Does the Bible contain any contradictions that make it fail the internal test?

Answer 1

A:

The internal test for the reliability of the biblical documents, which looks at the claims the Bible make about itself is in large part circular reasoning, since it uses the testimony of the Bible to prove that the Bible is true. Neverthless the Bible contains many contradictions that make it fail the internal test.

Robert P. Carroll (The World of Ancient Israel, Prophecy and society) says the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, contains the ideologically controlled documents which represent the Propaganda of a small religious elite. Whatever we think of this statement, the fact that Carroll felt obliged to make it means that we have to treat the Old Testament with caution.

The claims that Paul wrote all thirteen epistles attributed to him have been discounted by a clear majority of biblical scholars. The pseudo-Pauline epistles do not support the view of the Bible as being reliable.

Many of the contradictions in Acts of the Apostles can show that the author was not writing a historical account. One of these is found in Acts 12:2,17. In Acts 12:2, James the brother of John is killed. In Acts 12:17, Peter had knocked on the door of Mary, the mother of John, and asked them to show things to James - apparently the same person. Eusebius, quoting Hegisippus (c 180) and Clemens Alexandrinus (c 200), solved this by asserting that there were two persons called James in Acts, one who was thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple [apparently the one in Acts 12:17, who was the 'brother of the Lord'] and one who was beheaded in Acts 12:2.

Alvar Ellegard (Jesus One Hundred Years Before Christ) shows that even accepting the contention of Eusebius, both the James of Acts 12:2 and of 12:17 can be equated with Paul's 'pillar' in Galatians. James the brother of John in Acts 12:2 is clearly one of the leading disciples in the Gospels, where he is usually mentioned together with Peter and John. The James who appears in Acts 12:17 is evidently the leader of the 'brethren' in Jerusalem. He appears again in Acts 15:13, where he addresses the brethren in an authoritative style, and also in 21:18, where the expression is "James and all the elders". The context of 21:18 is clearly the Acts' version of Paul's meeting with the leaders of the Jerusalem Church, from Galatians 2. Therefore the James of 12:2 and the James of 12:17 are the same person. Ellegard says that the beheading in 12:2 must have been inserted late and carelessly into the draft, perhaps when Luke found this reference in Josephus.

Another Answer:

The question requires either a subjective answer (un)supported by others or a personal search by reading and studying the Bible for themselves. I will answer as part of the second group having been a student of Scripture for some years now. But even my answer or that of others should ever be the 'end-all' for your answer. Jesus told all who desired to know to ask His Father by Him:

Matthew 7:7 New International Version (NIV)

Ask, Seek, Knock

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

At the risk of making a 'circular' statement, one of the rules of Bible study is to first read all in context and any related/supporting texts in other parts of the Bible. This in effect, allows the Bible to interpret itself. Since God states He cannot lie, all these varying scriptures should prove the verse(s) and not be contradictory. This is surely the case with the argument of whether or not there were two persons named James in Jesus' inner circle. As mentioned above, consider Acts 12:2,17. Who is/are James?

In Acts 12:2, Paul is recounting one of the two sons of Zebedee and not Joseph and Mary. James here was an Apostle and the first to die and were referred to as the 'Sons of Thunder.' Jesus began to fulfill what He had told their mother in Matthew 20:20-23

James in Acts 12:17 was Jesus' half-brother and before this time did not fully understand his brother being God's Son:

John 7:5 New King James Version (NKJV)

5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

It wasn't until that first Pentecost in circa 31 AD, when James, being present with the other disciples of Christ, received God's Holy Spirit and changed his ways to Jesus. From Jesus' resurrection on, James gave himself entirely to God and soon became an important figure in the early Church. His role was so important that Peter told others to report to James of his miraculous release from prison (Acts 12:17; Galatians 1:19) "But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place."

(Galatians 1:19) "But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. "

Jesus' half-brother James, apparently became the overseeing pastor of the Jerusalem church, because in Acts 15:13-21 we see him making the final declaration during this early ministerial conference.

Just with these few examples, it becomes clear there were two persons named James and is therefore no longer a contradiction. The same approach will resolve other apparent contradictions for the Bible student.