The Scriptures in question involve three out of the four Gospels in the New Testament. Mathew says there was two demon-possessed men that came out from the tombs to meet Jesus. Mark and Luke says there was a (one) demon-possessed man who met Jesus. So was it one man or two?
(Mathew 8:28) When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him.
(Mark 5:2) When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.
(Luke 8:27) When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town.
Apparent Contradictions For The Wise
It has been said that God has allowed what may seem to be contradictions in the Bible just for those who are seemingly wise, yet they choose to look for a reason not to believe in God and his Word. In fact, (Luke 10:21) says God has hidden things from those who think of themselves as wise and clever, instead revealing them to little children. (1 Corinthians 1:27) says God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. In other words, for those who have made up their minds that the Bible is full of contradictions and they set out to prove it, God has given them just enough rope to hang themselves.
It Doesn’t Say Only One
This should be kept in mind when a person is looking at alleged contradictions in the Bible such as the one above. If Mark and Luke had written that there was only one man who had come out from the tombs to meet Jesus, this would directly contradict Mathew writing that there was two possessed men. However, they did not say only one man, but said a man. They simply chose to focus on one of the two demon-possessed men that Mathew wrote about.
Each author had a different perspective from which they saw and recalled the events involving Jesus and the demoniacs. As is often the case, the details of events witnessed by multiple people will often vary from person to person when they retell or write about what happened. The fact that Mathew and Luke chose to tell about just one of the demoniacs certainly doesn’t make their versions of what happened that day any less true, nor does it provide a contradiction for the skeptics.
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