Program / Course 17: Defending Scripture / Lesson 4.4
What you will learn
- Identify several tensions in Scripture for which no solution is widely agreed.
- Describe at least four ways the traditions respond to an unresolved tension.
- State the strongest case that an unresolved tension counts against the doctrine of an error-free Bible, and the strongest reply.
- Practice stating a tension honestly without forcing a resolution or overstating its force.
The big idea
After the method has been applied honestly, some tensions remain. Examples include the two genealogies of Jesus, the time of the crucifixion, the account of Paul’s companions on the road to Damascus and the two creation accounts in Genesis. Christians respond in different ways: some hold that a solution exists and will be found, some say the authors had different aims and the tension is not an error, some treat the tension as part of the Bible’s human character, and some see it as a place for mystery. A fair student can describe each response and say what it costs.
Key terms
- Tension
- A place where two passages appear to conflict and no explanation is agreed. It may or may not be a real contradiction.
- Antinomy
- Two statements that both seem true but appear to conflict. Some theologians use the word for paradoxes in doctrine, not for errors.
- Levirate marriage
- An Old Testament custom in which a man marries the widow of his childless brother so that the brother’s line continues (Deuteronomy 25:5).
- Midrash
- A Jewish way of interpreting Scripture that often explores several meanings and preserves differing opinions.
- Accommodation
- The idea that God communicates in forms suited to human understanding and the setting of the writer.
- Canon within the canon
- The practice of treating some books of Scripture as the key to reading the rest, which critics say can silence difficult books.
Background
Even the greatest early interpreters admitted difficulties. Augustine, in a letter to Jerome, said that when he found something in Scripture that seemed contrary to truth, he would say that the manuscript was faulty, that the translator had not understood or that he himself had not understood. Origen noted that the Scriptures contain stumbling blocks put there, in his view, to prompt deeper reading. These are not modern worries imposed on old writers.
What differs among traditions is what an unresolved tension is taken to show. Some say that it shows nothing against the Bible, because failure to solve a problem is not evidence of error. Others say that a few real differences are plain and that honesty requires saying so. This lesson sets out several tensions and then compares the ways the traditions respond.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The genealogies of Jesus
Matthew 1 and Luke 3 give two genealogies of Jesus that agree from Abraham to David and differ from David to Joseph. Matthew lists Jacob as father of Joseph, Luke lists Heli. Proposals are that one traces Joseph’s legal line and the other his natural line, through a levirate marriage, that Luke gives Mary’s line, or that the two follow different conventions. None is proven, and the early Fathers disagreed among themselves, as the historian Eusebius records.
The genealogies also show a literary design. Matthew arranges the names in three sets of fourteen (Matthew 1:17), which requires leaving out some generations. This suggests that the purpose is theological as much as record keeping. Genealogies are treated in more detail in the lesson on genealogies and ages.
Step 2: Paul’s conversion and the hour of the crucifixion
In Acts 9:7 the men with Saul heard a voice but saw no one, and in Acts 22:9 they saw the light but did not hear the voice of him that spoke to Paul. The Greek verb for hear can mean to hear a sound or to understand a message, and the grammar differs between the two accounts. Many interpreters accept that as a solution. Others find it strained. Nothing in the text settles it.
Mark 15:25 says it was the third hour when they crucified Jesus, and John 19:14 says it was about the sixth hour when Pilate delivered him. Proposals include different ways of counting hours, a copying error, and the idea that John’s time is the time of the sentence and Mark’s the time of the crucifixion. Some ancient manuscripts changed one number to match the other, which shows that early readers noticed the problem.
Step 3: Genesis 1 and 2, and other cases
Genesis 1 has human beings made last, after the animals, and Genesis 2 has the man made first, before the animals and plants of the garden. Many scholars see two compositions with different aims, one cosmic and one centered on the garden. Defenders of a harmony say Genesis 2 is a closer look at the sixth day and not a rival sequence. The lesson on Genesis returns to this.
There are also tensions in the law and in wisdom. Proverbs 26:4-5 says both to answer and not to answer a fool according to his folly. Interpreters say that wisdom sayings are fitted to situations, and the placing of the two together is deliberate. Such cases show that the Bible sometimes sets sayings in tension on purpose.
Step 4: How the traditions respond
Augustine’s response, which many inerrantists follow, is to hold that Scripture is without error and that the cause of an apparent error must lie in the copy, the translation or the interpreter. The Chicago Statement applies this to the original manuscripts. Its critics say the claim is unfalsifiable. Its defenders say that every field of study works with unsolved problems and that a trusted source is given the benefit of doubt.
Catholic teaching adds that Scripture is read in the church by attending to literary forms and the intentions of the authors, and that apparent conflicts often arise from not doing so. Orthodox writers tend to treat tensions as places where the Spirit invites deeper reading, with the Fathers, and may accept paradox. Many Protestants who do not hold strict inerrancy say that the Bible’s authority is that of a faithful but human witness, and that tensions show its character as such. Jewish tradition has a long practice of preserving disagreement, as in the Talmudic saying about opposing schools that both are the words of the living God.
Step 5: Stating a tension honestly
A fair statement names the passages, says what the conflict is, lists the main proposals and says which are plausible. It also says what follows if the tension is not resolved: according to the inerrantist, the matter is simply open; according to others, it shows the Bible’s human side. It is not fair to say that any unresolved tension destroys the Bible’s authority, because the traditions do not rest that authority on freedom from every difficulty. It is also not fair to say that no tension can matter.
- Which of the tensions in this lesson do you find most puzzling, and why?
- Is it reasonable to give a trusted author the benefit of the doubt on a problem that cannot be solved? What are the limits?
- What would you say to someone who claims that one unresolved tension disproves the Bible?
- What would you say to someone who claims that no tension can ever count against the Bible?
- How does the Jewish practice of preserving differing opinions help in reading the Bible?
- Which of the responses of the traditions seems closest to your own, and what does it cost?
Examples
Pairs of proverbs
A student reading Proverbs 26:4-5 may first conclude that the book contradicts itself. A closer reading shows that the two are set side by side, and that each is advice for a different kind of situation. The tension is deliberate.
Father and Son
In John 10:30 Jesus says that he and the Father are one, and in John 14:28 he says that the Father is greater than he. The Church Fathers read these by distinguishing the divine nature from the human nature and the order of the persons. This is a tension that classical doctrine resolved with technical distinctions, which others find artificial.
Luther and James
Martin Luther, in his early preface to the New Testament, described James as an epistle of straw in comparison with the Gospels, because he judged that it did not show Christ clearly. He later softened his tone. Other Protestants have kept James as a full part of the canon. This is an example of a tension in doctrine that led a major interpreter to rank books.
Different perspectives
Catholic
Catholics hold that Scripture teaches truth without error and read it within the church, with attention to its literary forms. Catholic scholars acknowledge that some problems have not been solved and that exegesis is an ongoing work. The church does not require a particular harmonization of every case.
Orthodox
The Orthodox tradition accepts paradox as a feature of theology and Scripture. Fathers such as Gregory of Nyssa speak of the limits of human language about God. Tensions are approached through prayer, liturgy and the reading of the Fathers, and not by pressing for a single logical resolution.
Protestant (inerrantist)
Evangelicals who hold inerrancy say that the claim is about the original text, that most problems have reasonable solutions, and that the remainder should be treated as unsolved. They compare this to science, where unexplained data do not by themselves overturn a well-supported theory.
Protestant (non-inerrantist)
Others say that the Bible is authoritative for faith and life while being a human work with real differences. They hold that it is better to accept the differences as part of the Bible’s character than to build elaborate harmonies, and that this is a more honest posture.
Jewish and skeptical
Jewish interpreters have traditionally preserved the tension through commentary and midrash. Skeptical scholars say that the pattern of unresolved tensions is evidence for human composition, and that appeals to unfalsifiable claims should not be allowed to settle the matter. Believers reply that the evidence is consistent with inspiration working through human authors.
Why it matters
Every student of the Bible will meet a tension that no expert can fully resolve. How a person handles that moment is as important as the particular case. A student who has thought through the range of responses can face it calmly, can speak with respect to those who see it differently, and is protected from both brittle certainty and easy dismissal. The most useful result of this module may be the habit of naming a problem exactly and saying what is and is not known.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: An unresolved tension proves a contradiction.
Correction: A problem that has not been solved is not the same as a problem that cannot be solved. A tension may be real or apparent, and the evidence may not allow a decision.
Misunderstanding: Faith requires pretending that there are no difficulties.
Correction: The great teachers such as Augustine and Origen named difficulties openly. Honest naming is part of a mature faith.
Misunderstanding: Catholics and Orthodox Christians do not have to deal with these problems because the church decides.
Correction: Neither church has issued a ruling on most of the tensions. Scholars in both traditions work on them and disagree among themselves.
Misunderstanding: Skeptics have never read the passages carefully.
Correction: Some of the sharpest critics have been trained scholars. Their arguments deserve to be answered on the merits.
Knowledge check
Name three tensions discussed in this lesson.
Among the cases are the two genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, the voice at Paul’s conversion in Acts 9 and Acts 22, the hour of the crucifixion in Mark and John, the two creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2, and the paired proverbs in Proverbs 26. Any three of these is a fair answer, along with a brief note on the proposed solutions.
What was Augustine’s approach to difficulties in Scripture?
In a letter to Jerome, Augustine said that when he found something in Scripture that seemed contrary to truth, he would conclude that the manuscript was faulty, the translator had not understood the text, or he himself had not understood. This approach, which gives Scripture the benefit of the doubt, is followed by many inerrantists and criticized by others as hard to test.
How does the Jewish tradition handle differing interpretations?
Jewish interpretation, especially in the Talmud and midrash, often preserves several opinions side by side. A saying about the schools of Hillel and Shammai holds that both opinions are the words of the living God. This approach treats differences in reading as a source of insight and not necessarily as errors to be removed.
What is the strongest reply to the claim that an unresolved tension disproves the Bible?
The reply is that the traditions do not rest the Bible’s authority on its being free of every difficulty, and that failure to solve a problem is not proof that no solution exists. Every historical document has unsolved problems. A fair reply also admits that repeated unsolved problems can raise reasonable questions about particular theories of inspiration.
Think it through
- How would you feel on discovering a tension that no scholar could resolve? What would you do?
- Which approach among those described would you find easiest to defend in conversation with a friend?
- What is the difference between being honest about a problem and giving up on it?
Independent assignment
An honest statement of one tension
In your own notebook, choose one tension from this lesson. Write 350 to 450 words in four parts: the passages and what seems to conflict; the main proposals; your assessment of which are plausible; and what you think follows if the tension is not resolved. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.
Further study
- Augustine of Hippo, The City of God Read selectively for Augustine’s attitude to difficulties in Scripture.
- Origen, On First Principles (De Principiis) Read selectively where Origen discusses stumbling blocks in the text.
- Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will Read selectively for Luther’s argument about the clarity of Scripture.
- Jewish Publication Society, The Hebrew Bible in English (JPS translation) Read Proverbs 26 and note how the two verses sit together.
- Proverbs 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly.
- Acts 22:9 Compare with Acts 9:7.
- Luke 3:23 Luke’s genealogy of Jesus.