There
are those who try to confuse Christians or those interested in
becoming Christians by showing inconsistencies in Biblical wording
trying to disprove that Jesus Is the Son of God. First of all, we
have to figure out what the inconsistencies are in these passages.
Three of the four Gospels refers to Jesus saying something similar
to, “Follow
Me and I will make you Fishers of Men.”
Each
of these three Gospels say it differently. Also, the Gospel of John
doesn’t record Jesus saying that. I will use the New King James
Version (NKJV) of the Bible to research these and put my findings in
[brackets] to see if these inconsistencies are significant enough to
disprove that Jesus Is the Son of God?
Matthew
4:17-20 says: From that time Jesus began to preach and to say,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And Jesus walking
by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and
Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were
fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow
Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
They
immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Mark
1:16-18 says: And as He [Jesus] walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw
Simon [Peter] and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for
they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, “Follow
Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
They
immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Luke
5:1-10 says: So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear
the word of God, that He [Jesus] stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and
saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from
them and were washing their nets. Then He [Jesus] got into one of the
boats, which was Simon’s [Simon Peter’s], and asked him to put
out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes
from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon,
“Launch
out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
But
Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night
and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the
net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of
fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners
in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled
both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it,
he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a
sinful man, O Lord!” For he and all who were with him were
astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also
were James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with
Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do
not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”
John
1:33-34 John the Baptist says: “I did not know Him, but He who sent
me to baptize with water said to me, “Upon
whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He
who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
“And
I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” John
1:35-51 goes on to say: Again, the next day, John [the Baptist] stood
with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he
[John the Baptist] said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The two
disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus
turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What
do you seek?”
They
said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher),
“where are You staying?” He [Jesus] said to them, “Come
and see.”
They
came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day
(now it was about the tenth hour). One of the two who heard John [the
Baptist] speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s
brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, We
have found the “Messiah” (which is translated the Christ). And he
[Andrew] brought him [Simon Peter] to Jesus. Now when Jesus
looked at him [Simon Peter], He said, “You are Simon the son of
Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).
The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip
and said to him, “Follow
Me.”
[Well,
I’m going to put the three passages side by side to better compare
them.]
Matthew
4:19 says: Then He said to them, “Follow
Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Mark
1:17 says:Then Jesus said to them, “Follow
Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
The
second part of Luke 5:10 says: And Jesus said to Simon, “Do
not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”
[In
my opinion, the verse in Matthew saying “I
will make you fishers of men”,
Mark’s saying, “I
will make you become fishers of men”,
and Luke’s saying, “...From
now on you will catch men”,
are all very similar in nature and does not invalidate that Jesus
said this, nor does it come anywhere near disproving that Jesus Is
the Son of God!]
[The
next part of comparing where these first three Gospels take place to
see if any inconsistencies are significant.]
Matthew
4:18 says: And Jesus
walking by the Sea of Galilee,
saw
two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a
net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
Mark
1:16 says: And as He
[Jesus] walked by the Sea of Galilee,
He saw Simon [Peter] and Andrew his brother casting a net into the
sea, for they were fishermen.
Luke
5:1-2 says: So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the
word of God, that He
[Jesus] stood by the Lake of Gennesaret,
and
saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from
them and were washing their nets
[First,
I did a Google Search for: Is the Lake of Gennesaret the same as the
Sea of Galilee? I found what I needed at:
While
it is a lake and not a sea, the Lake of Gennesaret is also called the
Sea of Galilee, as
well as the Sea of Tiberias, after the resort city of Tiberias that
Herod the Great built on its western shore and named after Caesar
Tiberias to endear himself to his Roman overlord.
This
tells me that all three Gospels are talking about the same general
place which is not significant enough to invalidate that Jesus said
this or that Jesus Is the Son of God.]
[Additionally,
I need to research to see if there are other details that are
questionable in these three Gospels.]
Matthew
4:18 says: And
Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called
Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they
were fishermen.
Mark
1:16 the second half says: He [Jesus] saw Simon [Peter] and
Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were
fishermen.
Luke
5:5-8 says: But Simon answered and said to Him [Jesus], “Master, we
have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I
will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a
great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to
their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came
and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon
Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from
me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
[In
my opinion, all three Gospels are talking about Simon Peter, his
brother, Andrew, and possibly others casting nets into the sea. I
guess when I first read it, I was thinking that they cast their nets
into the sea from the shoreline, but I realized after reading this
several times, there’s nothing that really says this. In Luke, they
are casting the nets into the sea from the boat, and in re-reading
the passages in Matthew and Mark, it just says that they were casting
their nets into the sea which could have been while they were in a
boat. Regardless, if some passages had them on land casting in their
nets and some in a boat, would it be significant enough of an
inconsistency to prove that Jesus didn’t say this and to disprove
that Jesus Is the Son of God? In my opinion, it most certainly does
not.]
[We
now need to compare these first three Gospels with the Gospel of
John. I checked in John 1 to see where the passage above took place.]
John
1:27-28 says: “It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before
me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” These
things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was
baptizing.
In
checking out the map at the following site, I found that Bethabara is
by the Jordan River and near the Sea of Galilee also called the Lake
of Gennesaret :
https://www.bible-history.com/new-testament/baptism-of-jesus-bethabara.html
[It
is my opinion, that all four passages in the Gospels take place
around the same area of water deep enough for baptizing and for
fishing. Even if they weren’t in the same area, would that be
significant enough to prove that Jesus didn’t say this or disprove
that Jesus Is the Son of God? No way!!!]
Are
other inconsistencies between the Gospel of John, Matthew, Luke and
Mark significant enough to prove that Jesus didn’t say this or to
disprove that Jesus Is the Son of God?
[In
my opinion from researching this, the Gospel of John mentions nothing
of casting nets or fishing, although they were by a body of water
where this could have happened, but was not recorded isn’t a
significant discrepancy.]
Are
there other inconsistencies between these portions of the Gospels of
John and Matthew, Mark, and Luke that are significant?
[Additionally,
Matthew and Mark have Jesus asking both Simon Peter and Andrew to
Follow Him and become Fishers of Men. Luke notes that Jesus said this
to Simon Peter and the only thing similar in the Gospel of John 1 is
in verse 43 says: The following day Jesus wanted to go to
Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow
Me”,
but are these significant? In my opinion, I don’t think so. Just
because John didn’t specifically note that Jesus said to Simon
Peter to Follow Him and become Fishers of Men, doesn’t invalidate
that it happened. Sure, it could be that Jesus said it directly to
Simon Peter and John didn’t hear that conversation, but whether or
not that happened, still isn’t significant enough to disprove
anything.]
[In
conclusion, none of these inconsistencies disprove that Jesus Is the
Son of God, in fact, it does quite the opposite.]
Luke
5:5-10 gives lots more detail than Matthew and Mark to why they left
their jobs as fishers and followed Jesus: But Simon answered and said
to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing;
nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they
had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was
breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to
come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that
they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’
knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish
which they had taken and so also were James and John the sons of
Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do
not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”
[Not
anyone, except for the Son of God could direct a person to drop down
a net when they had fished all night and immediately the nets were so
full that they started to break. Really, re-reading these Gospels
over and over again as I researched this is really very beneficial. I
saw that although the Gospels of Matthew and Mark said something
similar to Luke, there was more elaboration about the miracle with
the nets overloaded with fish in the Gospel of Luke that really lets
you know why these men stopped their careers as fishermen to become
Fishers of Men for Jesus, the Son of God!]
[Furthermore,
that the Gospel of John says John and Andrew realized that Jesus was
the Messiah and got Simon Peter to meet Him, and left all to become
His followers is still more proof that Jesus Is God’s Son,
regardless of whether there are minor inconsistencies with the other
three Gospels. If someone came to me and told me that they met
someone who was the most impressive person they had ever met. I might
be skeptical at first, but even if I was impressed by them, I
wouldn’t give up my job, my family, my belongings, and my friends
and go follow them. These men who became Jesus’ Disciples saw His
miracles and heard Him talk and they knew that following Him was
worth giving up everything else to do so. This Is Proof that Jesus Is
the Son of God!]
