Intentional ‘contradictions’ in John’s writings
In Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don’t Know about Them), Bart D. Ehrman writes about one of his ‘favourite apparent discrepancies’ in John’s Gospel:-
It ‘comes in Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse,” the last address that Jesus delivers to his disciples, at his last meal with them, which takes up all of chapters 13 to 17 in the Gospel according to John. In John 13:36, Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, where are you going?” A few verses later Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going” (John 14:5). And then, a few minutes later, at the same meal, Jesus upbraids his disciples, saying, “Now I am going to the one who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ” (John 16:5).’
Ehrman concludes:-
‘Either Jesus had a very short attention span or there is something strange going on with the sources for these chapters, creating an odd kind of disconnect.’
But ‘hold you hard’ (as we like to say in Norfolk).
In his recent book Can We Trust the Gospels? Peter Williams has an intriguing section on some apparent ‘contradictions’ in the writings attributed to the apostle John. As it turns out, there are quite a few of them, mostly involving sayings attributed to Jesus.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)
2. People believed when they saw Jesus’s signs versus they did not believe
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. (John 2:23)
Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him. (John 12:37)
3. They know Jesus and where he comes from versus they do not
So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from.” (John 7:28)
Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” (John 8:14)
They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” (John 8:19)
4. If Jesus bears witness of himself, his testimony is not true, versus the opposite
‘If I bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.’ (John 5:31, my trans.)
So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” (John 8:13–14)
5. Jesus judges no one versus he has much to judge
‘You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.’ (John 8:15)
‘Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.’ (John 8:16)
‘I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.’ (John 8:26)
6. Jesus did not come into the world to judge it versus he came to judge
‘If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.’ (John 12:47)
‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.’ (John 3:17)
Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” (John 9:39)
Can you see a pattern here? It doesn’t look like muddled sources, stitched together by an incompetent editor, does it?
It looks far more as if we are dealing with paradox: the presentation of two or more statements that are superficially incompatible, but together point to a deeper truth.
Just like Charles Dickens, in the opening words of A Tale of Two Cities:-
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of time.’
Ehrman, in his enthusiasm for presenting the Gospels as hopeless inconsistent and unreliable, has simply missed the irony.
And coming from a distinguished New Testament scholar, it reminds us, once again, that you can have a bucketful of knowledge and less than a thimbleful of wisdom.