Major contradiction: John 2 versus Matthew 4

[ScottA]

In John 1 Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. In John 2 however, it shows Jesus attending the wedding at Galilie with his followers apparently. where he makes all that wine form water. He also says that His time has not yet come in response to His mother, but apparently he had some disciples with Him already, meaning His ministry was underway. But in Matthew 4 after Jesus was baptized it says He went into the wilderness to be tempted 40 days before commencing His ministry. So which is it? Where did Jesus go after being baptized by John the Baptist?

Seeing things like this is really starting to scare me.

The words are spiritually discerned.

There may very well have been some human error in the recording of the gospels--but not in the spirit.

"Forty days" in biblical terms is considered a lifetime--a lifetime in this "wilderness" called earth. Thus, the passage of forty days is to be understood as Jesus being tempted throughout His whole lifetime.

Which leaves two scenarios that one can believe...neither of which can be chronologized and recorded in the way one might assume. Time is an illusion. The forty days means nothing worldly, nor does the one day, or the next. John recorded it perfectly, as did Matthew...as that was the illusion laid out before each of them. Is it so hard to believe that the timeless events of God, best described as "in the twinkling of an eye" might be perceived differently, in the "image" cast into the creation of every man?

John blinked. Matthew didn't. But then they both witnessed Jesus' temptation for the last three years of His lifetime.

 

[Stumpmaster]

We can never forget the Bible is man made under the auspices it was God inspired.

How mad!

 

[Lambano]

Because that wasn't their objective. Each had a target audience and agenda. Those were the driving factors, not exact historical accuracy. This is pretty much Bible Scholarship 101. Do some reading. If you want to see what you're seeing as "problems" and "scare" yourself, you'll be well on your way to atheism.

I don't want to convert to atheism. I love Jesus.

Would it be more fair (and reassuring) to say that John is NOT writing a chronology?

John chooses certain vignettes out of Jesus's earthly life to make a point. The chronological order is not important.

 

[Lambano]

And in case you were not clear as to what John's point is....

 

[Deborah_]

In John 1 Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. In John 2 however, it shows Jesus attending the wedding at Galilie with his followers apparently. where he makes all that wine form water. He also says that His time has not yet come in response to His mother, but apparently he had some disciples with Him already, meaning His ministry was underway. But in Matthew 4 after Jesus was baptized it says He went into the wilderness to be tempted 40 days before commencing His ministry. So which is it? Where did Jesus go after being baptized by John the Baptist?

Seeing things like this is really starting to scare me.

John's gospel was written approximately 20-30 years after the other three. Christians were already familiar with the other gospels, and John evidently didn't feel the need to copy what they had already written - unless it helped him to make a theological point.

John doesn't actually record Jesus' baptism, but gives us John the Baptist's description of it in John 1:32-35. Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness probably precedes His first 'appearance' in John 1:29. So the sequence of events would be: baptism, then temptation, then Jesus returns to where John is baptising and meets up with His first disciples... and then off we go.

But John also tells us interesting details that the other gospels left out - such as the fact that Peter and Andrew and John had met Jesus some time before He called them to follow Him full-time (Mark 1:16-20).

 

[Lambano]

I don't want to convert to atheism. I love Jesus.

Now @friend of, would you REALLY stop loving Jesus if you thought the biblical witness about Him had a contradiction?

This "impeaching the witness's testimony" mindset has absolutely got to stop.