However, there are at least two reasonable explanations that solve this alleged contradiction in the Bible. 12:40 three days and three nights.If “three days and three nights” is taken to mean literally seventy-two hours, there would be an apparent contradiction with the many prophecies and records that He would rise on “the third day” (Matthew 16:21; 20:19; John 2:19; I Corinthians 15:4; etc. Jesus’ burial is important because, without it, there can be no tomb from which Jesus can arise in three days. Whenever the three days and three nights of Matthew 12:40 is brought up in a "discussion" with 6th day crucifixion folks, they frequently suggest that it is a Jewish idiom for counting any part of a day as a whole day. Obviously, Matthew didn’t see a contradiction with being raised on the third day. Hebrew. If it is an interpolation, it must have become an accepted part of the text before the date of our earliest copies. Thus there is no contradiction or difficulty in the records. It’s also historically implausible: crucifixion was intended as a shameful, horrible execution which included allowing the bodies to remain nailed up until they rotted off. Matthew 12:40 gives an entirely different turn to the reference. Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb ( Matthew 28:1 ; NKJV). "The phrases 'after three days' and 'on the third day' are not contradictory, either to each other or with Matthew 12:40, but simply idiomatic, interchangeable terms, clearly a common mode of Jewish expression." Notice that Matthew 12:40 does not say Jesus would be buried for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Because you can’t get three full days if the count begins on Friday, some interpreters have argued for a two-Sabbath approach and a crucifixion on Wednesday and a … The argument is that Matthew 12:40 says that Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights, but Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, and John 20:1 say that Jesus was in the tomb for less than three days and three nights. Whenever the three days and three nights of Matthew 12:40 is brought up in a "discussion" with 6th day of the week crucifixion proponents, they frequently suggest that it is a common Jewish idiom for counting any part of a day as a whole day. Whenever the three days and three nights of Matthew 12:40 is brought up in a discussion with 6th day crucifixion folks, they frequently argue that it is a Jewish idiom for counting any part of a day as a whole day. 12:40 was a blunder of the guy who wrote it? ), I agree with you totally about your whole big post but to me your taking of this position, Mat. However it’s only about meaning of words. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40; NKJV). 12:40 has become a contradiction. Matthew 12:40 (ESV) For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, (Answers, p. 181-182) There has been considerable debate over the best way to interpret the three-days and three-nights language of Matthew 12:40, either as three 24-hour days of exactly 72 hours or parts of three days and three nights. Luke 24:46 (ESV) and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, Acts 10:39-40 (ESV) he verse cannot be challenged on critical grounds. It’s inconceivable that Pilate would have agreed to turn the body over to anyone for any reason. (Matthew 12:40) The contradiction would be the type of species: fish or whale, the latter is not a fish (no gills, no scales, giving birth). The contradiction is that John 19:14 says Jesus is still before Pilate at noon (the 6th hour). One possible solution, the most widely cited one, is to maintain that a part of a day and a part of a night can mean a full day and night. Does it mean you admit that the prophecy in Mat.