Contradictions?

It is often more-or-less an article of faith among most people I run into that the Bible is full of self-contradictions. I thought so too early in my Christian walk. To the casual or beginning student of the Bible, such inconsistencies are both obvious and numerous.

But one at a time, the Holy Spirit revealed to me the missing perspective that, once obtained, caused the two seemingly opposing thoughts to be joined as one. For example:

When I first started reading the Gospels, I noticed that Jesus says that “he who is not with me is against me” (Matt. 12:30) but in Luke 9:50 and Mark 9:40 He is recorded as saying “he that is not against us is for us.” How can this be? Clearly someone made a mistake in writing the Bible. But then God showed me that the two statements are simultaneously true once one understand that there is no middle ground – either you are with Him or you’re not (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43).

I long had difficulty with the statement that we are not to judge (e.g. Matt. 7:1) knowing that other passages (e.g. 1 Cor. 2, 5 and 6) clearly admonish us to judge. Then yesterday the Holy Spirit chose to suggest that I look up the meaning of the original Greek words for judging. And wouldn’t you know it? The contradiction evaporated. It turns out that we are to discern (and share that discernment with fellow believers who have gone astray) but are not to condemn.

These are but two examples. There have been so many over the years that now I have faith that the things that I still don’t understand, those apparent contradictions and other seemingly impossible passages, will all be made clear in good time by my Teacher, the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).