Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

scholar conflicts with Sacred Scripture if both cannot be true then the theory is in error and must  be 

changed. 

    The original human authors of the various books of the Bible were guided by the inspiration of the Holy 

Spirit, so that their writing is God's writing, entirely and without exception. Thus the original books of the 

Bible are without error. And neither could any error enter into the Bible by an error of transmission, when the 

text of the Bible is copied and reprinted from one time period to the next. It is true that there have been 

particular editions of the Bible which contained typographical errors, or (in the time before the modern 

printing press), the copying errors of scribes. However, no such error could enter into the text of the Bible in 

such a way that every existing edition would have an error in the same place and the original text be lost. If so, 

then the reliability and infallibility of Sacred Scripture would be lost, and any one who disliked a particular 

passage could claim that the passage was added or altered at a later date and was not a part of the original text. 

Some have made this claim, for example, about John 6:51b 58, yet verse 59 plainly states that Christ did teach 

this doctrine in a synagogue at Capernaum. 

    God not only guided the original human authors of the Sacred Scripture, but He also continues to protect 

the true text and true meaning of Sacred Scripture throughout Time. Otherwise, faith would lose its certitude. 

We do not have the original manuscripts from any of the books of the Bible. If these original manuscripts are 

the only ones said to be without error, so that every subsequent copy could be said to all contain the same 

errors, then the Bible would not be an entirely true and reliable basis for faith. Such a theory would make the 

inspiration of Sacred Scripture effectively null and void, since any part of the text could be said to be the result 

of an error introduced sometime after the text was written. 

    As an example, one theory in biblical chronology claims to find a particular error in the text of one of Paul's 

letters. Paul explains that his second visit to Jerusalem occurred  after fourteen years  (Gal 2:1). This presents 

a certain chronological problem which some have attempted to solve by claiming that Saint Paul originally 

wrote  four years  and a copying error by a scribe turned the  four  into  fourteen.  Then they also claim that 

this error  made its way into every existing version of the Letter of Paul to the Galatians, except for one copy 

of Galatians from the Middle Ages, which does say  four years. 

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    The above theory is unacceptable, firstly because it holds that there is an error in Sacred Scripture. Secondly, 

how could a copying error make its way into every ancient edition of the Letter to the Galatians, but not in a 

much later edition from the Middle Ages? If every older copy of Galatians had the same error, the later edition 

could not obtain the correct wording. Obviously, the copying error was made in the later version. One scribe at 

that time must have mistakenly wrote  four years,  instead of  fourteen years.  If many witnesses tell the 

same story, and only one witness says the opposite, the case will be decided in favor of the many. 

    Another example of a supposed error in Sacred Scripture involves the question as to whether Jesus was 

crucified on the Preparation day of the Passover, which is the 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan, or on the 

next day, the first day of Passover itself, which is the 15th of Nisan. The Gospel of John clearly states that 

Jesus was crucified on  the day of Preparation of the Passover  (Jn 19:14) and a Friday (Jn 19:31). John's 

Gospel also says that the Jewish leaders had not yet eaten the Passover supper (Jn 18:28). The Passover lamb 

is sacrificed in the afternoon on Nisan 14, and the Passover supper is eaten after sunset later that day. So, 

John's Gospel tells us that the Jewish leaders were going to eat the Passover supper later that day (after Jesus 

had died). Yet the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke each describe Jesus and the Apostles eating the 

Passover supper on the previous evening, a Thursday. 

    A common approach to solving this problem is to claim that either the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, 

Luke) or the Gospel of John contains a chronological error. This approach is contrary to the teaching of the 

Christian faith that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Since there cannot be any kind of error in Sacred 

Scripture, the correct explanation of this chronological problem must be in agreement with all four Gospels. 

The solution to this problem is presented in chapter 2 of this book. 

A Lamp for Our Feet 

    God's Holy Infallible Scripture is a certain source of knowledge about the life of Jesus Christ. Many scholars 

treat the various statements in the Bible that refer, directly or indirectly, to dates and times, as if these words 

could be mistaken. Some scholars put more faith in their own ideas than in the words of Sacred Scripture. 

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