False Doctrine Of Bible Contradictions
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, September 10, 2026 (Donate)
If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:13, NKJV)
Critics often claim that the Bible contains “contradictions”.
If even one genuine contradiction existed in Scripture, it would be a serious
problem because two contradictory propositions can’t both be true at the same
time and in the same sense.
However, alleged Bible contradictions quickly disappear once
the passages are carefully examined in their context or with a little research.
Furthermore, there is a deeper presuppositional problem for the critic:
the critic must borrow the biblical worldview's foundation for reason, truth, knowledge,
and specifically, the law of non-contradiction, in order to argue that the
Bible is allegedly contradictory! In other words, they must argue that he
Bible is true to argue that the Bible isn’t true—hence, the logic dilemma
for the unbeliever.
What Is A Contradiction?
The law of non-contradiction is a fallacy where something cannot
be both A and not-A at the same time and in the same relationship. For example:
"The door is open."
"The door is not open."
If both statements refer to the same door, at the same
time, and in the same sense, they contradict one another.
But differences aren’t necessarily contradictions. Matthew
8:28 mentions two demon-possessed men, while Mark 5:2 and Luke 8:27 focus on
one. There is no contradiction. If there were two men, there was obviously one
man. Mark and Luke simply focus attention on one of them. It is similar with the
cock crowing where Mark mentioned two cocks crowing (Mark 14:68-72) and the other gospel
accounts (e.g., Matthew 26:34, 26:74-75; Luke 23:34, 22:60; John 13:38, 18:27) mentioned one—if there are two, then there is one. The other gospel
accounts focus in on the final one that was the important one. Mark simply
gives more detail leading up to it—again, not a contradiction but complimentary.
Many alleged Bible contradictions involve similar mistakes.
Critics may overlook context, assume that "one" means "only
one," confuse complementary accounts with contradictory accounts,
misunderstand ancient customs or figures of speech, or occasionally encounter a
translation or manuscript question rather than a contradiction in the original
text.
Why Should We Expect The Bible To Be Non-Contradictory?
The Bible reveals that God is the absolute source and ultimate
foundation of truth and knowledge because God is the truth. Jesus says God's
Word is truth (John 17:17) and He (the Son of God) is the truth (John 14:6).
Colossians 2:3 says that in Christ "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge." God can’t deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13), and God doesn’t
lie (Titus 1:2).
Therefore, genuine contradictions would be contrary to God's
nature. The laws of logic aren’t autonomous authorities standing above God that
He must obey and submit to. Instead, logical consistency reflects God's
perfectly consistent nature and thus are tools by which we can use to examine various
matters as well as universe. This is because a logical God created and upholds
all things in a logical fashion.
But Here Is The Deeper Problem For The Critic
Suppose an unbeliever says:
"The Bible can’t be true
because it contains contradictions."
That statement assumes several things:
- Truth
exists.
- We can
know truth.
- Laws
of logic exist.
- The
law of non-contradiction is universal.
- Contradictions
are necessarily bad or false.
- Man has
reasoning capabilities.
But what worldview accounts for those things? Not the unbeliever’s
worldview! The biblical worldview does.
God is eternal, immaterial, universal in His sovereignty,
unchanging/invariant in His nature, truthful, and logical. Humans are made in
God's image (Genesis 1:27), which explains why we can use reason to understand His
creation—even in a sin-cursed and broken world since Genesis 3. Thus,
universal, immaterial, invariant laws of logic make sense within the biblical
worldview.
A materialistic worldview fails miserably! If reality is
ultimately matter in motion and human brains are merely the products of
unguided chemical reactions, why should immaterial and universal laws
of reasoning exist? And why should someone's particular brain chemistry
establish what must logically be true everywhere in the universe? The fact is
that truth and logic, and any other immaterial concept can’t exist in the materialistic
worldview (e.g., atheism, naturalism, secular humanism, etc.)
Calling logic merely a “human convention” or a “human
invention” doesn’t solve the problem either. If people invented logic, another
person or culture could invent different logical laws. Yet the materialistic
critic doesn’t treat the law of non-contradiction as a personal preference. He
assumes that it is universally binding, even when attacking Christianity. If
the materialists did think this way, then why not wake up in the morning and intentionally
stub your toe on the corner with hopes that today it is going to be great, wonderful,
and happy sensation!
The Critic Must Borrow From The Bible
This exposes the self-defeating nature of the objection. To
argue that the Bible is false because it supposedly contradicts itself, the
critic must first assume the validity of the law of non-contradiction. But from
the presuppositional understanding is that the biblical God is the ultimate basis
to provides the necessary foundation for universal laws of logic in the first
place.
It is like arguing that air doesn’t exist while using air to
speak the argument. The person's argument depends upon the very thing being
denied. I would suggest further that other worldviews must "borrow"
the preconditions of intelligibility—truth, knowledge, logic, and rationality—from
the biblical worldview in order to argue at all.
So, the Christian should certainly examine alleged
contradictions carefully and show where the critic has misunderstood the biblical
text. But we should also challenge the critic at the worldview level:
By what standard do you know that
contradictions are necessarily wrong?
The critic can’t logically attack Scripture without attempting
to use logic, truth, knowledge, and rationality. Yet these very things make
sense because the God revealed in Scripture exists—whether they profess to believe
it or not.
Therefore, alleged Bible contradictions don’t overturn
biblical authority. Ironically, the critic must stand on ground supplied by the
biblical worldview in order to launch the attack. If the biblical worldview
weren’t true, universal and invariant laws of logic would lack a rational
foundation (i.e., be self-refuting from the start!). Yet laws of logic are
meaningful and necessary.
Thus, the Bible isn’t merely something we test using
autonomous human logic. The truth of the biblical worldview is the necessary
precondition that makes logical reasoning, truth claims, and the identification
of contradictions possible in the first place.
So there are no contradictions in God’s Word since God is
the truth and the absolute standard of non-contradiction (I know that’s deep!).
For critics to attempt and argument against God and His Word, they must appeal
to a lesser authority (i.e., themselves) and thus commit the faulty appeal to
authority fallacy right from the start!
From there, they must borrow truth, logic, knowledge,
reasoning, and so on just to try to argue against Bible by suggesting there are
contradiction in His Word. But upon basic research each of these alleged Bible
contradictions wither up and the Bible repeatedly stands true against all
opposition.
Whole books have been published refuting the specific
instances (I’ve been on some). I would direct your attention to these resources
for refutations to pointed alleged contradictions.
□
Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist
defending 6-day creation and opposing evolution since 1998. He spent 21 years
working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and
researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He
was also head of the Oversight Council.
Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in
2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a
501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in
churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children.
Mr. Hodge earned a Bachelor and Master of Science degrees
from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC). Then he taught
at SIUC for a couple of years as a Visiting Instructor teaching all levels of
undergraduate engineering and running a materials lab and a CAD lab. He did
research on advanced ceramic materials to develop a new method of production of
titanium diboride with a grant from Lockheed Martin. He worked as a Test
Engineer for Caterpillar, Inc., prior to entering full-time ministry.
His love of science was coupled with a love of history,
philosophy, and theology. For about one year of his life, Bodie was editing and
updating a theological, historical, and scientific dictionary/encyclopedia. Mr.
Hodge has over 25 years of experience in writing, speaking and researching in
these fields.
*Image by generative program as requested by Bodie Hodge
