ContradictionsReading order 390Bible context 2 min read
How many disciples did Jesus appear to in his first post resurrection appearance?
The appearance accounts use different group counts, while John's absence notice and Matthew's death report suggest a smaller attendance at one meeting.
- Textual conflict
- Weak tension
- The alleged conflict needs substantial assumptions, such as treating an omission as a denial or figurative language as literal.
- Importance
- Supporting
- A supporting event, teaching, or biographical claim.
The excerpts describe different meetings and use the twelve as a membership label, leaving no securely shared event with three explicit attendance counts.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Thomas is absent and Judas has died
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
John 20:24
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:John 20
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Matthew 27:5
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Matthew 27