Why are there so many contradictions and so much cruelty in the Bible itself? Slavery is not condemned, women are property, two different accounts of creation (Gen. 1 and Gen. 2).

This question is important to ask. Not asking it means reading Scripture naively. But how you ask matters. You can ask it like a prosecutor already sure of the verdict. Or you can ask it as someone wanting to understand what kind of book this is.

Scripture is not one text. It is a library of 66 books, written in three languages over more than a thousand years, in different genres: history, poetry, letter, prophecy, law, parable. Asking “are there contradictions in the Bible” without specifying genre is like asking “are there contradictions in a library.”

And about cruelty. Scripture does not hide the cruelty of a fallen world — it shows it. But showing and endorsing are different things. Much of the “cruel God of the Old Testament” is either reading out of context, or misunderstanding how the text works.

In conversations about “contradictions in the Bible,” the same 3–4 examples have been circulating since the 18th century. They are usually presented as the “final argument.” They are almost always misunderstandings.

For example: “In Genesis 1, the human is created after the animals; in Genesis 2, before.” The resolution: Genesis 1 is a cosmic poem with days of creation, Genesis 2 is a close-up story where the order of appearance is not the main thing, but the relationships between God, the human, the land, and the pair are. These are complementary perspectives, like two camera angles.

If all four Gospels were identical, that would be suspicious — meaning they were coordinated. The fact that they diverge in details but converge in essence is a sign of authenticity, not guilt.

Notice that Paul does not say: “All Scripture is dictated.” The Greek θεόπνευστος (theopneustos) literally means “God-breathed” — not “dictated” but “inspired,” passing through the breath of God.

This is the key. Jesus says: all Scripture is about Me. Not as a code, but as a story that moves toward one point. This changes how we read the hard places: not “every verse is a separate instruction,” but “where is this going.”

Most apparent contradictions fall into a few types.

When a reader finds a “contradiction,” three questions often help: In what genre is the text written? To whom is it addressed? What is it trying to say? Most “contradictions” evaporate on these three questions.

This is more serious. Here we need attention, not a quick defense.

Important principle: depiction ≠ endorsement. When the Bible describes how David took Bathsheba — it does not endorse it. It exposes it. When it describes Lot offering his daughters to the crowd — it shows a righteous man’s fall, not a prescription.

Scripture is the most self-critical book of its genre. No ancient literature exposes its heroes the way it does.

Honesty requires admitting: some of our “objections” are modern optics that did not exist before. That does not make them invalid. But it changes how to approach them.

History is a movement. Scripture itself moves. The law limits violence, prophets condemn injustice, Jesus radicalizes everything, the apostles go to the Gentiles. Anyone reading the Bible as a frozen slab loses its direction.

Honestly: there remain hard passages on which the best interpreters answer differently. Jephthah’s daughter. The extermination of the Amalekites. Psalm 137:9 (“blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock”).

What to do with them?

Don’t hide them. Don’t apologize for Scripture, as if God needs lawyers. And don’t pretend you have easy answers.

What to do? Remember that Jesus is the hermeneutic. He is the lens through which all Scripture is read. If a text seems to contradict the character of Christ, either we misunderstand it, or it describes fallen reality, not God’s ideal.

And also: you can live with open questions. Abraham did not understand Sodom but trusted the Judge. Job got no answer but saw God. Sometimes wisdom is to say “I don’t know how to hold this” — and not walk away.

1. 1
   Pick one 'contradiction' that weighs on you

   Not in general. Specifically. And read about it in a serious author.

   • Genesis 1 vs. 2 — John Walton.
   • Joshua's wars — Paul Copan.
   • 'Cruel God of the Old Testament' — Greg Boyd or Chris Wright.
2. 2
   Read the hard text in context, not as a quote

   Most problems are born from one verse without a chapter.

   • Read the whole chapter.
   • Read the previous and following chapter.
   • Ask: to whom? About what? Going where?
3. 3
   Read through Christ

   Jesus said: 'You search the Scriptures… they bear witness about me' (John 5:39). If your reading of Scripture makes God smaller than Christ, something is off.

   • Ask: 'Does this fit with the Jesus I know?'
   • If not — keep reading, don't close.