3 Days Later, or On the 3rd Day?
It can't be both, can it? Can anyone tell me what day comes three days after Friday? Or what about the day that comes three days before Sunday? Was Jesus raised from the dead "on the third day", or "three days after" he was put in the grave? Here's a survey of the scriptures referencing the event:
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40)
"He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again." (Mark 8:31)
"[Jesus] said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." (Mark 9:31)
"They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise." (Mark 10:33a-34)
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." (Matt. 16:21)
"They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief." (Matt. 17:23)
"On the third day he will rise again." (Luke 18:33)
"He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day." (Luke 24:46)
"He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." (I Cor. 15:4)
"When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome...very early on the first day of the week...were on their way to te tomb...But when they looked up, they saw that the stone...had been rolled away...Jesus the Nazarene...has risen!" (Mark 16:1-6)
"Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence." (Hosea 6:1-2)
(emphases mine)
Now, my last question is, other than Hosea, where in the Old Testament is it prophecied how long Jesus would be in the grave? The NIV Study Bible footnotes on Luke 24:46 cite Psalm 16:9-11 and Isaiah 53:10-11, but I don't see anything delineating a time frame. Am I missing something? Do I have the wrong translation? Where does Matthew get off saying "three days and three nights" when Hosea says "two days"? Something's not adding up. For those of you who understand the concept of elapsed time, only two days (actually several hours less than two days) elapsed from the time of Jesus death (and even less from the time of burial) until the time of His resurrection. So Matthew gets it wrong. According to eachof the Gospel writers, apparently Jesus does too. "Three days later" is not the same as "two days later". You see, Jesus was barely in the grave for two days, much less three.
Can someone shed some light onto this for us? What fancy technique must we inerrantists use to explain away the miscalculations of the Gospel writers?
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40)
"He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again." (Mark 8:31)
"[Jesus] said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." (Mark 9:31)
"They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise." (Mark 10:33a-34)
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." (Matt. 16:21)
"They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief." (Matt. 17:23)
"On the third day he will rise again." (Luke 18:33)
"He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day." (Luke 24:46)
"He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." (I Cor. 15:4)
"When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome...very early on the first day of the week...were on their way to te tomb...But when they looked up, they saw that the stone...had been rolled away...Jesus the Nazarene...has risen!" (Mark 16:1-6)
"Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence." (Hosea 6:1-2)
(emphases mine)
Now, my last question is, other than Hosea, where in the Old Testament is it prophecied how long Jesus would be in the grave? The NIV Study Bible footnotes on Luke 24:46 cite Psalm 16:9-11 and Isaiah 53:10-11, but I don't see anything delineating a time frame. Am I missing something? Do I have the wrong translation? Where does Matthew get off saying "three days and three nights" when Hosea says "two days"? Something's not adding up. For those of you who understand the concept of elapsed time, only two days (actually several hours less than two days) elapsed from the time of Jesus death (and even less from the time of burial) until the time of His resurrection. So Matthew gets it wrong. According to eachof the Gospel writers, apparently Jesus does too. "Three days later" is not the same as "two days later". You see, Jesus was barely in the grave for two days, much less three.
Can someone shed some light onto this for us? What fancy technique must we inerrantists use to explain away the miscalculations of the Gospel writers?
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI'm new to your blog, about a week or so now. I'm not an expert on this, but I've heard that there were differing ways to count days. In their culture, parts of days could be counted as days. Just like ours when telemarketers promise three days and two nights in Vegas. 11:59pm on Tuesday to 12:01am on Thursday, although 24 hrs, 2 min, count as 3 days, two nights.
If one counts Gethsemene on Thursday night as part of His ordeal, then it can be a night. It seems the Mark 10 passage counts "three days later" from the time of condemnation on Thursday night. I can't speak for Hosea or the other OT books.
How do we account for the "3 days and 3 nights" in Matthew 12? The "Thursday night" hypothesis seems like an impossible stretch, especially considering the words "in the heart of the earth", an obvious reference to being inside of a literal grave, or at the very least, a reference to Jesus' descent into literal hell (an interpretation I disagree with).
ReplyDeletePretend I'm an extraordinarily intelligent athiest asking this question. Is there any conceivable way to "count" days that would convince an athiest that the Biblical accounts match up? If Jesus had died and been buried on Thursday night, then risen Sunday morning, I could live with the "partial day" hypothesis. It wouldn't be three 24-hour periods, but at least it would meet the criteria of Jesus being "in the heart of the earth" for "3 nights" (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights).
Steve, please forgive me for being so cold-hearted. I forgot to say "Welcome"! I love writing, but I love dialogue even more, so thank you for joining the conversation. You'll have to grit your teeth and bear with this deconstructionist, neo-conservative, emerging, lame excuse for a theologian. It's a journey, baby, and a bumpy one at times. But, oh, the thrill of chasing after God is worth the ride!
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the "three days and three nights" thing, but here is a very clear reconciliation between the phrases "after three days" and "on the third day":
ReplyDeleteIn Matthew 27:63 and 64, the chief priests approach Pilate and tell him that Jesus said that he would rise again "after three days." So they asked Pilate to order security for the tomb "until the third day." This shows both phrases within the same quote!
So either the chief priests were really terrible at math, or the two phrases do not conflict with one another. Methinks it's the latter.