Bible, Gospels and Contradictions

Harmonizing the Gospel Accounts of Jesus

It has been my observation that Muslims depend heavily upon liberal scholarship when they argue against the reliability of the Christian Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They allege inconsistencies in the Gospels or contradictions, most of which have been answered long ago.

What Muslims tend to overlook about inconsistencies in the Gospels is the agreement between the Gospels on matters like Jesus’ death on the cross. Even liberal scholars who deny Jesus’ miracles, and Jesus’ Virgin birth believe that Jesus died on the cross.

Here is a helpful explanation by William Lane Craig during a debate he had with a liberal Christian scholar:

For a scholarly discussion about the Gospels and seeming inconsistencies in the Gospels I recommend the following lectures by Craig Blomberg:

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What is behind Muslim arguments about the gospels?

Behind Muslim arguments against the gospels and the reliability of the New Testament is the Quranic assertion that Jesus was given a book (Injil) from heaven. Therefore, any books that were written by human authors after the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry must therefore be different from what Jesus was given. Muslims believe that differences in gospel accounts are proof that the gospels differ from the singular Injil.

The burden of proof is not upon Christians to harmonize the gospels or demonstrate the reliability of the New Testament. The burden of proof rests entirely on Muslims who need to prove the existence of the Quranic Injil.