S101-2. Do Paul and Luke CONTRADICT Themselves? DOWNLOAD to SAVE as a PDF Doc to read OFFLINE. S101-2. Do Paul and Luke CONTRADICT Themselves? Chapter 2. A brother in the Lord wrote to me saying that he DOUBTS the teachings of Paul. And one of the reasons for doubting the VISION that Paul had on the road to Damascus do not agree word for word. And to HIM, he feels like Luke was either deceived by Paul telling him different VERSIONS of his visions or Luke knew exactly what he recorded. In other words, does the Apostle Paul contradict himself, and does Luke contradict himself? Also, do either Paul or Luke contradict the teachings of Jesus? And, does the Bible contradict itself? Most Christians will say NO to all of the above questions saying there are NO contradictions in the Bible. And thus, whatever the disciples of Jesus taught is the SAME as what Jesus taught, because Jesus TAUGHT his disciples WHAT to teach. But there are SOME Christians who argue that Paul is a false teacher and that he contradicts the teachings of Jesus. And a few Christians, and I d mean FEW, argue that Luke contradicts himself. For you see, before this brother shared with me that he also has some doubts about what Luke records, I had never heard of anyone else doubting what Luke recorded. Now, obviously, atheists READ into the Scriptures what THEY call CONTRADICTIONS, which are NOT contradictions at all when you understand the TRUE God INTENDED meaning of those passages of Scripture. In other words, any verse of Scripture when viewed ALONE and apart from the rest of God’s word may SEEM to be saying something that it is NOT TRULY saying when it is CORRECTLY interpreted in the LIGHT of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. Now again, sadly, even some Christians READ INTO the Scriptures what they WANT those hand selected “cherry-picked” verses to say. Or more precisely, they interpret select verses of Scripture to mean what they NEED them to say in order to support what they have come to believe. Otherwise, those verses of Scripture ACTUALLY PROVE that what they believe does NOT AGREE with all of the Scriptures in the Bible. And thus, they have an AGENDA to interpret the Bible in the way that supports what they have come to believe. For example, there is a group of Christians who call themselves the “Jesus Words Only” believers or the “Jesus Only” believers. They sincerely believe with all their heart that THEY are the TRUE Hebrew Israelite people. One of those groups of Christians are of the Black African race of people and the other group is Caucasian. So obviously, the both cannot be right. And in my onw OPINION, neither group are natural born Hebrew Israelite people. They just SAY they are Israelites. Personally, I believe that the Hebrew race of people have brown skin like the people in the Middle East. Anyway, the Jesus Words Only Christians are what I call the seventh DAY of the week Sabbath-keeping Christians. For you see, to me, there is a DIFFERENCE between the TERM “Sabbath-keeping Christian” and the TERM that I myself use saying “the seventh DAY of the week Sabbath-keeping Christians?” The reason for why I distinguish the two groups as being different is because ALL Christians ARE Sabbath-KEEPING Christians by simply having FAITH in Jesus as their Lord and Savior WITHOUT any works of keeping ANY DAY Holy lest they SIN. So in truth according to the Bible ITSELF, I am a SABBATH KEEPING Christian, but I do NOT esteem ANY DAY of the week, month or year above any other day of the week month or year. In other words, I do NOT keep the SEVENTH DAY of the week as a mandatory DAY of REST like the ORDINANCES in the Law of Moses commanded the children of Israel under the first or Old Covenant DEMAND lest the Israelite be STONED to death. But rather, I keep the NEW COVENANT written in the New Testament. And thus, my faith in Jesus is the TRUE REST that Yahweh requires us to keep in order to be saved. If you do not believe in Jesus, then you are NOT saved. Now, the Jesus ONLY Christians argue that the Apostle Paul CONTRADICTS himself. And SOME Jesus ONLY Christians argue that Luke ALSO contradicts himself. Hence, they ONLY believe the words of Jesus and the teachings of SOME of the Apostles of Jesus. And the reason for WHY they READ INTO the Book of Acts these so-called “contradictions” is that they NEED the Apostle Paul to be a FALSE teacher. They have many different arguments to TRY to prove that the Apostle Paul is a so-called SELF APPOINTED Apostle of Jesus Christ and a so-called FALSE teacher. But in this chapter, I will only focus one of their arguments that has three points or three so-called contradictions #1. Luke gives THREE accounts of the vision of Paul on the road to Damascus. The Jesus words only Christians argue that Luke CONTRADICTS himself in the Book of Acts. Therefore, to THEM, the Apostle Paul is a FALSE teacher because Luke supposedly contradicts himself. Here is how their argument goes that this brother in our Lord wrote to me. The three accounts of the vision of Paul in the Book of Acts DIFFER. Luke is the writer of the Book of Acts and he wrote all three accounts. So HOW can the SAME writer contradict himself? And here are the three so-called “contradictions” that they READ INTO the Scriptures being unknowingly DECEIVED by Satan. They wrongly believe that the Holy Spirit pointed out to them these so-called contradictions. But why would the Holy Spirit inspire Luke to record something that is FALSE? So-called contradiction number one. There may SEEM to be a CONTRADICTION between Acts 9:7 and Acts 22:9 to some Christians. But I assure you that there is NO CONTRADICTION in the original Greek text. Always remember that we are reading TRANSLATIONS of the Bible. Here is WHY there is NO CONTRADICTION. First, I will simply quote both verses. Acts 9:7. “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.” And THEY argue that Acts 9:7 contradicts Acts 22:9 because they SEEM to be saying something different from each other. Acts 22:9. “And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spoke to me.” So again, it may SEEM like a contradiction to some Christians, but it is NOT a contradiction when you understand the truth, according to the CONTEXT and NOT according to atheists and Jesus words only Christians who try to prove that the Bible is full of contradictions. Keep in mind their AGENDA. First of all, the account in chapter 9 is narrated by Luke in the third person using pronouns like “him” and “he”. But in the account in chapter 22, Luke records it in the first person using pronouns like “I” and “me” to show that Paul is speaking. The use of different pronouns where Luke is narrating in one part of Acts and Paul is speaking in the first person shows us the different PARTS of the Book of Acts were possibly written at different times. And then later all of those individual different parts were put together as one book. Luke was the original writer, but there is a possibility that another unknown brother in the Lord COMPILED the separate writings of Luke at a later date So Paul MAY have read the letter in chapter 9 and corrected Luke adding more CLARITY. And then Luke recorded that later account in Acts chapters 22 and 26. That is ONE possibility. Paul would have simply been correcting what Luke misunderstood him saying. But even if that never happened, the MEANINGS of the Greek word teach us that there is NO CONTRADICTION. The Greek word that is translated as hearing a voice and they heard NOT the voice has DIFFERENT meanings. It is the SAME Greek word, but that Greek word “akouō” has DIFFERENT meanings. So then, if you were reading the Book of Acts in the Greek language, then you would know and understand that there is NO CONTRADICTION. Here is how the concordance in E-Sword defines this Greek word. G191 ἀκούω akouō ak-oo'-o A primary verb; to hear (in various senses): - give (in the) audience (of), come (to the ears), ([shall]) hear (-er, -ken), be noised, be reported, understand. Total KJV occurrences: 437 So then, this Greek word can mean hearing with the EAR. And it can ALSO mean UNDERSTANDING with the MIND. Plus, it can mean hearing a NOISE with the ear, but not understanding the meaning of what was heard. For example, I can be writing a Bible study and I HEAR my wife asking me a question, but I did not understand what she asked. I heard her VOICE, but my concentration was on the Bible study so I did not UNDERSTAND what her voice was saying. And thus, I HEARD and I HEARD NOT at the same time. A PERFECT example of this HEARING a voice from heaven but NOT understanding what the voice was saying in the Bible ITSELF is found in John 12:28,29. John 12:28,29. “Father, glorify Your name. Then came there a VOICE from heaven, SAYING, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. (Now, Jesus himself both heard the voice AND understood what the voice was saying) 29. The people therefore, those that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spoke to him.” So then, those that were WITH Jesus HEARD the VOICE, but they did NOT UNDERSTAND the voice, because to them it sounded like thunder. They HEARD the VOICE but they HEARD NOT the voice. In other words, they ALL heard to voice, but only Jesus understood what the voice was saying while the others STOOD DUMB but they did indeed hear the SOUND of the voice that sounded like thunder to them. And thus, NO CONTRADICTION! And the SAME is true with the SO-CALLED contradiction between Acts 9:7 and Acts 22:9. But the TRUTH or the matter is that they did INDEED hear the voice but they at the same time did NOT hear the voice, in that, they did UNDERSTOOD not the voice. So then, there is an ERROR in the translation of the Greek word “akouō”, which should have been translated as the UNDERSTOOD not the voice instead of they heard not the voice. Also, if you read Acts 9:7 with the Strong’s numbers by each word, then you can see that the article “a” was translated from Strong’s number G3303 which carries the meaning INDEED. In other words, those who were with Paul stood speechless hearing INDEED a voice or indeed hearing a voice they stood speechless. Now, why did they stand SPEECHLESS? What does they even mean, they stood speechless? It means that they did NOT HEAR the voice, as in, they had no idea what the voice was SAYING. In other words, they stood DUMB not KNOWING what the voice said to Paul. Look up the Greek word “translated” as speechless and you will see that one of its meaning is DUMB. They ALL fell down and they ALL STOOD back up, but only Paul UNDERSTOOD the voice, while those with him stood dumb to what the voice was saying. So again, NO CONTRADICTION! This brings us to the so-called contradiction number two. So-called contradiction number two. Another so-called contradiction is between Acts 9:7 and Acts 26:14. One verse SEEMS to be saying that ONLY Paul fell down, while the other verse says they ALL fell down. Again, if one WANTS or NEEDS to see a so-called contradiction, then they can READ INTO the Scripture what they NEED to see. Let us read those two verses of Scripture so you can see the EMPHASIS I place on the Scriptures to draw you attention. Acts 9:7. “And the men which journeyed with him STOOD speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.” Now, let us read Acts 26:14 which might SEEM to some of you to contradict Acts 9:7. Acts 26:14. “And when we were ALL FALLEN to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.” Now, if or when someone POINTS this out and dogmatically demands that Luke is CONTRADICTING himself, then it because they have an AGENDA. So to THEM it might SEEM like there is a contradiction. Again, the agenda of seventh DAY of the week Sabbath-keeping Christians is to try to prove that the Apostle Paul is a FALSE teacher. And to do that they must ALSO prove that Luke is a FALSE teacher as well. For you see, Luke clearly teaches us in Acts 15:10-24 that the WHOLE church gave WITNESS to Paul as being a TRUE Apostle of Jesus Christ. They SENT Paul out to preach to the Gentiles with LETTER making SURE that ALL of the church know that they gave NO SUCH commandment to keep the Law of Moses. So again, I assure you that neither Luke nor the Apostle Paul contradict themselves. Nor do they contradict the words of Jesus. Simply ask yourself the following questions, “Did they all STAY fallen down on the ground and never STAND back up?” In other words, “Does the phrase, they STOOD speechless, dogmatically demand that is was impossible for them to have fallen and then stand back up where the STOOD speechless after falling down?” NO! Of course not! Acts 9:7 happens AFTER they were able to stand back up and they ALL stood back up. Paul was told to ARISE in Acts 9:11, in Acts 22:10, and in Acts 26:16. So then, after Paul saw the light, heard the voice, and fell down, Paul stood back up and UNDERSTOOD what the voice was saying. However those with Paul STOOD DUMB, but they did INDEED hear the voice. So all three accounts AGREE perfectly when you UNDERSTAND all of the MEANINGS of the Greek words and you KEEP those verses in their CONTEXT. But even without looking up the meanings of the Greek word, mere common sense teaches us that the ALL STOOD back up after they ALL had FALLEN down. Acts 26:16 (a). “But rise, and stand upon your feet:...” So again, they ALL fell down and they ALL stood back up. NO CONTRADICTION! This brings us to the third so-called contradiction. Atheists and some Jesus words only Christians also argue that in Acts chapter 26 Paul OMITS the words of Jesus saying that he SENT Paul to Ananias to be told what to do. In other words, in the vision that occurred on the road to Damascus Jesus did NOT tell Paul the NAME of the man who would come to him and tell him what to do. And to THEM that proves Luke contradicted himself. So-called contradiction number three. Argument number three is focused on Luke OMITTING words in Acts chapter 26 that he SUPPOSEDLY used in Acts chapter 9. More specifically, the Jesus Words Only Christians WRONGLY argue that Jesus told Paul to go to see a man named Ananias and then Ananias will tell you want to do. But that is NOT what Jesus said. Read it for yourself. Acts 9:6-12. “And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will you have me do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told you what you must do. (Notice that is Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus Jesus did NOT give Paul the NAME of the man. But rather, Jesus simply said, Arise, and go into the city and it shall be TOLD to you what you must do. So for all we know, Paul may have assumed that when he arrived into the city that Jesus would appear to him again and tell him what he wanted him to do. Jesus simply said GO into the CITY and IT shall be told what you must do) 7. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, (Or stood back up DUMB) hearing (INDEED) a voice, but seeing no man. 8. And Saul arose (Or STOOD back up) from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. (So Paul obeyed what Jesus said in the vision and went into the CITY) 9 And he was (There in the CITY for) three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. (So then, Paul seems to be praying, fasting, and WAITING to be TOLD what to do. Then Luke records ANOTHER vision given to a man named Ananias) 10. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. 11. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he is praying, (So now we know for SURE that Paul was fasting and praying, because Luke RECORDS that fact for us) 12. And has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.”
Now, some Christians, namely, only those Christians that have an AGENDA to sow doubt on the Scriptures, ASSUME that Jesus told Paul in the vision on the road to Damascus to go into the city AND that a man named Ananias will come in unto you and he shall tell you want to do. But in TRUTH, it is more logical to assume that while Paul was fasting and praying for three days, Paul was more concerned with getting his SIGHT back. And while praying Jesus appeared to Paul in ANOTHER vision and told him that a man named Ananias will come in unto you and lay his hands on you to receive your sight. So why did Luke NOT record that other vision? John teaches us John 20:30,31 that many other things that Jesus did were NOT written, but what John and others did write was for us was so that we would KNOW that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. In other words, do not READ DOUBT and unbelief INTO God’s word. And IF a verses SEEM to contradict another verse of Scripture, then KNOW that it is either in the WAY you are interpreting those verses the seem to contradict each other, or the translators have incorrectly translated a word in one of those verses of Scripture. So again, the argument is that all three accounts do not say the same thing word for word in each account. I have already shown you that the first two so-called contradictions actually AGREE perfectly even though the wording is different. And the wording is only different due to the translator using the SAME meaning when he should have translated “heard” not as they “UNDERSTOOD” not. For you see, they stood DUMB, as in, they stood back up NOT UNDERSTANDING what the voice was saying. So then, the TRUTH of the matter as to why Luke did not record every account word for word is that Luke simply SUMMED UP the so-called omitted details of Paul’s conversion to Christianity. Read the CONTEXT in Acts 26:19 where Jesus told Paul to go into the city would have been written it the third account IF Luke would have decided to give every last detail. Acts 26:19,20. “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was NOT disobedient unto the heavenly vision: (In other words, Paul is saying that he did everything Jesus told him to do in that vision. I went into the city where I would be TOLD what to do and I did just like Jesus to me to do. Then AFTER Paul went into the city we can safely assume that he had ANOTHER vision while he was PRAYING to be healed. And AFTER Ananias laid hands on him for Paul to receive his sight he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then he was baptized and start preaching that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. You see, all of this would have been written IF God would have led Luke to record ever detail in every account. The audience is different in each account. When Peter preached the Gospel in Acts 2 and then again in Acts 3 and again in Acts chapter 10 did Peter preach it word for word? NO! But it is the SAME MESSAGE! And no Christian would read into those three gospel messages that Peter is a FALSE teacher because he did not preach the same gospel word for word) 20. But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” Paul is saying that all he was doing is OBEYING the word of Almighty God and His Son Jesus. And for teaching the TRUTH the Jews wanted to KILL him. My point is that atheists argue that even Jesus CONTRADICTED himself or he LIED to his half brothers in John 7:1-21, because atheists WANT to TRY to prove that they are right and Christians are wrong. They argue that Jesus told his half brothers that he was NOT going to go to the feast. But after they left to go to Jerusalem for the feast, Jesus also went to the feast but he went in SECRET. And thus, atheists CLAIM that Jesus LIED and lying is a SIN, but the Bible says Jesus did NOT sin. Therefore, the whole Bible is not true because God cannot lie. So they USE their own personal INTERPRETATION of the Bible to TRY to prove that everything written in the Bible is a lie. So again, my point is that if you WANT a reason to DOUBT the Bible, then keep on listening to atheists and those Christians who HATE what the Apostle Paul teaches because the teachings of Paul PROVE that they are WRONG in what they believe and teach, which is that Christians MUST keep the Law of Moses lest they SIN. They argue that it is a sin to not keep the other nine commandments and therefore it is a sin to not keep the fourth commandment. And I AGREE, but I do NOT agree that Christians must keep the LETTER of the law of the fourth commandment contained in ORDINANCES. Please read the studies called Dd-5. What Does Contained in ORDINANCES Mean?, Dd-10. Must we KEEP the FOURTH Commandment?, Dd-11. Is KEEPING the TRUE Sabbath Mandatory?, and Dd-13. Is JESUS OUR TRUE SABBATH REST? In chapter 3, we will cover the argument that Paul came in his OWN NAME to FULFILL the prophecy of Jesus in John 5:43. To continue reading chapter 3 please click of the title S101-3 Did Paul Come in His OWN NAME? To find the links to all of the chapters please click on the link S101-0 The JEWISH MESSIAH is Jesus! Thanks for reading, and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. And to me, the truth concerning who Jesus TRULY is, according to the Bible ITSELF, is the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus. So, for ALL of the studies on the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus, please click on the subject heading >>>D-0. THE BIBLICAL UNITARIAN VIEW of JESUS!<<< And for the SUBJECT on the true foundation of the church, please click on the subject heading >>>C-0. THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH!<<< This way you can just send ONE link to those who you want to share the TRUE sound Biblical FOUNDATIONAL teachings of the church that Jesus and his Apostles taught in the first century church.
Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, Brother Mark.
My heartfelt prayer is that all Christians RETURN to the TRUE FOUNDATION of the church that is taught by the very Apostles of Jesus in the first century. So let us all come into the UNITY of the faith and return to what Jesus and his Apostles taught us in SIMPLICITY in the New Testament.
To learn more TRUTH, then please return to
VERSES USED TO TEACH THAT JESUS PREEXISTED!
To me, the best way to know the ONE true God in ONE person is to know who Jesus TRULY is according to the WHOLE word of Almighty God. So please read ALL of the studies under the heading >>>N-0. WHO is JESUS ACCORDING to the BIBLE?<<< and you will see that the Bible itself teaches us that Jesus was CREATED by his God and Father. And if you have any questions related to the correct meaning of certain verses of Scripture on this subject of who Jesus is please read all the studies under the two headings >>>U-0. VERSES used for THE TRINITY!<<< and >>>V-0. VERSES used to TEACH that Jesus PRE-EXISTED!<<< These two headings have ALL of the studies that I have on who Jesus truly is according to what the Bible itself teaches us in simplicity. I compiled these three headings to make it easy for my readers to send just one, two, or three links to those you desire to help understand what the Bible itself teaches concerning who Jesus is in the LIGHT of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me. My contact email is MarkatAMatterOfTruth@Gmail .com. Thanks again for reading and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the truth of the whole word of Almighty God.
Your Brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, Brother Mark.
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