Bible Contradiction? Which came first: the calling of Peter and Andrew or the imprisonment of John the Baptist?

 

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Which came first: the calling of Peter and Andrew or the imprisonment of John the Baptist?

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

John the Baptist was imprisoned before Peter and Andrew were called.

“Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.” 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He *said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”” (Matthew 4:12-19)

“Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” 16 As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:14-17)

Peter and Andrew were called before John the Baptist was imprisoned.

“One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He *found first his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).” (John 1:40-42)

“After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized— 24 for John had not yet been thrown into prison.” (John 3:22-24)

(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. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptic tries to pit Mark 1:14-17 and Matthew 4:12-19 as affirming the claim “John the Baptist was imprisoned before Peter and Andrew were called” against John 1:40-42 and John 3:22-24 as affirming “Peter and Andrew were called before John the Baptist was imprisoned.”
4. The skeptics have properly interpreted Mark 1:14-17 and Matthew 4:12-19 as affirming the claim “John the Baptist was imprisoned before Peter and Andrew were called.”
5. Likewise the skeptic properly interpreted John 1:40-42 and John 3:22-24 as affirming “Peter and Andrew were called before John the Baptist was imprisoned.”
6. Yet both Mark 1:14-17 and Matthew 4:12-19 which affirms the claim “John the Baptist was imprisoned before Peter and Andrew were called” does not contradict with both John 1:40-42 and John 3:22-24 which affirms the claim”Peter and Andrew were called before John the Baptist was imprisoned” if we understand that it is logically possible Jesus called Peter and Andrew more than once at different times.
7. The fact of John the Baptist being detained is important for a reason to the passage.  Since we know in John 1:35-42 that Andrew was at one time a disciple of John the Baptist we can imagine this news of his former teacher being jailed must have been hard for Andrew.  Perhaps knowing about the arrest of Andrew’s former teacher John the Baptist made both Andrew and John quit being Jesus’ disciple so they went back to fishing.  No doubt we see that a few years later we see something similar where they would struggle with the death of Jesus and went back to fishing.  I wouldn’t downplay this interpretation since in the Scriptures events sometimes repeats itself.  So when you read Mark 1:14-17 and Matthew 4:12-19 we see Andrew and Peter who left Jesus is now being called back by Jesus Himself to be a disciple, and a genuine disciple this time.
8. It seems the skeptic annotated Bible didn’t do a thorough job.  They didn’t cite Luke 5:1-11 which is important in clearing a contradiction here by showing the second interpretation is preferred.  Luke 5:1-11 record the same event as Mark 1:14-17 and Matthew 4:12-19.  We know this because like Mark 1:16-17 and Matthew 4:12-19 Luke’s account also mentioned about Peter casting a net in the sea followed by Jesus calling them to fish for men and then the two brothers followed Jesus along with the two brothers James and John, sons of Zebedee.  Unlike Mark 1:16-17 and Matthew 4:12-19 though the passage in Luke 5:1-11 gives us additional detail of Peter’s conversation with Jesus.  For example verse 8 record how Peter reacted to Jesus between the time Peter threw the net to sea and when he followed Jesus: “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!””  That’s an unusual reaction for a fisherman who had just been given a miracle of getting a lot of fish.  Most people would be grateful.  So why did Peter confess he’s sinful and even asked Jesus to go away?  I think its because He was previously following Jesus but must have quit.  Peter must have felt convicted with the goodness of Jesus towards Him even after he and his brother quit following Him.
9. There’s not a Bible contradiction here in light of the above observations.
10. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”