Alleged Inaccuracies of the New Testament
Before leaving our consideration of the New Testament, it may be well to look at some more of the alleged inaccuracies with which infidels and professing Christians have unscrupulously assailed the holy Scriptures.
Three Days’ and Three Nights
It has been said, that because our Lord died on Friday at the ninth hour, was buried that day, and rose again from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week, that, therefore, it is not true to say He was “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” as our Lord declared that the Son of Man would be (Matt. 12:4040For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40)). But let it be observed, that according to the Jewish mode of calculating time, there is no inaccuracy in this statement. In our day, man has changed the scriptural order of almost everything possible, and instead of speaking of an evening and morning being a day, modern Gentiles say that a day consists of a morning and evening, and so calculate accordingly. And if the Jews reckoned any part of a day, as part of a night and a day (for the evening and the morning in Gen. 1, made a day), the alleged inaccuracy wholly disappears. For Friday, up to six o’clock, would be spoken of as one night and day, Friday evening and Saturday morning another night and day, and thus the difficulty is removed.
Our Lord’s Temptations
It has been alleged, that because Matthew and Luke, who both recorded in their gospels our Lord’s temptations from the devil, do not narrate them in the same order, there must be inaccuracy. But suppose one of the Evangelists, Matthew, relates them in their chronological order, and Luke puts them in moral sequence, or according to the severity of the temptations, and therefore puts the severest, when Satan quotes Scripture, last, where then is the difficulty?
Drink No Longer Water
It has been said by learned men, Can we believe that to be inspired which tells Timothy to “drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake, and thine often infirmities”? And again, “The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments”? Why not? Does it not show that the Holy Spirit considers our bodily need, and the books and writings His servants find helpful in His blessed service?
Feeding the Multitudes
One of the boldest attacks on the truth of late years has been the statement that when our Lord fed the thousands on a few loaves and fishes, with baskets of fragments remaining as not needed, it is impossible they could have all eaten, and must have had a meal before. But such infidel statements completely leave out God, and it may be said to those who so speak, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” As to the miracle of feeding so many on so little, we are told “they were all filled,” and on referring to Psalm 132:1515I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. (Psalm 132:15), we see it was only the fulfillment of what had been predicted ages before, as a true sign of Messiah, “I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.” Could there have been a more beautiful fulfillment of this prophecy than our Lord’s feeding the multitude? And ought not the Jews to have known by it that He was the Messiah?
(Continued)