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Can God’s Words in the Bible Contradict themselves?
The Old Path Magazine | Vol. 1 No. 2 | 2005 |
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Bible cannot contradict itself. All the words of God
in the Holy Scriptures are in harmony with each
other. In the book of Proverbs, it is written that
the word of God will not contradict another word of
God. It will not and it cannot. In Proverbs 8:8-9:
“All the words of my mouth are in righteousness;
there is nothing forward or perverse in them. They
are all plain to him that understandeth, and right
to them that find knowledge.” (KJV)
That is the declaration of the wisdom of God.
Now, let us take an example for our study when God
prohibited the Israelites to eat swine and pork
during the Old Testament era. In Leviticus 11:7, we
will read:
“And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be
clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is
unclean to you.” (KJV)
During those times, eating of swine and pork is
abominable to the Lord because it was unclean.
However, there was a particular period in the
history of the early Christians that eating swine or
pork was no longer prohibited. In Acts, we can read
how God revealed to Peter through vision that “what
God hath cleaned (referring to four-footed beasts,
wild beasts and creeping things and fowls), call
that not common.” In Acts 10:11:
“And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel
descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet
knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth,
Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the
earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and
fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him,
Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, No so,
Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is
common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him
again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that
call not thou common.” (KJV)
God’s word cleaned these foods that were formerly
prohibited of Christians to take or eat. In our Lord
Jesus Christ’s times, it has been cleansed. Jesus
Christ declared what was considered as unclean
during the time of Moses or the Israelites is not
anymore considered as common or unclean. In Mark
7:19:
“Because it entereth not into his heart, but into
the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging
all meats?” (KJV)
Jesus Christ’s statement was confirmed by Apostle
Paul when he preached to the Gentiles in 1 Timothy
4:1-5:
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the
latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to
marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which
God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of
them which believe and know the truth. For every
creature of God is god, and nothing to be refused,
if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is
sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”
Paul handed to Timothy this teaching. He said that
for every creature of God is good, including the
swine. In the phrase: “for every”, we can say that
the use of the word “every” means everything or
without exemption.
Moreover, Christians are admonished by God to pray
before eating to let God sanctify it. If eating of
pork is no longer forbidden then, there is no
contradiction at all. While it was prohibited for
the Israelites to eat swine, some kind of meats,
some kinds of fishes, and some kinds of food during
the Old Testament times, in Jesus Christ’s time,
there was an amendment.
The reason, when understood, will help us discern
and realized that God’s word will not contradict
itself. Let us read from Hebrews 9:10:
“Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers
washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them
until the time of reformation.” (KJV)
Among the Israelites, time comes that these
ordinances were reformed. Christians are no longer
forbidden from eating meats or swine during the time
of Jesus Christ because the Bible said “for every
creature of God is good, and nothing is to be
rejected or nothing is to be refused, if it to be
received with thanksgiving.”
These pronouncements in the Bible prove that there
was no discrepancy in the words of God.
Contradictions may be seen only between the words
pronounced by God and satan. Here is an example: God
said to Adam (Gen. 2:17): “Thou shalt not eat of the
fruit in the middle of the garden because for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
According to God, Adam should not eat of it for he
will surely die. Now, here comes the devil or satan
saying (Gen. 3:4): “you will not surely die.”
The word of the devil contradicts the word of God
and there is nothing to be surprised at or marvel at
the two statements because the one speaking here is
God and the other is the devil. God is the one who
gave Adam and Eve the commandment, which the devil
has contradicted. It is not surprising because God’s
adversary is the devil.
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Doctrines of
Christ
