Biblical Univocality

Circumcision

Do Christian men have to be circumcised? Galatians 2:11-14 explicitly describes a strong disagreement between the apostles Paul and Peter (also called Cephas) on the treatment of Gentiles who didn’t follow certain Jewish practices like being circumcised.

There was an entire controversy in the early Christian church around circumcision and other Jewish practices. This conflict provides clear and direct evidence that the earliest Christians, including the New Testament authors and apostles, did not always agree.

Can God Lie?

The Bible is not consistent in answering a simple yet important question: Can God lie?

Books in both the Old and New Testament contradict each other on this point. Some Bible verses say that God "never lies" or even that it's actually "impossible" for God to lie. But other verses give specific examples of God deceiving prophets, kings, and the Israelite people.

Who Knew God's Name?

This next contradiction is not obvious when reading the Bible in English or another translated language, but it's hard to ignore when reading the original Hebrew. According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham and the people who came before him knew God by the name YHWH (Yahweh). 

Genesis 4:26 says people began to call upon YHWH at the time when Seth had a son (Seth is the third son of Adam and Eve). Genesis 15:7-8 quotes God telling Abraham "I am YHWH" and Abraham calls him YHWH. While YHWH is often translated as "the Lord" in English, the original Hebrew clearly says YHWH.

However in Exodus 6:3, God tells Moses that he was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name "God Almighty" or "El Shaddai" in Hebrew, and that they did not know him by the name "YHWH."

This is a significant and direct contradiction. Here are two Old Testament books—both supposedly written by Moses—which disagree with each other. Genesis quotes God telling Abraham "I am YHWH," and then Exodus quotes God telling Moses "by my name YHWH I did not make myself known to them."

Bible scholar Dan McClellan explains the contradiction likely exists because the author of Exodus 6:3 only had a version of the patriarchal narratives where the patriarchs like Abraham did not know the name YHWH. It was either that, or they only considered that version to be authoritative or authentic.

Dr. McClellan highlights how this contradiction provides clear evidence that the Book of Genesis was edited at some point before the manuscripts were translated into the Bibles we have today:

Either way, there has been editing to the version of Genesis that has come down to us, so that either that other tradition has been combined with the author of Exodus 6's tradition, or the name YHWH has been added to the Book of Genesis in order to have Abraham be able to call explicitly on the name YHWH.

Has Anyone Seen God?

In ancient times, people viewed deities—including Yahweh—as having literal, physical bodies. That's why in Genesis 3:8, we read that Adam and Eve "heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden." There are also multiple stories from the Old Testament where people literally saw God in person, like Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and "seventy of the elders of Israel."

However, the Bible contains multiple contradictions on whether people can literally see God or not, and whether they can even survive seeing God. John 1:18 says "No one has ever seen God," but Exodus 33:11 states "the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend."

Just a few verses later in Exodus 33:19-23—the very same chapter—we see yet another apparent contradiction: God's hand physically covers Moses so that Moses only sees God's back. Speaking to Moses, God says "you cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and live."

Throughout the Bible, there are multiple examples of humans seeing God, with different reactions and outcomes. Bible scholars have pointed out that by the time of the New Testament, biblical authors were partly influenced by Greek philosophy, especially Platonism.

Even though the Old Testament often portrayed God as having a literal, physical body that people could see, Greek philosophy eventually influenced and changed this belief. Thanks in large part to the philosopher Plato, people now believe God is incorporeal, leading to John 1:18 saying "no one has ever seen God."

Who Killed Goliath?

Bible scholars recognize the books of Samuel are a "patchwork of different sources" which sometimes repeat stories and contain contradictions. For example, 1 Samuel 17:31-38 describes David meeting Saul right before going to fight Goliath. Then for some reason, David is introduced to Saul again in verses 55-58.

The fact that these are separate, conflicting stories is made even clearer when you realize that in the previous chapter, 1 Samuel 16, Saul already knows David and his father, and David has been serving Saul as his trusted armor-bearer. In just two chapters, David is introduced to Saul at least three separate times.

So when we reach the story of David and Goliath, it's no surprise that there are conflicting accounts about who killed Goliath. In 1 Samuel 17, David kills Goliath—this is the popular version told to virtually every kid in Sabbath school, but it's not the only one, or even the original version of that story.

In 2 Samuel 21, another person named Elhanan is given credit for killing Goliath. As if that weren't confusing enough, 1 Chronicles 20 credits Elhanan with killing the brother of Goliath, named Lahmi. The scholarly consensus is that 2 Samuel is likely the earliest version of the story, with 1 Chronicles being a later version.

This is further supported by the fact that the name "Lahmi" is likely a made-up name or mistake by the authors of 1 Chronicles. Lahmi, which means "my bread," appears to be a Semitic name—not a Philistine name—and it doesn't follow either Semitic or Philistine naming conventions from that time period.

An article from the Christian research institute Tyndale House explains why this name is likely a mistake:

(1) it only occurs in the Chronicles parallel, (2) it occurs in precisely the same place that the word ‘[Beth-]lehemite’ is found in the Samuel text, (3) it looks very similar in terms of its visual look in Hebrew (הלחמי vs. לחמי) and even its sound (hallaḥmî vs. laḥmî). On balance, these three factors should make us seriously consider the possibility that the name 'Lahmi' has accidentally entered the text of Chronicles as a scribal confusion of the (second half of the) place-name 'Bethlehemite'.

In other words, the story of David killing Goliath is a legend, possibly invented to make David into an even more heroic figure. Many of these points have been discussed openly by some Adventists, like professor Horace B. Alexander, who was willing to honestly explore the biblical text in a 2023 article:

Because the Bible is a compilation from multiple sources—sometimes multiple sources within the same book—vestiges of history and legend can be found in contradiction with each other. And this could well be the case with this beloved story.

Who Carried the Cross?

The New Testament gospels describe the life and death of Jesus, but some of their details contradict each other. This isn't surprising, because the New Testament was written by different authors at different times, decades after the date traditionally associated with the death of Jesus.

One simple example comes from the question "Who carried the cross of Jesus to Golgotha?" Matthew, Mark, and Luke all agree that Simon, a man from Cyrene, carried Jesus’ cross. But John, the newest or most recently written gospel, emphasizes that Jesus carried the cross by himself.

Some Bible scholars have noted that the Book of John places a noticeably greater emphasis on the divinity of Jesus than the other gospels. This contradiction between John and the other gospels is one of several examples where the author of John portrays Jesus in a more powerful and divine light.

Women at the Tomb

The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all contain similar stories, as well as some information that is unique to each book. This has highlighted some glaring contradictions, including details from one of the most important claims of the Christian faith: that Jesus died, rose again, and his empty tomb proved it.

Instead of presenting a unified narrative about the empty tomb, the synoptic gospels disagree on how many women were at the tomb, who told the disciples, and when and how they told them.

In Mark 16, the women who discovered the empty tomb trembled and "said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." In the oldest known manuscripts (handwritten copies of biblical texts), the story ends there. 

Only newer manuscripts of Mark 16 contain verses 9-20, indicating these verses might have been added later by different authors. In those newer manuscripts, the story continues with Jesus appearing first only to Mary Magdalene. After that, Mary Magdalene goes by herself to tell others about it.

In contrast, Matthew 28:8 says both Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" were at the tomb, and "departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples." Luke 24:9 is closer to Matthew, but describes even more women being at the tomb.

So, which version of the story is the correct one? Who witnessed Jesus’ empty tomb? Did the women initially say "nothing" to anyone because they were afraid, or did they "depart quickly," running to tell the disciples? And why do different manuscripts of Mark 16 contain completely different endings?

It is undeniable that the synoptic gospels have contradictions on these and other points. It is possible to understand the big picture of the story being told and get greater meaning and value from these texts, without falsely claiming that they have zero contradictions.

Faith vs. Works

Are Christians justified by faith alone, or do works matter? In Romans Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, the apostle Paul claims Christians are justified by faith without works and uses Abraham as evidence for the claim, saying "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."

But in James 2:14-26, the author insists that "faith without works is dead." James also uses Abraham as an example, saying Abraham was "justified by works" by offering to kill his son: "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?"

A common reinterpretation of James’ and Paul’s opposing views is that Christians are justified by faith and faith alone, but that having genuine faith will produce works. This is also the traditional Adventist position. 

However, this is not what either Bible author wrote—it is an attempt to hide and harmonize their opposing views. Martin Luther acknowledged this contradiction, and even claimed the Book of James was not the work of any apostle because of it. Luther’s 1522 Bible contains this preface to the Book of James:

Though this epistle of St. James was rejected by the ancients, I praise it and consider it a good book, because it sets up no doctrines of men but vigorously promulgates the law of God. However, to state my own opinion about it… I do not regard it as the writing of an apostle; and my reasons follow. In the first place it is flatly against St. Paul and all the rest of Scripture in ascribing justification to works. It says that Abraham was justified by his works when he offered his son Isaac; though in Romans 4 St. Paul teaches to the contrary that Abraham was justified apart from works, by his faith alone, before he had offered his son, and proves it by Moses in Genesis 15… This fault, therefore, proves that this epistle is not the work of any apostle.

Luther thought this was such a significant contradiction that he did not consider the Book of James to be a true work of an apostle. Today, we can still get meaning and value out of these clearly contradictory verses without reconciling them, but many Christians feel the need to insist there are zero contradictions.