Resurrection Contradictions? - Part 2:The Solution

Yesterday we looked at the supposed problem of contradictions in the resurrection accounts. Today we will look at the answers.

The arguments I give are not my own, but have been gleaned from various sources, including the link cited above, James White’s podcast, and other sources.

The basis for the the arguments countering the objections are mostly based on the following three facts:

• The Jews counted a day as starting at sundown. So in our terms, the day started on the previous evening.
• The Romans and Jews had different time systems.
• To the Jews, part of a day counted as a whole day.
• The Passover was not a single day, but a week long festival.

Using these facts we can show that the gospel accounts are consistent, not contradictory.

Let’s look at the three days and three nights issue first, and the answer is related to the Jewish way of counting days, ie starting in the evening. So the three days and nights are

Day 1: Day of the crucifixion (Friday). This starts on Thursday evening (night), and ends on Friday evening.

Day 2: Sabbath (Saturday): Night and day

Day 3: Resurrection (Sunday) : Sunday starts on Saturday evening, hen Sunday

So in terms of the thinking of the time there is no problem.

The supposed contradictions between John and the synoptics are mostly down to the fact that John wrote his gospel late, and was based in Ephesus. So John wrote for a Gentile (Greek) audience, so he translated time events (among other things) from the Jewish reckoning into the Roman reckoning.

The John 18:28 “problem” is really no problem at all. The Passover includes the feast of unleavened bread (see Luke 22:1), so the problem is purely imaginary. The Passover lasted a week.

With regard to the “day of preparation” is a single word in Greek and normally referred to Friday, so the term refers to “the Friday of the Passover”.

With the sixth hour, third hour issue, it is again the Roman-Jewish time system issue. The Roman sixth hour is 6am, and the Jewish 3rd hour is 9am. So, again, there is no real problem.