility, not their dishonesty.

•Greek Scholar Christopher Wordsworth stated, “these discrepancies being such as they are found to be, are of inestimable value. They show that there has been no collusion among our witnesses, and that our manuscript copies of the Gospels, brought to us from all parts of the world have not been corrupted with any sinister design.

•The Design of Discrepancies lead us to value the Spirit of the Bible rather than the letter of the Bible.

•Suppose a completed collection of the original autographs were miraculously found. And it could be determined that these were indeed the handwriting of John, Peter, and Paul, and the rest of the sacred writers. Men would have worshiped the letter in flagrant opposition to the spirit of the sacred book.

The Result of the Alleged Discrepancies

1.The Text of the Bible Is Not Unsettled.

•The alleged discrepancies do not unsettle the text, nor do they impair the doctrinal integrity of the Bible. The alleged discrepancies fail to prove the Bible as a faulty, untrue document.

2. The Moral Influence of the Bible is not impaired.

•Thousands upon thousands of cases have been historically verified as to positive moral affect of the Bible. The content of the Bible has led countless people to Christ, and has transformed the vilest sinners into Christ honoring saints. This fact cannot be successfully refuted.

•The contents of the Bible still convicts mankind to the core of his being, like no other book. The reason? It is the living word of God. The reaction of both Christians and non-Christians alike to the contents of the Bible, prove that the alleged discrepancies do not impair the Bible’s moral influence on those created in the image of God.