Bible Contradiction? When did Jesus say that he would return?

 

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: When did Jesus say that he would return?

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

Before his disciples preach throughout Israel.

““But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to [b]the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.” (Matthew 10:23)

 

After the gospel is preached throughout the world.

“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come..” (Matthew 24:14)

(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 Matthew 10:23 as affirming the claim “Jesus said that He would return before his disciples preach throughout Israel” against Matthew 24:14 as affirming “Jesus said that He would return after the gospel is preached throughout the world.”
4. We have to see if the verse the verses were properly interpreted by the skeptics.
5. The skeptics properly interpreted Matthew 24:14 as affirming “Jesus said that He would return after the gospel is preached throughout the world.”  Notice the verse mentioned the “gospel of the kingdom.”  What about the Gospel?  It says it “shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nation.”  After this is done the verse states “then the end will come.“
6. It does not seem that the skeptics is justified to interpret Matthew 10:23 as affirming the claim “Jesus said that He would return before his disciples preach throughout Israel.”  Unlike Matthew 24:14, Matthew 10:23 does not mention about preaching  the Gospel.  Instead Matthew 10:23 is about escaping persecution. The means of escaping persecution is going to one town to another in Israel.
7. Given the skeptic misinterpreted Matthew 10:23 as affirming “Jesus said that He would return after the gospel is preached throughout the world” therefore this verse does not contradict with Matthew 24:14’s teaching of the Gospel going to all nations before Christ comes back.
8. Obviously both
9. Matthew 10:23 and Matthew 24:14 would occur  before Christ comes back.  One might wonder whether Matthew 10:23 or Matthew 24:14 would happen first.  I think Matthew 24:14 would happen first: That is, the Gospel will be preached to all nations.  Then later there will be persecution against Jewish believers in Israel.  This is the event mentioned in Matthew 10:23.  Synthesizing both passages helps reinforce the point that there’s not a contradiction here with our passages.
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.”