“Angels Among Us”

Friday, October 10, 2014

     Around the tomb of Jesus, why does it read that there were two angels in Luke 24:4 and John 20:12… but only one in Mark 16:5 and Matt 28:2-5?

Sincerely,
Head Count

Dear Head Count,

This is a great example of why we have multiple accounts of Jesus’ life.  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all record the life of Christ, but they each do it from a different perspective, and they each emphasize different things.  Luke and John pointed out both angels at the tomb, but Matthew and Mark only focused on the angel that spoke.  This isn’t a contradiction; it is simply a matter of only including the details that are pertinent to their particular narrative.  Matthew and Mark never said there was only one angel… they just talked about the angel that spoke because that was all that was important for their accounts.

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