Comparative Theology · Internal Contradictions

The Two Criminals and the Inscription

Handle with care. Avoid mocking the thief on the cross — it is a beloved passage. Present it as a question of sources, not of sentiment.

In short

• 1.Mark and Matthew: both criminals revile him
• 2.Luke: one rebukes the other and is promised paradise
• 3.The inscription is worded differently in all four Gospels

The claim being examined

Two small crucifixion details — what the criminals said and what the placard read — are reported four different ways.

The Islamic position

These are not doctrinal points. They are simply tests of whether the accounts behave like eyewitness testimony. They do not.

Analysis

Mark and Matthew state plainly that those crucified with him also reviled him — the plural is unambiguous. Luke converts one of them into the first person promised paradise, a scene central to Christian preaching and absent from every other Gospel. The titulus is similarly unstable: no two Gospels give the same wording, though all four claim to report what was written. Since the placard was a physical object read by many, its wording is precisely the kind of detail a genuine record would fix.

Side by side

From the Bible

Sources

Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah

More in Internal Contradictions

• Galilee or Jerusalem? The First Appearance
• How Many Women Came to the Tomb?
• Numbers That Do Not Match: Samuel and Chronicles
• The Census of Quirinius
• The Day and Hour of the Crucifixion
• The Death of Judas