How many were crucified with Jesus?
It is commonly believed that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified along with two other men, and that his cross was between theirs. This belief has been portrayed in many different ways, including pictures, television, movies, bumper stickers, crosses along the roadside, and crosses in church yards. If we look more deeply into the Word of God, however, we learn that there were not two other men crucified with Jesus, but four other men, two on each side of Jesus. Although this may seem like a minor point, there is value in truth, and much value in being able to read and understand the whole Bible and see that it does not contain contradictions. If there were only two men crucified with Jesus, then there are verses in the Four Gospels that would contradict each other. Realizing that there were four men crucified next to Jesus gets rid of the apparent contradictions and difficulties, and very importantly, gives us a true picture of what the crucifixion scene was like.
God exhorts us to be workmen of the Word of God and to “rightly divide” it (2 Tim. 2:15 KJV). When it comes to events in the Four Gospels, this means that we have to read any given record in all four Gospels and pay close attention to the details. We have to note events, times, and places. Sometimes different Gospels give differing details of the same event, but sometimes events that seem quite similar are actually different. Using the different information in each of the Gospels to arrive at a clear picture of the whole event is known as “narrative development.”
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