How Can There Be Contradictions in the Scriptures?

How Can There Be Contradictions in the Scriptures?

A heavenly host praised God and said, “On earth peace . . . .” Luke 2:13-14.

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” Matt. 10:34.

Which is true, the one or the other? In Galatians 5:19 and 20 it is written that factions are works of the flesh; i.e., they are sin. However, in 1 Corinthians 11:19 we read that there must be factions among us so that those who are genuine can be revealed. This tells us that factions are necessary and beneficial.

What is right? The first or the last?

“Judge not . . . .” Luke 6:37. “But judge . . . .” John 7:24. What is good? The first or the last?

“Do not labor for the food which perishes . . . .” John 6:27. “That you aspire . . . to work with your own hands . . . .” 1 Thess. 4:11. What is best, what Jesus says or what Paul says?

The Scriptures have been written in such a way that there is opportunity to go astray, to go off on a tangent, or to draw back, if a person seeks an opportunity to do so. We will often meet such cases where someone with the letter of the Bible as support goes astray.

God has not done anything to prevent a person from taking the letter of the Scriptures and going his own way with them, taking the letter as the basis for his departure. It is also perfectly good and right that it is as it is, because then it becomes easier for everyone to receive his heart’s desire, which is also a contributing factor to everything (every person) ending up in the place where they belong. If there was a man who desired to draw back from God’s will on a certain point, but who also at the same time held fast to the confession that the Bible is God’s Word, and if the Scriptures were perfectly understandable, without any apparent contradictions, etc., he could not find a way out for his wish, but would have to—against his desire—keep himself to God’s will. Thus he was basically not in his right place.

When people look for an opportunity to depart from God’s way, they look to the letter of the Scriptures for support, and they succeed constantly. Once they have found a fitting word, they reject the rest and faithfully follow these letters into wretchedness and death precisely as the Scriptures themselves say: “For the letter kills . . . .”

This is how we can understand the connection when deceptive doctrines mention the Scriptures in their defense.

On the other hand, the person who seeks guidance in the Scriptures in order to leave his own way and walk in God’s will acts differently. Ecclesiastes 7:27 mentions a simple and excellent way of proceeding: “‘Here is what I have found’ says the Preacher, ‘adding one thing to the other to find understanding . . . .’”

Therefore: What is true, right, and good? What shall we do, the one or the other? Both parts! Add one thing to the other, and you will learn to know God’s wisdom, and will rejoice in following it.