Bible Contradiction? Who is for or against Jesus?

This is a look at another alleged Bible contradiction from Luke 9 according to the Skeptic Annotated Bible.

Today’s question: Who is for or against Jesus?

Those who are not with Jesus are against him.

He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.” Luke 11:23

Those who are not against Jesus are for him.

for he who is not against you is for you.” Luke 9:50

I think when we examine the passage carefully this will be shown to be not a contradiction.  Let’s take a closer look:

1. I must admit right off the bat I found this claim of a Bible contradiction to be skeptical since these two passages are just two chapters away from each other.  Sometimes I think skeptics using critical methods can be really naive to think writers of the Bible can put contradictory accounts and claims right next to each other as if they are too silly to not notice anything wrong whatsoever.  This doesn’t refute the contradiction in of itself but should slow us down when someone knee-jerk assert there’s a Bible contradiction.
2. We must take a step back and think methodologically.  Formally the claims “Those who are not with Jesus are against him” and “Those who are not with Jesus are for him” are contradictory if they are meant in the same sense.  My contention here is that Luke 9:50 does not supply the claim “Those who are not with Jesus are for him” that is necessary for there to be a contradiction.  As usual context and attention to grammar matters.
3. To begin with pay attention to the pronouns.  Luke 11:23 Jesus talks about “Me,” a first person pronoun with reference to Jesus Christ Himself.  But in Luke 9:50 Jesus used second person plural pronouns,”you,” as a reference to the disciples.  Luke 9:50 isn’t talking about those who are against Jesus.  Thus the skeptic can’t use Luke 9:50 to make the claim that the Bible teaches “Those who are not with Jesus are for him.”
4. Again Luke 9:50 does not supply us with the claim “Those who are not with Jesus are for him.”  This is further supported by the verse’s context.  In context what’s going on in Luke 9 is the fact that Jesus’ twelve disciples were competing against one another and other followers who were doing miracles in Jesus’ name.  I’ve already demonstrated that in my post Bible Contradiction? Who can cast out devils in the name of Jesus? (see point 6).  When Jesus said “for he who is not against you is for you,” He was talking about the fact that those who do the works of God in a way not antithetical to them are not against them but for them.  Jesus is not talking about people being not against Himself.
5. Mark 9:40 is a parallel of Luke 9:50 that does use the pronoun “us” instead of “you.”  But again, the context of what’s going on in Mark 9 is the same as in Luke 9 if one read the eaerlier verses and thus the point of point 4 remains that this is talking more about those not against the competitive and selfish disciples rather than ultimately being about Jesus Christ.
6. Let’s also consider the context of what’s going on in Luke 11 that situates Jesus’ saying that “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”  Before Jesus’ speech some have dismissed His miracles (v.14-15).  Jesus’ response to them opens up with discussion of kingdoms (v.17), noting the kingdom of Satan (v.18) in contrast to the Kingdom of God (v.20).  With these two antithetical kingdoms in view we thus see Jesus say “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”  There are no middle ground between these two kingdom.  We are not surprised that since Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords of the Kingdom of God for Him to say the words that He did, given the only other kingdom of darkness that people would be in if it is not the Kingdom of God.

This is another “contradiction” claimed by the skeptic that isn’t a contradiction if one were to apply sound heremenutics.