Alleged Resurrection Contradictions in the Gospels

God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, humbled himself and became the man Jesus. Out of love for us, he was crucified, dead, buried, and bodily resurrected. These are well-attested facts in the four Gospels. However, they have differing accounts about the details of what went on that morning.

Scoffers have claimed that the differences are contradictory, but such claims cannot be supported. Written accounts of eyewitnesses are available from history. Close examination of the records is needed to deal with alleged contradictions and piece together the full narrative.

Four Gospel booklets, Unsplash / alabaster_co

Care must be taken to avoid placing modern approaches to writing onto ancient texts. For instance, women were traveling early in the morning. Was the sun up yet? How much of it? (After all, dawn can mean different things, such as when the first part of the sun is above the horizon, or the entire solar ball.) How many women were there? Were they there at the same time?

When witnesses testify in court, they tell their perspectives of events. People and certain details may be omitted because they did not seem important, or were not even observed. One biblical example is that Matthew 20:30 says there were two blind beggars that wanted to be healed, but Mark 10:46-47 only mentions Bartimaeus. No way is that a contradiction.

Detectives and attorneys try to piece together the sequence of events in a case from the descriptions of the witnesses. They need to be careful not to import wrong information and assumptions. The final product must be reasonable. A plausible account of the events of that Resurrection morning can be assembled.

The Gospels can’t keep their stories straight! How many women went to the tomb and when did they leave? How many angels visited the tomb? Did Jesus appear to all the women or just Mary Magdalene?

Actual contradictions in the Resurrection reports would raise serious concerns for Christianity. If these discrepancies are legitimate, they would be a strike against the preservation of Scripture, but errors would not prove anything against the truth of the Lord’s Resurrection or the infallible original records. Nevertheless, Christians need not worry. These accounts can be reconciled. Indeed, when we put all the pieces together, the wonder of the Resurrection shines out in even greater glory.

It would be in your best interest to finish reading or listen to the audio version at "Christ’s Resurrection—Four Accounts, One Reality." Also of interest is a list of articles, "Resolving 58 Bible Contradictions from Jesus’ Final Week to His Ascension."