Can Some of the Toughest Gospel Contradictions Be Solved?

Are these real contradictions—or compressed narratives with different emphases? Matthew includes the flight to Egypt to highlight prophecy fulfillment (“out of Egypt I called my son”), while Luke omits that episode, moving from Bethlehem to the temple dedication and then to Nazareth—likely compressing the timeline. Historians often omit details not central to their aims.

The famous Judas case raises similar questions. Matthew says Judas hanged himself; Acts says he fell headlong and burst open. Rather than forcing a single physical sequence, consider Luke’s tendency to skip steps: Acts may be describing Judas’s body at burial—bloated and decomposing—rolling into the valley (Gehenna) and rupturing. In that reading, both accounts can be true, each selecting different moments. These difficult differences don’t undermine the core claim: if Jesus rose, Christianity is true; the minor divergences don’t change that.

Mike Licona is Professor of New Testament Studies at Houston Christian University. HCU offers an accredited Master of Arts degree in apologetics that may be completed entirely online or on the HCU campus in Houston.

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