Alleged Contradictions In Scripture – Part 1

“Resist Not Evil… Resist The Devil…”

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Introduction

Of course there is no contradiction at all, and we will make that clear, but it is easy enough to see  how, to the natural man who cannot “receive the things of the spirit” (1Co 2:14), these two statements, “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil”, and “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” appear to be nothing less than a direct and obvious contradiction of commandments. On the one hand we are told not to resist evil, and yet we are also told to resist “the evil one… resist the devil”. The natural man will naturally ask, ‘How can this be anything other than a Biblical contradiction?’

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The scriptures have always been under attack by the secular, God-denying world, but as the religions of this world fall into greater disrepute by the day, and become more and more hated by the general population whom they have exploited through fear, which they have created by lying about the true message of the Bible, the scriptures are being attacked in a way that has never before been experienced.

Just for the purpose of demonstrating how far from God and His Word this world now is, this is a quote from the Gallup polling organization dated May 19, 2015:

One in four people polled said every candidate should be required to state his or her position on this issue. It doesn’t matter how many people believe candidates should be required to state their position on whether homosexual marriages should be legalized, the liberal media will make certain that every candidate is asked about their position on this perversion, and the American public, as a whole, is so disenchanted with religion that they now embrace this perversion, and it is just a matter of time until homosexuality will legally be equated with race, and it will be illegal to teach your children that homosexuality is a sin.

The supreme court is about to rule on this subject of gay marriage, and it may well rule in favor of making this perversion legal on a national level. The trend is toward criminalizing anyone whose faith requires them to be obedient to the commandments of Christ and the dictates of scripture.

On another front, faith in the doctrine of a 6,000 year old planet has come to be regarded by most media and academia as Biblical myth believed only by the most naive. Both of these subjects are being taught in most public schools, and if you have children in public schools, you need to know what you are dealing with. God’s word is being belittled and ridiculed on every level in our schools, and it is being so treated by legislation. Those who think it is wrong to make a child feel different from the majority, by teaching children what the scriptures teach about keeping “the traditions of men”, will soon have to decide whether they feel that way when it comes to the subject of homosexuality and homosexual marriages and families.

“Resist not evil”

With all of this in mind, what are we commanded to do when confronted with a situation which would legally require us to disobey the Word of God? In Matthew 5 the Lord tells us:

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

Does this mean that if we are sued for not celebrating homosexual marriages, and this has already happened several times, that we should go the extra ‘mile’ and give up our convictions about adultery also? If we are compelled to accept homosexuality and adultery should we then go the extra ‘mile’ and also celebrate the marriage of three men? How about three women, or two men and one woman, two women and one man, or two men and a goat. How about a man, a boy, a goat, and a computer? There is no end to the perversions that can be argued in court of law where ‘laws’ are determined by polling the people and casting the Word of God aside. Maybe with all the celebrations of a man calling himself a woman recently, maybe a man can marry himself and enjoy the financial benefits of being married to himself. Why would not all of this be nothing less than “freedom of marriage”?

The answer to all of those questions is that while we are told “resist not evil” when your fellow man gouges out your eye, we are told to resist evil when it comes to what we tolerate within our own hearts and minds, or in what comes out of our mouths from what is within our hearts and minds. When it comes to what we are commanded to do when we are confronted with inward sins and inward convictions, we are commanded:

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

There will be no ‘affliction, mourning or weeping’ when making all our decisions according to the latest polls.

Here is how Peter and the apostles dealt with laws which conflicted with the commandments of God:

Act 5:27  And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. 

So the fact is that there is no contradiction at all between Matthew 5:39 and James 4:7. To those few who are given to believe the words with which Christ answered Pilate, there is no doubt about how those two verses of scripture complement each other, and they will always “obey God rather than men” even as they “resist not evil” and “turn the other cheek” to evil doers.

Pilate marveled that Christ did not even attempt to defend Himself when given the chance to do so:

Joh 19:7  The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 
Joh 19:8  When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
Joh 19:9  And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 
Joh 19:10  Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
Joh 19:12  And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

“He that delivered me unto you has the greater sin”, when we think about it, tells us that the adversary is not sent to destroy Babylon until after He first thinks that he has destroyed God’s elect. This same order of events is repeated in the revelation of Jesus Christ. The adversary shows no interest in the woman who “brought forth [the] manchild”, until after her child is taken out of his grasp. Only then does he hate the whore and burn her with fire:

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. [Christ came “of the seed of David according to the flesh”, just as His anointed “come out of (Babylon)], Rev 18:4]
Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 
Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 

This same “woman” is mentioned again in chapter 17:

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city [all religions], which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Christ knew His Father was working every detail of this life, and even every detail of the lives of every man in this age, “after the counsel of His own will. Christ knew these words in Acts 4 were the simple fact of the words He had spoken to Pilate; “You could have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above”.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Therefore He feared His Father more than He feared any man or any group of men in this age. Christ could have resisted and overcome the entire Roman empire, but He knew that would not fulfill the purpose for which His Father had sent Him.

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life
Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 

In Christ’s way of thinking, the cross was the only way to be “saved… from death”.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. 

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 

Nevertheless, Christ knew that He was the main target of the adversary, and we as His anointed, need to be just as acutely aware that with Christ we are in the adversary’s cross-hairs, and we too, must see the death of our old man as the beginning of being metamorphosed into the new man, being ‘saved from death’ “through death”.

Mat 16:21  From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

These words have an application for every person who is honored to be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. Do not listen to anyone who says to you:

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. [“Christ did all of that for you on the cross.”]

When such a thought enters our heavens, we must take that thought captive, as the Lord did with Peter:

Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 
Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 
Mat 16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mat 16:27  For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

It is very interesting to know that “the Son of Man shall come” is in the present tense, while “then He shall reward” is in the future tense. The fact is that Christ has come within all His disciples in every generation since His death and resurrection, and has in fact never left this earth, just as He promised His disciples:

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

It is that assurance, along with the joy set before us, which will see those who are granted to rule and reign with Christ, the strength and the courage to endure the death of the old man when His hour comes as it must in every one of us:

Luk 22:52  Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?
Luk 22:53  When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. 

Christ and His Christ know why they have been brought into this world, and they do not resist that purpose by resisting the evil which they know is sent to them by God via evil men:

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

God’s elect have no doubt about who has made the wicked for the day of evil, knowing that they themselves are “chief of sinners” made for “the day of evil” in their own lives:

1Ti 1:15 This  is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 

The natural man reads those words and tells himself that he has not “breathed out slaughter against the disciples of the Lord”, as did Saul of Tarsus:

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

But the new man knows that the very meaning of “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” requires that we all acknowledge that “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” is in our own flesh as it is in all flesh:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

“Not of the Father, but is of the world”, does not contradict:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

God has to create darkness and evil if He is going to save mankind from his sinful composition and his sinful condition. God has to “make us to err from his ways, and harden our hearts from His fear” if He has already “devised [a] means” to bring His banished back to Himself:

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. 

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. 

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Our God is so great that He carries out His plan whether we understand Him or not:

Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Our God is so great that He called us in His Son, “before the world began”.  He decided before He created the first man that mankind would be a temporal, sinning machine made out of the dust of the ground. He would make that sinning machine demonstrate just how sinful it is, and bring it to its wits’ end and make it cry out to Him for deliverance from itself.

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

If God “promised… eternal life… before the world began”, and if it is true that His “grace… was given us in Christ before the world began”, and if it is true that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, then it is obvious that God’s original intention was for our original parents to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil before He ever created Christ, through whom He has created all the rest of His creation. These bodies of flesh and blood are but temporary “brute beasts” made to be taken and destroyed”

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Paul continues with his explanation of God’s plan for mankind in Romans 9:

Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour [the new man], and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction [the old man]:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy [His elect, first], which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Because God is God, He has the right to do with His creation as He has planned and designed it. He has every right to create a sinning machine, create an adversary to tempt His sinning machine, bring His sinning machine into dire straits, which demonstrate beyond any doubt that “flesh and blood” because of its “corruptible” composition “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. Then through Christ, as a caterpillar which dies to its old form and is metamorphosed into a butterfly, God has determined to save all who are in Adam.

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed [Greek: metamorphoo] by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

God’s Word is under assault in this world. God’s Word is Christ, but God’s Word is also the anointed of Christ who know Him and who have Him and His Word within them. You and I are, by God’s design, placed into the adversary’s cross-hairs, and Christ and His Word are our only refuge and our power to overcome the wicked one:

1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14  I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.