Undesigned coincidences


In Christian apologetics, the argument from undesigned coincidences aims to support the historical reliability of the Bible. So named by John James Blunt, based on previous work by William Paley, an undesigned coincidence is said to be when one account of an event in the Bible omits a piece or pieces of information which is or are filled in, seemingly coincidentally, by a different recording, which helps to answer questions raised by the first. According to this approach, undesigned coincidences often occur when one account forgoes a reason for an action which is given by a different account. In this case, so the argument goes, there was a complex unified story both authors later wrote down despite gathering data from different witnesses.

Perspectives

Criticism

The arguments for the reliability of the New Testament from undesigned coincidences have been criticized as merely implying that the Gospel authors developed their work by sharing information from the same source literature. This source has been often referred to as the Q source.

Advocacy

Evangelists may claim that account relies on information from account, but account also relies on account .

Examples

  • In the Pentateuch
  • * Abraham interceded for Sodom probably because his nephew, Lot, lived there.
  • * The Amalekites attacked Israel plausibly because Moses had acquired water – this might explain why the Amalekites were particularly destroyed later, since they specifically aimed to steal miraculous water, indicating complete irreverence for God.
  • * Moses' invitation for Hobab, the son of Moses' father-in-law, to journey with them seems to have been accepted.
  • * The defiled men in Numbers 9 are plausibly Mishael and Elizapahan, who carried Nadab and Abihu's bodies out of the Tabernacle. Numbers 9:1 suggests this is the same Passover, and since the censuses excluding Levites either side of the Tabernacle's erection had the same number of men, it is unlikely that a non-Levite had died.
  • In the New Testament
  • * The Jews knew that Jesus was going to destroy the temple and restore it in three days because he told them.
  • * James and John were mending their nets because Jesus' miracle producing fish broke the nets, even though Matthew makes no mention of this miracle whatsoever. The miracle in Luke also fits with the eagerness of the disciples to follow Jesus in Matthew 4:19-20.
  • * Paul's example of Cephas as one who led around a sister or a wife is confirmed by the incidental mention of Peter's mother-in-law in Matthew 8:14.
  • * People brought the sick and possessed to Jesus in the evening because it was on the Sabbath, and because it was not lawful to heal on the Sabbath.
  • * Peter was recognised by the maid possibly because the 'other disciple' spoke to her.
  • * Jesus was mocked primarily at the beginning of the crucifixion, which might be explained by the darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour, which might have caused the change in attitude towards Jesus.
  • * Peter entered the tomb first probably because most of the disciples were scared of spirits, while Peter had always been rash and bold.
  • * Luke mentions that Christians were first called 'Christians' in Antioch. It is unclear why he would think this important unless Christians usually went by another name. This fits with the fact that 'Christian' is only mentioned on two other occasions in the New Testament, and that they are usually otherwise called something else: 'all that believed' ; 'the disciples' ; followers of 'the way'.
  • * Paul's mentioning to Timothy about there being evil men, sorcerers and deceivers, while Timothy was in Ephesus fits with Luke's mention of the book-burning of those engaged in 'curious arts'.
  • * Jesus needed to prophecy who was hitting Him because He was blindfolded.
  • * Jesus said "if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight" even though Peter had just cut off Malchus' ear. Those who recently witnessed this event didn't challenge Jesus because they'd also seen him heal the ear.
  • * Jesus asked Phillip, who was from Bethsaida, where to buy bread, because they were currently in Bethsaida.
  • * Jesus condemned Bethsaida for not responding to miracles because the miracle of feeding 5,000 took place in Bethsaida.
  • * Jesus instructed the blind man not to enter Bethsaida because He condemned it.
  • * There was lots of grass that was green because it was Passover .
  • * The 5,000 men were counted by separating them into groups of 100 or 50 people that were men.