Bible Contradiction? Does the gospel of Luke contain everything that Jesus did?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Does the gospel of Luke contain everything that Jesus did?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

Yes.

“The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.” (Acts 1:1-2)

No.

“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself *would not contain the books that *would be written.” (John 21:25)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. Context of what is going on in both Acts 1:1-2 and John 21:25 matters.
   1. In Acts 1:1-2 Luke is writing here addressing a Christian name “Theophilus.” Luke refers back to his previous writing, the Gospel of Luke.  The Gospel of Luke of course records the life of Jesus.  Luke tells us that in details that it record events up to the day Jesus was going to ascend back to heaven.
   2. John 21:25 is the ending of the Gospel of John.  The Gospel of John like the Gospel of Luke record the life and ministry of Jesus.
3. John 21:25 makes it clear that everything that Jesus did cannot be contained in any given book.  That is because as John stated it “even the world itself *would not contain the books that *would be written.”  John is very clear here that no literary work can contain all that Jesus has done.
4. John 21:25 at first seems to contradict Acts 1:1-2.  In order for their to be a contradiction between the two passages it hinges on the meaning of the Greek word πάντων in Acts 1:1 that is translated in English as “all.”  In our English vocabulary and meaning “all” can be understood as “everything without exception.”  But we want to know what the Greek word means and its lexical range rather than just the English word to translate the Greek term.  The Greek word does not necessarily mean English sense that we often understand it.  That is the Greek term can mean “all sorts of… (various categories)” in a sense that doesn’t require the meaning of “every/all (with no exceptions).”  The use of the Greek adjective of πάντων and its various declined form does not necessarily have to take the meaning of “every/all (with no exceptions)” in its usage.
   1. 1 Corinthians 13:7 is one example.  See our discussion in our response to the alleged Bible contradiction “Should we believe in unseen things?“
   2. 1 Timothy 6:10 is another example.  See our discussion in our response to the alleged Bible contradiction “Is money good or bad?“
5. In light of the meaning of πάντων being “all sorts of…(various categories)” we don’t have a contradiction because Luke is not trying to tell us he’s written every single details about Jesus with no exception of anything being left out.
6. Just in case someone think our consideration of the lexical range of the meaning of the Greek term πάντων is illegitimate because we are saying the word has more than one meaning consider how English and any other natural language also have words with more than one meaning.  Consider the example of the English word “whopper,” “love” and ““left.“

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