This alleged Bible contradiction took some time to write. I had to sleep on it and do more research to respond to it.

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: When (at what time of day) was Jesus crucified?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

At the third hour

“It was the third hour when they crucified Him.” (Mark 15:25)

Sometime after the sixth hour

“Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he *said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” 15 So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.” (John 19:14-16)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time. There is not a Bible contradiction here if both the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John used different ways of designating time. In normal use of time we also do not say there is a contradiction if different ways of telling time are being used. For instance someone might say the time is 3 PM while another person say the time is 1500. Both are correct though the numbering are different (3 PM and 1500). One is regular time and the other is military time yet they refer to the same moment. I think of my time in Iraq where I was a Marine radio operator. There is “Zulu time” for our radio, local Iraqi time and finally between some far off headquarter units our radio with them was synced to Kuwaiti time. Someone who understand the different use of time would not say it is a contradiction when different ways of telling time is used to refer to the same moment. During the time of the New Testament there were two ways of telling time. There was Roman timekeeping. There was Jewish timekeeping. Mark 15:25 reference to the “third hour” is using Jewish method of timekeeping. Mark 15:33 stated that it was on the sixth hour that there was a darkness that spread over the land during Jesus’ crucifixion. Matthew 27:45 also mentioned this took place during the sixth hour. Since Matthew was written primarily with a Jewish audience in mind it is reasonable to see it is referring to time in a Jewish manner. Mark’s reference to the sixth hour coinciding with Matthew’s way of referring to time for the same event suggests that Mark is also using Jewish method of designating time. Mark 15:34 also coincide with Matthew 27:46 concerning the “ninth hour” when Jesus cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Again this further collaborate that Mark’s reference to time is in accordance with Jewish method of timekeeping. Some might object that Mark is written possibly for a Gentile audience. That might be true but a deeper study into the book of Mark such as found in the commentary Mark: Through Old Testament Eyes reveals just how Jewish the book of Mark is. We are thus not surprised when the book of Mark uses Jewish method of designating time. In Jewish designation of time the third hour would correspond roughly to our time of 9 AM. Various skeptics have tried to use the reference to the sixth hour in John 19:14-16 to mean that the event the passage described (Jesus before Pilate) took place at noon. This is unlikely since the context suggests it was still early morning. John 18:28 states “they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early.” Jesus was at Pilate’s place in the early morning. Before they led Jesus to Pilate at the Praetorium both John 18:18 and John 18:25 indicated that people were warming themselves. If they were warming themselves with fire it must have been early enough that they went through the trouble of having a fire to warm themselves. Don’t forget this takes place in Israel where it is hot in the Middle East suggesting this was very early in the morning before the sun was present. Since the context of John 19:14-16 and Mark 15:25 are in agreement that the events taking place were during the morning that means the “sixth hour” in John 19:14-16 is unlikely noon. It is therefore possible to harmonize John 19:14-16 and Mark 15:25 if both describe events in the morning. In contrast to Mark 15:25’s use of Jewish timekeeping, John 19:14-16 is using Roman means of time keeping. The source for the content in John 19 is not from Peter since the events described takes place after Peter denied Jesus three times (John 18:27). From Matthew 26:75 we know Peter wept bitterly and departed the scene after he denied Christ three times. Who was the source material of the events in John 19 after Peter left? I think we see the clue in John 19 from how many times “soldiers” were mentioned. “Soldiers” is mentioned six times in John 19. It appears in John 19:2, 23 (twice), 25, 32, 34. “Soldiers” is not mentioned anywhere else in the Gospel of John. This focus on the soldiers indicate someone who has interests concerning the soldiers. John 19:34-35 indicates that one of the soldiers became a believer and have witnessed concerning the truth of Christ and his crucifixion. He’s probably the human source material for the historical contents of John 19. If the Roman soldier is the source material for John 19 we aren’t surprised if the way time is designated in this chapter is according to Roman timekeeping. Also if the Gospel of John is one of the last of the four Gospels as church history and scholars believe we shouldn’t be surprised that the Apostle John was writing to a Gentile audience using a Roman method of keeping time. When the New Testament used Roman method of timekeeping we should keep in mind the words of historian Jerome Carcopino: “Throughout antiquity, Roman life was never regulated with the mathematical precision which The above schedule, drawn up according to our methods, might suggest, and which tyrannizes over the employment of our time” (Jerome Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome , 150). In order to find out what time is the Roman “sixth” hour mentioned in John 19:14 we need to understand when Romans began their calendar day. We know that the Romans began their day during midnight. The evidence from Censorius Roman grammarian Censorinus notes the difference between natural versus Roman civil day: “The natural day is the time which elapses between the rising and setting of the sun; the night, on the contrary, is the interval from the setting to the rising of the sun. The civil day is the time which is taken for a revolution of the heavens, a revolution which comprises both the natural day and night” (Censorinus, De Die Natali, chapter 12). Censorinus goes on to say “As to the Romans, they have chosen the interval from mid-night to mid-night; witness the public sacrifices and even the auspices of the magistrates; ceremonies in which is attributed to the day just finished, that which was or could have been done before mid-night; and to the following day, that which was done after mid-night and before the rising of day; witness the custom which gives the same natal day to children who are born in the course of the twenty-four hours which separates one mid-night from another” (Censorinus, De Die Natali, chapter 12). Note how Censorius talk about this Roman timing is used for officials. Since John 19 involves Roman soldiers and Roman magisrates we wouldn’t be surprised at the use of Roman civil time beginning at mid-night. Lest someone thinks we are reading a third century Roman into the first century Censorius also said this Roman method of timekeeping and beginning of the day has been going on for 300 hundred years (Censorinus, De Die Natali, chapter 12). That would have included the first century of the Gospel of John. Other evidences Here is a footnote in which William Maude refers to other primary source evidences the Roman day begins at midnight: “Here is what Marcus Varro says in his treatise on Human Things in the book entitled Days: ‘All children born in the interval of 24 hours between the middle of one night and the middle of the following, are considered as having been born on the same day.’ ” In other words, Varro decided that a child born after the setting of the sun but before midnight, should have for its natal day that one which preceded this night; but if he was born during the last six hours of the night, his birthday should be placed in the following day. . .” (Source) William Maude goes on to say: “This division of the day (at midnight) is corroborated by other circumstances. Sacrifices offered after the sixth hour of the night belonged to the next day. When a public act had to be executed on the same day that the auspices were taken, the latter were taken after midnight. The Tribunes of the People could not lawfully absent themselves from Rome for a whole day, yet they sometimes left the city after midnight; taking care to return between candle-light and the next midnight. Quintius Musius decided a divorce case on the point that the new year began at midnight of December 31st. See also Macrobius, lib. I, 3. ” (Source) Since John 19:14 is using Roman designation for time and Roman day began at midnight we see the sixth hour to refer to roughly 6 AM our time. John 19:14’s description of events taking place at 6 AM does not conflict with Mark 15:25’s description of events talking place at 9 AM. Note Mark 15:25 gives the time of Jesus’ crucifixion whereas John 19:14 record the time of when Pilate and the Jews discussed about Jesus at the Pavement before His crucifixion . There is not a contradiction here since the time refer to different specific events. Since the pre-crucifixion events in John 19:14 takes place during the Roman sixth hour (6 AM our time) and the Roman sixth hour is sequentially before the Jewish third hour (9 AM our time) which Mark 15:25 designate as when Jesus was crucified there is therefore no Bible contradiction here. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity. The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible. In other words for him to try to disprove the BIble by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview. Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”