Are There Contradictions In the Bible?

When I first began reading the Bible, I found some contradictions. I also heard about other contradictions. As I studied the Bible more, and heard more preachers, I found that these contradictions have easy explanations. Okay, so there are two angels at the tomb in one text, and only one in another—is this really a contradiction? I mean, if there are two, are there not one? And the Judeans of John deny Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. But does this absolutely contradict Jesus’ birth there—which was not necessarily well known anyway? Many of the “contradictions” that are put forth are insignificant and not really a contradiction at all, but simply different points of view.

However, as I continued to read the Bible and really dig into it, I find contradictions that cannot be easily explained, at least if we allow the text to speak for itself. For instance, in Genesis 1, it says that plants were created before humanity, but in Genesis 2 it says that it occurred the other way around. In I Corinthians 11 it says that women should prophecy with their heads covered, but in I Corinthians 14 it says that women should stay silent and not prophecy at all (and this despite earlier in I Cor. 14 where it says that EVERYONE should have something to speak). In Matthew 1 there is a genealogy of Jesus which contradicts the genealogy given in Luke 3. While some claim that one if of Mary and the other of Joseph, both claim to be genealogies of Joseph.

Some additional contradictions are given by Dewey Beagle, found in Erickson’s Readings in Christian Theology, vol. 1.

Jude verse 14—Jude says that Enoch is the “seventh generation from Adam”, as quoted in the Book of Enoch, while the text in Genesis has many more generations between them.

II Kings 15:27—It says that Pekah “reigned twenty years”, but this is not possible, given the comparisons of other passages of II Kings.

Acts 7:4—Stephen claims that Abraham left Haran “after his father died”, but Genesis claims that Abraham’s father was still alive when he left.

Galatians 3:17—There is a strong discrepancy in the Bible to how long the Hebrews were in Egypt—was it about 400 years or a bit more than 200 years?

But these are but a few of the other serious contradictions that were discovered.

There ARE certainly some contradictions in the Bible text. But what does that mean for those of us who depend on the Bible as our main source of truth about God?