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在基督教界，無論是擁有神學博士的神學家、聖經學者、歷史學家、釋經學家、護教學家、或是解經學家，都再三強調，「聖經都是神所默示的， 於教訓， 督責，使人歸正，教導人學義都是有 益的。」 （提摩太後書3：16）因此，「就是到天地都廢去了律法的一點一畫也不能廢去。」（馬太福音5：18）神的話是永恆的，「天地要廢去，我的話卻不能廢去。」（馬太福音24：35）既然基督徒相信聖經逐字逐句都是無誤的，就不可能做任何更改。因此每當碰到矛盾抵觸的地方，唯一能經合情合理的解決方式，就是用補充說明的註釋來為聖經做辯護，證明他們是對的。這些評註，真的是殫精竭力地試圖證明，兩千多年以前寫的聖經，至今仍完全適用二十世紀的現代基督徒。
根據美國威克理夫聖經翻譯會（Wycliffe Bible Translator USA）──全世界最大的聖經翻譯機構報告，到2020年為止，整本聖經已經被翻譯成七百種語言。新約聖經額外有 1548 個譯本。數千個手抄本跟手抄本之間有各種的分歧──譬如，哪些内容應該在哪卷書或是在哪個經節。新約經文鑑別學（textual criticism）泰斗──巴特·俄曼（Bart Ehrman），在他的著作「製造耶穌」(Misquoting Jesus）一書裡寫到：「新約一共有十三萬個字，但目前尚存的新約手稿裡，大約有四十萬次的用字與用字之間有分歧... ... 西元頭1500年間， 大部分的手稿都是文士抄寫的。大多數的文士，都會盡所能地忠實傳遞每一個字句；但錯誤的發生是無可避免的。而當這個缺陷被複製時，錯誤會以幾何倍數增加，導致在文本的後續生成中出現多個帶有相同錯誤的副本。」 超過2000年的複製、再複製，無誤的可能性真是鳳毛麟角。基督徒卻仍堅持，因爲聖經是上帝的啟示，透過人手所寫的話，因此衡量其精準度時，並不適用於傳統鑑定的邏輯方式──也就是説聖經得以豁免如此檢閱。
既然基督徒願意相信聖經是無誤的，牧師們的選擇所剩不多：他們要不是給聖經賦予合乎情理的解釋，就是乾脆避免提其相互矛盾之內容。在巴特 · 俄曼的書裡，他指出了許多這類的矛盾。例如，在馬可福音中，當睚魯來見耶穌，俯伏求他，說他的女兒「快要死了」（馬可福音5：23），求耶穌去治癒她。但在耶穌還沒抵達睚魯家時，他的女兒就已經死了（馬可福音5：39）。跟這個一模一樣的故事，也記載在馬太福音；但這一次睚魯來到耶穌跟前時，他說：「我女兒剛才死了，求你去按手在她身上，她就必活了。」（馬太福音9：18） 大部分的基督徒，從沒去注意過這麼細節的差異。就算注意到了，他們也不太在乎。 他們會說：「這個無關緊要，重點在於耶穌讓這個女孩復活了。」
再來談談加略人猶大怎麼死的，聖經對他死亡的記載有分歧的說法。基督徒說：「這沒關係！我們知道他自殺的事實就夠了。」那麼，對於耶穌死亡的紀錄呢？ 根據馬太福音14：12，耶穌的門徒問他，他們應該在哪裡預備逾越節晚餐，結果這頓晚餐成為歷史上最具標誌性的場景。在這最後的晚餐，耶穌擘餅祝謝了， 拿起餅來，就擘開，遞給他們，說：「你們拿著吃，這是我的身體。」（馬可福音14：22） 又拿起杯來，祝謝了，遞給他們；他們都喝了。耶穌說：「這是我立約的血，為多人流出來的。」（馬可福音14：24）晚餐之後，耶穌出去，加略人猶大就在那個時候出賣了他。隨後，耶穌被交給官府審問。等他被釘十字架的時候是「巳初」（註：或作上午九點 ）（馬可福音15：25）。但約翰福音記載的與馬可福音又互異了。約翰福音裡記載了耶穌跟他的門徒一起用餐一事，但沒具體指明是什麼餐，也沒提到耶穌在用餐時講的那一段「身體和血」象徵重要意義的話。約翰福音還記載，耶穌死的那一天是「預備逾越節的日子，約有正午（註：或作中午十二點）。」（約翰福音19：14）馬可福音不是才說，耶穌跟他的門徒都已經在他死的前一天吃過逾越節晚餐了嗎？為什麼約翰還說耶穌死的時候，逾越節晚餐尚未預備好呢？這兩點相互矛盾有可能調和嗎？這好比聽到兩個目擊者為犯罪現場作證，可是內容完全相互抵觸。
面對類似這種抵觸時，基督徒可選擇許多不同方法來面對。以下提出兩點：
1. 反正這些衝突並不觸及到信仰教義的中心，無關痛癢，不需追根究底。
如果這些互牴之經文無足輕重，那到底什麼才是重要的，什麼是不重要的呢？如果最終結論是以聖經大原則為重，那為什麼基督徒又在許多聖經文字上吹毛求疵，在雞毛蒜皮的議題上爭論不休、大做文章呢？
2. 把矛盾的經文混在一起，調和之後，發明一個新的解釋。以猶大怎麼死為例，馬太福音說他是上吊自殺的；而使徒行傳說他因身子仆倒 、肚腹崩裂 、 腸子流出而死的。許多基督徒不願承認這兩處經節的分歧，就給它一個看似合理的解釋：猶大先上吊自殺 ，等到他身體腐爛膨脹後，繩子斷了，他的身體就掉了下來，身子仆倒，肚腹就裂開了。至於猶大死了之後那塊被稱為「血田」的地，是猶大自己買的？（使徒行傳1：18）還是祭司買的？（馬太福音27：6-7）基督徒的解釋是“祭司用猶大的名字購買的”，然後就宣稱這些經文不但無任何衝突，也無須協調，它只是從兩種不同角度去作的詮釋。
如果神的話語「比任何雙刃的劍更鋒利」（希伯來書4 ：12），為什麼這些經文的相互矛盾必須用辯解、化妝的方式才能成立？而誰的詮釋才是正確、可信的？矛盾的妥協要到什麼程度，基督徒才會對自己的信仰有安全感？如果基督徒擔心一旦聖經的衝突與矛盾透明化，會影響到信仰，會不利於傳福音，基督徒是否應該評估一下自己的信仰是建立在什麼樣子的基石上？或是要蒙心自問，自己是不是跟許多信徒一樣，選擇對這些牴觸睜一隻眼閉一隻眼，只不過是心照不宣罷了？
Biblical Inerrancy
In the Christian world, whether it is a Theology PhD, a historian, a biblical scholar, an apologist, or an exegete, emphasize repeatedly that " All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, "until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" (Matthew 5:18). God's word is eternal, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" (Matthew 24:35). Christians, who hold that every word in the Bible is without error, consider any alteration unthinkable. When contradictions arise, the most widely accepted approach to make it contextually applicable is by using supplementary explanatory notes. These notes aim to defend the Bible and demonstrate its relevance to contemporary Christians in the 21st century, despite its origins over two thousand years ago.
According to the report from the Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, the world's largest Bible translation organization, as of 2020, the entire Bible has been translated into 700 different languages. The New Testament alone has 1,548 versions. Among thousands of hand-copied manuscripts, there are various discrepancies, such as what content should be in which book or verse. Bart Ehrman, a leading expert in textual criticism, wrote in his book "Misquoting Jesus": "There are 130,000 words in the New Testament, yet the surviving manuscripts (the handwritten copies ) reveal something like 400,000 individual times the wording disagree between them." He mentioned that over more than 2,000 years, significant changes occurred in the Bible during the process of transcription and re-transcription. "Manuscript is a hand-copied text. For the first 1500 years after Christ, all copies of the Bible were reproduced by scribes who did the best they could-in most cases-to faithfully transmit to the text. Inevitably, mistakes happened which were then compounded geometrically when the flaw was copied, spawning multiple copies with the same error in subsequent generations of text." The possibility of an error-free text after more than 2,000 years of copying and recopying is indeed extremely rare. However, Christians still insist that the Bible is God's revelation, written by human hands, and thus, logical methods such as textual criticism don’t apply when assessing its accuracy, it is somehow exempt from such examination.
Since Christians are willing to believe that the Bible is without error, pastors and Chrisitan educators have very limited choices: They can either provide reasonable explanations or simply avoid mentioning these contradictory contents. In Bart Ehrman's book, he points out many such contradictions. For example, in the Gospel of Mark, when Jairus came to Jesus, he fell at his feet and said that his daughter "is at the point of death" (Mark 5:23) and asked Jesus to come and heal her. However, before Jesus reached Jairus' house, the girl had already died (Mark 5:39). A nearly identical story is also recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. But this time, when Jairus came to Jesus, he said, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live" (Matthew 9:18). Most Christians have never paid attention to such fine details, and even if they do notice, they may not be too concerned. They might say, "This is not important; the key is that Jesus raised the girl from the dead."
Judas Iscariot’s death, the betrayer of Jesus, is another example. The Bible provides conflicting accounts of his death. Christians might say, "That's not a problem! We know that he committed suicide." What about the records of Jesus' death? According to Matthew 14:12, Jesus' disciples asked Him where they should prepare the Passover meal, which turned out to be one of the most iconic scenes in history. During this last supper, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "Take it; this is my body" (Mark 14:22). He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. Jesus said, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many" (Mark 14:24). After the meal, Jesus went out, and Judas Iscariot betrayed Him at that moment. Subsequently, Jesus was handed over to the authorities for trial. He was crucified at the "third hour" (Mark 15:25). However, the Gospel of John provides a different account from the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of John mentions Jesus dining with His disciples but doesn't specify the nature of the meal, nor does it include the significant words about the "body and blood" symbolism that Jesus used during the meal. The Gospel of John also records that Jesus died on the day of "Preparation of the Passover" at "about the sixth hour" (John 19:14). But didn't Mark just say that Jesus and His disciples had already eaten the Passover meal the day before His death? Why does John say that the Passover meal was not prepared yet when Jesus died? Can these discrepancies be reconciled? This is like hearing two witnesses give contradictory testimonies about a crime scene.
When faced with such contradictions, Christians can choose from various methods to address them. Two approaches are as follows:
1. Since these conflicts don't affect the central doctrines of faith, they are considered trivial and not worth delving into. If these seemingly contradictory scriptures are deemed unimportant, what is essential, and what isn't? If the ultimate conclusion is to prioritize the overarching principles of the Bible, why do Christians scrutinize and debate many biblical texts on minor matters and make a fuss about trivial issues?
2. Blend contradictory scriptures together, harmonize them, and invent a new interpretation. Taking Judas' death as an example, the Gospel of Matthew states that he hanged himself, while the Acts of the Apostles say he fell headlong, his body burst open, and his intestines spilled out. Many Christians are unwilling to acknowledge the discrepancy in these two passages and offer what seems like a rational explanation: Judas hanged himself first, and after his body decomposed and swelled, the rope broke, causing him to fall, leading to the bursting of his abdomen. As for the question of whether Judas bought the field known as the "Field of Blood" (Acts 1:18) or the priests bought it (Matthew 27:6-7), the Christian interpretation is that it was "bought with Judas' name by the priests." They assert that these verses not only lack any conflict but also don't require reconciliation, as they are merely interpretations from two different angles.
If God's Word is "sharper than any double-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12), why must these contradictory scriptures be established through explanations and makeup? And whose interpretation is correct and trustworthy? To what extent should contradictions be compromised for Christians to have confidence in their faith? If Christians are concerned that making the conflicts and contradictions in the Bible transparent would affect their faith or hinder evangelism, should they re-evaluate the foundation of their faith? Or should they honestly question if, like many believers, they are deliberately ignoring these conflicts, even if they don't say anything about it?
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