Supposed Bible Contradiction: How Many Angels?
The accounts of the resurrection in the four gospels has been a favorite target of skeptics wishing to find discrepancies between them, believing that if they find even the tiniest error or contradiction that the entirety of the Bible is therefore unreliable. The historical naivety of that notion aside, attempts such as the one we’ll be taking a look at in this article have failed, only frustrating skeptics, rather than increasing their openness to the reliability of the scriptures, which is the sad reality. So which alleged contradiction is on the chopping block this week? By the title, you may already know which one.
“How many angels were at the tomb? Was it two, or only one?” Here are the two accounts in question:
Matthew 28: 2, 5 [NIV]- “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.”
“The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.”
Luke 24: 4 [NIV] - “While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.”
The answer is quite simple. You may have already thought of it after reading the two accounts. The answer is, there were two angels. So why then do Matthew and Mark only record one angel at the tomb? This could have happened for a number of reasons, of which we can only guess. The key fact is that neither Matthew nor Mark record there being only one angel. Perhaps they focused on the one who spoke more, or the one who kept their attention. We can think of many reasons why this may be and it is also important to note that we do this even today! Consider the following example:
Let’s say you come up to me and ask, “Hey, Devin, what did you do this weekend?” And I reply, “I went to the movies.” A few minutes later, a mutual friend of ours walks up to me and asks the same question. “Caleb and I went to the movies,” I answer. You overhear my response to our mutual friend and you interject, “I thought you said it was just you at the movies this weekend. Which is it?” Well, it’s both. For whatever reason, I chose to include that detail when the other person asked me the same question. Perhaps it was because the second person to ask me was the sister of Caleb, the friend I saw the movie with, and perhaps you didn’t know Caleb. There could be any number of reasons why I would leave out a detail and include it in another recollection.
There are plenty more supposed contradictions like this one in the resurrection story alone, but those will be handled in later articles. But until then, just remember the next time you read this account in the gospels, that you know that there is no contradiction here.
Recommended Resources:
Videos
Bible Contradictions Refuted (playlist) by Michael Jones
13 Bible Contradictions refuted by Mike Winger
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