Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. (Matt. 28:1-2)
vWhen the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. (Mark 16:1-5)
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. (Luke 24:1-4)
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. (John 20:1)
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. (John 20:11-12)
The Bible gives four accounts of the resurrection of Christ, more precisely, the visit of the women to the tomb and the angels who greeted them. If you’ll notice, the accounts are different. I’d like to address this issue since it is a favorite of critics of the biblical record to say the Bible contradicts itself.
Matthew records the two Marys as going to the tomb. Mark mentions a third, Salome. Luke doesn’t tell us how many women came to the tomb, and John mentions only Mary. There are two quotes of John given because the passage concerning Mary is divided. After seeing the stone had been rolled away, she ran to tell the others.
So, the question is, “Why are the accounts different? Aren’t they contradictory? Actually, no. They are contrary but not contradictory. “Contrary” means they seem to be contradictory but really aren’t. Suppose someone said “I saw Bob at church this morning” but told a friend of yours “I saw Bob and Sue at church this morning.” You wouldn’t think that was contradictory because Bob was the main character in the first statement and both Bob and Sue were important in the second. No contradiction here.
It’s the same with the four accounts above. John thought it was only important to say Mary had gone to the tomb. She was the central character other than Jesus especially in John 20:11,12. The prior verses tell us John and Peter had run to the tomb and inspected it. Verse 10 says the disciples then went home, but not Mary. She stayed weeping and met Jesus in the garden. She was very important in the story, so John focused on her.
Matthew mentions one angel sitting inside the tomb in the appearance of a man and one sitting on the stone which had been rolled away. Luke records two angels appearing as men inside the tomb, yet John mentions none. So, were there two angles, one, or none?
There appears to have been at least two angels. One was simply more prominent as the spokesman, so Matthew only mentioned him. It’s the same story as with the women. There is no contradiction here.
Why is this important?
Many skeptics have caused some Christians to doubt their faith by bringing up seemingly contradictory passages such as these. They catch the Christian unaware and make them doubt the reliability of the Bible. Be careful. The Bible is God’s Word, but it is also God’s Work. If there are errors found, it is in the process of copying not in the originals. Unfortunately, we have only the copies, so we cannot show the originals as the accurate sources they were.
What we do have is more than 5,000 copies of the New Testament in Greek and more than 24,000 manuscripts overall. Some are very early manuscripts. We can compare all these manuscripts to try and come to a consensus of what the original looked like. Scholars are 99+% certain of the accuracy of modern peer reviewed translations of the Bible. The passages in question are not doctrinal. Most mistakes are made from poor copying, misspelled words, etc.
So, stand by the biblical account of the empty tomb. We have the accounts of eyewitnesses telling us what happened. Happy Easter to you all.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 