Question: I believe the Bible is without error, but how do you reconcile Matthew 27:28 saying the soldiers who whipped Jesus draped him with a scarlet robe, while Mark 15:17 and John 19:2 say it was a purple robe?
- Steve B.,
Prince George, Va.
Answer: I, too, believe the Bible as God originally inspired it and as he allows it to impact our lives today is without error in that it is able to accomplish the purpose God intends.
Everything at Jesus' crucifixion was predicted beforehand: the jeering crowd, his whipping, his piercing, the earthquake, the temple veil torn, etc. His crown of thorns was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The ram (a he-lamb) in Genesis 22:13 was caught in a thicket of thornes. In fact, the original word for thicket means thorns. God promised thorns as a result of sin in the Garden of Eden and as punishment for sin in the Promised Land. However, Jesus bore the punishment of all who trust in him. Isaiah 53:5 says, "By his stripes we are healed."
The Tabernacle described in Numbers is a picture of the ministry of Jesus as our High Priest. It was covered over by scarlet as Jesus' blood covers our sins and makes our entrance to God possible. The Tabernacle's curtain doors were blue on one end and red on the other end blending into purple in the middle. That's a prediction of Jesus who is our only Door to Heaven. He was God as represented by the blue of the sky. Yet, he was also a man as represented by the red from the red Judean hills. Blend those colors and you have purple, the color of the God-Man, our only Intecessor and Way to God. It's fitting that Jesus be identified by purple at his crucifixion when he bore our sins in his own body and put them to death on his cross.
Luke 23:11 says Jesus was given a "gorgeous robe," but that doesn't mean there's an error in any of the gospel accounts! Actually the same Greek word used for scarlet and purple in many places in the gospels can mean any shade from red to blue. Hand-dyed fabrid wasn't always color fast, so it might change from its intended shade depending on the dying process used. So, Jesus was probably clothed in purple but the same word might also be translated scarlet. Any time you think you've found differences in Biblical accounts can be resolved if you know all the facts. For the other seeming conflicts we can't resolve, we should accept them in faith and wait to ask God in Heaven!
- Dr. Tom Lovorn is pastor of God's Storehouse Baptist Church in Richmond, VA. He writes a weekly column on religion. You may send him your Bible questions in care of this newspaper or via his website at www.tomlovorn.us
