Blunt's Scriptural Coincidences: Gospels and Acts

By J J Blunt

This book will confirm (or restore) your faith in the Gospel records. Clearly the Gospels were not invented. There is too much unintentional agreement between them for this to be so. Undesigned coincidences are where writers tell the same account, but from a different viewpoint. Without conspiring together to get their accounts in agreement, they include unexpected (and often unnoticed) details that corroborate their records. Not only are these unexpected coincidences found within the Gospels, but sometimes a historical writer unknowingly and unintentionally confirms the Bible record.
Within these pages you will see just how accurate were the memories of the Gospel writers -- even of the smallest details which on casual reading can seem of little importance, yet clearly point to eyewitness accounts. J.J. Blunt spent many years investigating these coincidences. And here they are, as found in the four Gospels and Acts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Tree Publishing
• Release date: Jun 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9780993500558

Book preview

About this Book

This book will confirm (or restore) your faith in the Gospel records. Clearly the Gospels were not invented. There is too much unintentional agreement between them for this to be so. Undesigned coincidences are where writers tell the same account, but from a different viewpoint. Without conspiring together to get their accounts in agreement, they include unexpected (and often unnoticed) details that corroborate their records. Not only are these unexpected coincidences found within the Gospels, but sometimes a historical writer unknowingly and unintentionally confirms the Bible record.

Within these pages you will see just how accurate were the memories of the Gospel writers -- even of the smallest details which on casual reading can seem of little importance, yet clearly point to eyewitness accounts. J.J. Blunt spent many years investigating these coincidences. And here they are, as found in the four Gospels and Acts.

Blunt's Scriptural Coincidences

Gospels and Acts

J. J. Blunt

New Edition

This new edition ©Chris Wright 2016

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9935005-5-8

First published in instalments between 1833 and 1847

The revised edition used here published in 1876

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

[e-mail]

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this abridged edition.

Reference to the KJV is to the Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown's patentee, Cambridge University Press

Table of Contents

Cover

About this Book

Editor's Note

Part 1

Part 2

More Books

About White Tree Publishing

Christian Non-Fiction

Christian Fiction

Younger readers

Editor's Note

This eBook is taken from the original work by John J. Blunt. It contains the New Testament portion of his complete book which covers undesigned coincidences in the books of Moses, the Historical Scriptures, the Prophets, and the four Gospels and Acts. Undesigned coincidences are where writers record the same event, but from a different viewpoint. Without conspiring together to get their facts in agreement, they sometimes include unexpected (and often unnoticed) details that corroborate the accounts. Often these are writers of Scripture, but sometimes an historical writer unintentionally confirms the Bible record. Blunt spent many years investigating these coincidences. He uses the Greek New Testament for his studies, and quotes from the King James Authorized Version of the English Bible.

Blunt first published his findings on coincidences in the Historical Books of the Bible in 1831, followed by other sections of the Bible, and published all his findings as a single volume in 1847. He expanded and corrected parts of it in 1850. The Edition reproduced here is the Thirteenth (dated 1876), which has more input than the Third (dated 1850), but is most likely a reprint of an edition revised by John Blunt before his death in 1855.

Section 15 from the Thirteenth Edition in Part 1 of this eBook is not in Blunt's Third Edition of 1850 but is in my Fifth Edition of 1856. The new section concerns Matthew 26:60 and John 2:18 where Jesus talks about his body the temple being rebuilt in three days. So from that point on, the section numbers in Part 1 of this eBook are one ahead of those in Blunt's Third Edition. (The Third Edition is the one that is generally known, but clearly not the most complete.)

I have occasionally simplified some of Blunt's writing, but not changed his intentions in any way. Victorians seemed to love long sentences and an over-use of punctuation in these sentences, with the occasional scholarly, erudite words that have now fallen out of use. I have inserted Blunt's footnotes to Bible references into the main text, as footnotes don't work in eBooks. I have not inserted footnote references to other writers to whom Blunt refers, as these books will probably be of little interest to the majority of readers today. Many footnotes are references to writers whose research he acknowledges.

However, one book to which Blunt sometimes refers has recently been republished, which some readers might find useful. An Illustration of the Method of Explaining the New Testament by the Early Opinions of Jews and Christians Concerning Christ -- 1797 by William Wilson. I cannot vouch for its usefulness or accuracy. Indeed, modern scholarship may sometimes have added additional confirmation to or modified some of Blunt's own discoveries. That is for the reader to decide.

Blunt's references to the writings of Josephus don't always seem to correlate with the books and chapters of English translations on the internet. I have made no attempt to resolve this matter, and readers who are familiar with the writings of Josephus may find no problem.

I have not checked the accuracy of every single Bible reference. I found one typo common to all editions where a reference is given as Luke 9:35 instead of Luke 9:53. There may be more. The many points Blunt is making work well with more recent Bible translations, but take care to check them before using them. For example, Blunt's discussion on the importance of the different types of basket used in the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand, was apparently lost to the King James translators, as Blunt observes, but we can see today that this was picked up by some of the recent translators.

Within these pages you will gain a remarkable sense of confidence in the records found in the Gospels and Acts, and see just how accurate were the memories of the writers -- even of the smallest details which on casual reading can seem of little importance, yet clearly point to eyewitness accounts.

Chris Wright

Part 1

Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels and Acts

(Note that throughout the book the italics in the Scripture quotations, and in those of Josephus in Part 2, are inserted by J. J. Blunt for emphasis, and are not part of the original text.)

1

In the fourth chapter of Matthew we read: "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him."

Now let us compare this with the fifth chapter of Luke: "And it came to pass that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their net brake: And they beckoned to their partners which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Tear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed Him."

The narrative of Luke may be reckoned the supplement to that of Matthew. That both relate to the same event I think is indisputable. In both we are told of the circumstances under which Andrew, Peter, James, and John became the decided followers of Christ. In both they are called to attend Him in the same terms, and those remarkable and technical terms. In both the scene is the same, the grouping of the parties the same, and the obedience to the summons the same.

By comparing the two Evangelists, the account may be thus completed: Jesus teaches the people out of Peter's boat, to avoid the crowds. The boat of Zebedee and his sons, meanwhile, is standing by the lake a little further on. The sermon ended, Jesus orders Peter to thrust out, and the miraculous draught of fishes ensues. Peter's boat not sufficing for the fish, he beckons to his partners, Zebedee and his companions who were in the other ship. The vessels are both filled and pulled to the shore, and now Jesus, having convinced Peter and Andrew by his preaching, and the miracle which He had wrought, gives them the call. He then goes on to Zebedee and his sons, who having brought their boat to land were mending their nets, and calls them. Such is the whole transaction, not to be gathered from one, but from both the Evangelists.

The circumstance to be remarked, therefore, is this: that of the miracle of the fish, Matthew says not a single word. Nevertheless, he tells us that Zebedee and his sons were found by our Lord when He gave them the call, "mending their nets." How it happened that the nets wanted mending he does not think it needful to state, nor should we have thought it needful to inquire, but it is impossible not to observe that it perfectly harmonises with the incident mentioned by Luke. In the miraculous draught of fishes the nets brake. This coincidence, slight as it is, seems to me to bear upon the truth of the miracle itself. For the mending of the nets, asserted by one Evangelist, gives probability to the breaking of the nets, mentioned by the other -- the breaking of the nets gives probability to the large draught of fishes -- the large draught of fishes gives probability to the miracle. I do not mean that the coincidence proves the miracle, but that it marks an attention to truth in the Evangelists. It surely would be an extravagant refinement to suppose that Matthew designedly lets fall the fact of the mending of the nets, whilst he suppresses the miracle, in order to confirm the credit of Luke, who in relating the miracle says that through it the nets brake.

Besides, though Matthew does not record the miraculous draught, yet the readiness of the several disciples on this occasion to follow Jesus (a thing which he does record), agrees, no less than the mending of the nets, with that extraordinary event. For what is more natural than that men should leave all for a master whose powers were so commanding?

[The following, to the end of this section, is a lengthy footnote in the original, perhaps to answer some criticism received following the first edition.]

The identity of the event here recorded by Matthew and Luke is questioned by some, and upon the following grounds:

In Matthew, Jesus walks by the sea of Galilee. In Luke, the people press upon him to hear the word as he stood by the lake. The quiet walk has nothing in common with the press of the multitude. But how do we know that the walk was a quiet one? It is not indeed asserted that it was otherwise, but the omission of a fact is not the negation of it. Nobody would suppose, from John's account of the Crucifixion, that nature was otherwise than perfectly still; yet there was an earthquake, and rending