THE SUPPOSED DISCREPANCY IN THE FOUR RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS 8-14-26

One of the objections often raised against the reliability of the New Testament is the claim that the four Gospel writers cannot agree about the resurrection of Jesus. One says there was one angel. Another mentions two. One records Mary Magdalene. Another speaks of several women. One account seems to have the women tell the disciples. Another says they were afraid and told no one.

To some, these appear to be contradictions. But a closer look reveals something very different. The accounts are not contradictory. They are selective, complementary accounts of the same extraordinary morning.

The first thing we must remember is that none of the Gospel writers claims to give us every detail. John openly says that Jesus did many other things which were not written in his book (John 20:30). Luke says that he carefully investigated the events and wrote them in an orderly account (Luke 1:1-4). Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are not four men attempting to repeat the exact same sentence. They are four witnesses giving us different perspectives of the same event.

Consider the angels. Matthew tells us that an angel descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat upon it (Matthew 28:2). Mark speaks of a young man sitting on the right side inside the tomb (Mark 16:5). Luke records two men standing by them in shining garments (Luke 24:4). John tells us that Mary saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus had lain (John 20:12). Is that a contradiction? Not necessarily.

If there were two angels present, there was certainly one. If one Gospel writer chooses to emphasize the angel who spoke, that does not mean the other angel was absent. In fact, Luke’s account of two actually helps us understand why Matthew and Mark could mention only one.

The same principle applies to the women. Matthew names Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” (Matthew 28:1). Mark mentions Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (Mark 16:1). Luke speaks of Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women (Luke 24:10). John concentrates almost entirely on Mary Magdalene’s encounter (John 20:1-18).

These accounts do not require us to believe that only the women named in each account were present. John himself says that Mary came to the tomb and then ran to tell Peter and John, saying, “We do not know where they have laid Him” (John 20:2). Her use of “we” is significant. She was not necessarily alone.

Then there is the question of whether the women told anyone. Mark 16:8 says they went out quickly and fled from the tomb because trembling and astonishment had seized them, and “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” That statement makes sense in the immediate context. They did not stop on the road and begin announcing the resurrection to everyone they met. They were terrified.

But the Gospel itself goes on to tell us that Mary Magdalene later reported the news to the disciples (Mark 16:9-11). Luke likewise says the women returned from the tomb and told the apostles (Luke 24:9). The natural reading is not that they never told anyone. It is that their initial reaction was fear and silence.

We should also remember that the resurrection accounts contain movement. The women came to the tomb. They discovered the stone removed. They encountered the angelic messengers. They were told that Jesus had risen. They went to report to the disciples. Mary Magdalene encountered Jesus. Peter and John came to the tomb. Jesus later appeared to the disciples.

Paul summarizes many of these appearances in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. There is no reason to force every detail into one frozen moment. The resurrection morning was not a photograph. It was a sequence of events.

And perhaps that is one of the strongest reasons the differences should not trouble us. If four witnesses gave exactly the same account, word for word, we might reasonably wonder whether they had simply copied one another. But when independent witnesses describe the same event from different perspectives, differences in selection and emphasis are expected.

The essential testimony remains unchanged: Jesus died. He was buried. The tomb was found empty. His followers encountered Him alive. His disciples proclaimed His resurrection even though doing so brought them suffering and persecution.

The resurrection does not stand or fall on whether Matthew mentioned every woman Mark mentioned, or whether John described every angel Luke described. The heart of the testimony is remarkably consistent. The tomb was empty because the One who had been crucified was no longer there. The stone had been rolled away. The grave clothes remained. The body was gone. And the disciples eventually saw the risen Christ.

What some call contradictions are often simply the marks of multiple witnesses telling the truth from different perspectives. The Gospel writers do not give us four competing resurrection stories. They give us four windows looking into the same empty tomb. Each window shows something the others emphasize less. Together they give us a fuller picture.

The message of the resurrection is therefore not weakened by the differences in the accounts. It is strengthened by the fact that beneath every difference stands the same glorious announcement: “He is risen; He is not here” (Mark 16:6).

The grave could not hold Him.

Death could not conquer Him.

The stone could not stop Him.

And the testimony of four Gospel witnesses still stands.

____________

PRAYER

Father, thank You for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Help us not to be shaken by objections that disappear when Your Word is carefully examined. Give us confidence in the truth, wisdom to answer those who question it, and faith to proclaim that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. May the empty tomb never become merely a doctrine to us, but may it remain the foundation of our hope, our salvation, and our life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

BDD