Did Jesus allow his disciples to keep a staff on their journey?
- Yes (Mark 6:8)
- No (Matthew 10:9; Luke 9:3)
In the gospel of Mark Jesus is recorded as telling the disciples to take nothing for their journey SAVE(but) a staff:
Mark 6:8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
However In the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus is recorded as telling his disciples to take no staff:
Matthew 10:9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
Luke 9:3 And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.
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So did Jesus tell them to take a staff or not?
Apologetics website Apologetics press actually states that “this is Perhaps the most difficult alleged Bible contradiction that we have been asked to “tackle”
“Perhaps the most difficult alleged Bible contradiction that we have been asked to “tackle” at Apologetics Press was presented to us some time ago by the mother of a dear friend. She asked, “When Jesus sent out the twelve apostles on what is commonly called the ‘limited commission,’ did He instruct them to take staffs or not?”
With a basic reading of these verses it may well appear that Mark is in clear contradiction with Matthew and Luke.
In Mark it is clear that Jesus says that the disciples can take nothing but a staff, but in Marks Gospel they are permitted to take a staff with them on their journey.
Staff here being translated from the Greek ῥάβδον rhabdon which is in the accusative feminine singular form of the Greek word for staff ῥάβδος rhabdos:
The full Greek reads:
καὶ παρήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς ἵνα μηδὲν αἴρωσιν εἰς ὁδὸν εἰ μὴ ῥάβδον μόνον μὴ πήραν μὴ ἄρτον μὴ εἰς τὴν ζώνην χαλκόν (Textus receptus Beza 5th Edition).
The NA27/UBS4 text reads almost exactly the same:
καὶ παρήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς ἵνα μηδὲν αἴρωσιν εἰς ὁδὸν εἰ μὴ ῥάβδον μόνον, μὴ ἄρτον, μὴ πήραν, μὴ εἰς τὴν ζώνην χαλκόν, (NA27/UBS4)
In this verse in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is recorded as having referred to one singular staff. The disciples were told that they could take with them a singular staff. This is easy and straight forward to understand. Literally meaning they could take one staff.
However, in the Gospel of Matthew the instruction recorded is actually quite different from the instruction recorded in Mark, but does not in any way contradict that instruction. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is recorded as having told his disciples that they could not ACQUIRE anything, including a staff.
The Greek word translated as provide in Matthew 10:9 in the KJV is Κτάομαι ktaomai which means to acquire or to gain but can also mean to purchase, win or buy.
The NIV translates this as “do not GET any”
Matthew 10:9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts–
The ESV literally translates it as “ACQUIRE no”
Matthew 10:9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts,
This is also the reading of the NASB
Matthew 10:9 Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts,
So here, Jesus is specifically referring to the disciples getting, gaining or acquiring anything on the list of items while on their journey.
In verse 10 the list continues to include staves:
Matthew 10:10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
Here, Jesus did not prohibit the disciples from taking a staff, but rather from acquiring more staves, or anything else for that matter, through purchase or by any other means while on their journey. There simply is no prohibition from taking a staff with them in Matthew. They are also prohibited from acquiring two coats or shoes. Mark however, records that the disciples were allowed to take with them one pair of sandals but were instructed not to take two coats:
Mark 6:9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats. KJV
Mark 6:9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. ESV
There is no prohibition from wearing a pair of sandals in Mark, nor is there any prohibition from wearing a tunic, only that they were not to have more than one.
Mark records Jesus sending his disciples out with the bare minimum, a single pair of sandals, one tunic and a staff, of course, also with no money. In all essence they were to go out in faith without any provisions for themselves. Matthew simply records the instructions of Jesus that the disciples were not allowed to acquire or buy another staff, another pair of shoes or another tunic while on that journey.
Ellicott in his commentary on Matthew 10:10 states:
“Neither shoes, nor yet staves.—The apparent contradiction between these words and St. Mark’s “nothing except a staff only,” “be shod with sandals,” is explained by what has been said above. They were to have none of the reserved comforts of common travellers, no second staff in case the first should break, no second pair of shoes in which to rest the worn and weary feet. The “sandals” were the shoes of the peasant class.”
Ellicotts commentary for English readers (Matthew 10:10)
John Gill writes:
“nor yet with staves: that is, with more than one staff, which was sufficient to assist them, and lean upon in journeying: for, according to Mark, one was allowed; as though they might take a travelling staff, yet not staves for defence, or to fight with;”
Gills exposition of the entire Bible (Matthew 10:10)
There is no contradiction between these two passages. They are, in fact, two distinctly separate instructions given by Jesus, they are not the same instruction, one recorded in Mark and the other recorded in Matthew. One is directly in reference to what can be taken, the other is in reference to what can be gained.
When it comes to the Gospel of Luke, however, in some versions it has Jesus telling the disciples not to take a staff, which is a direct contradiction of Mark.
The NIV says take no staff:
Luke 9:3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey–no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt.
As does the ESV
Luke 9:3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.
Many other versions read, Take no staff, including the NLT, BSB, NASB and the ERV to name a few.
All of these versions create a direct contradiction between Luke and Mark.
In the attempt to explain this many people focus, incorrectly, on the word “take” in Mark and Luke which is the Greek αἴρω airó. The question then becomes does Luke use the word in the same sense as Mark? This is where many will try to assert that Luke is using “take” in a different way than Mark so that Luke does not contradict Mark by saying that Jesus prohibited the taking of a staff while Mark records that he allowed them to.
A well known Christian apologetics website, Christian ThinkTank focuses on this in their explanation of this contradiction. The argument being that Mark and Luke are, in fact, using the word in two different ways. Mark being to take but Luke uses it to mean acquire in the same way that Matthew has used Κτάομαι ktaomai. Luke, apparently, to the author of the article on the site, cannot use Κτάομαι ktaomai because to him this has a distinct and different meaning than how Matthew uses it.
“Mark uses the word ‘airo’ which is a MUCH broader word, generally indicating ‘pick up and carry’ (physically, as in luggage/baggage), as in other passages in Mark:
Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, `Get up, take (“airo”) your mat and walk’? (2.9) [the notion is ‘pick it up off the ground and carry it away’]
On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took (‘airo’) his body and laid it in a tomb. (6.29) [the notion is ‘lifted the dead body and carried it out’]
“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, `Go, throw yourself (‘airo’) into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. (11.23) [the notion is ‘pick yourself up and carry yourself away’!]
Let no one in the field go back to get (‘airo’) his cloak. (13.16) [the notion is ‘retrieve it’]
So, Mark is specifically ALLOWING them to ‘pick up and physically carry’ their walking staff (presumably the one they would each probably have already)
- Luke seems to be dependent on Matthew here–as evidenced by the grammatical construction, and seems to have used a broader word (‘airo’) for Matthew’s tighter ‘acquire’ (‘ktaomai’). Luke is very similar to Matthew–the verbs in both passages are imperatives (vs. Mark’s use of a subordinate construction and subjunctive mood). But Luke CANNOT use Matthew’s verb (ktaomai) in this passage, because ‘ktaomai’ means something DIFFERENT for Luke (and presumably his readers). Ktaomai in Luke is focused more on “PURCHASED/Financially OWNED things”
https://www.christian-thinktank.com/nostaff.html
This seems to me a rather convoluted explanation. Now, while I don’t disagree with the answer provided by this website based on the complexity of the argument, I myself am guilty of answers that are not exactly straight forward, I do not think complex answers are a necessity in order to answer contradictions if a more simple answer is correct. Here, I rather think there is a much simpler explanation to be found.
I will acknowledge that this website is not the only one that focuses on the word “take”. Apologetics website Apologetics press also claims that Luke did not use ktaomai because he uses it in a different way than Matthew.
Luke did not use ktaomi in his account because he nearly always used ktaomi in a different sense than Matthew did. In Matthew’s account, the word ktaomai is used to mean “provide” or “acquire,” whereas in the books of Luke and Acts, Luke used this word to mean “purchase, buy, or earn.”
Take It or Leave It – Apologetics Press
I believe that this argument is incorrect.
The explanation of the contradiction is actually based on the word staff:
The KJV does not read staff in Luke; it reads staves, plural.
Luke 9:3 And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.
This is a small, but vitally important difference that once understood completely dissolves the apparent contradiction.
Matt Slick on his Carm website incorrectly states that there is no textual variant in relation to the word staff.
There are no textual variants in these verses in the Greek manuscripts that would bear upon this issue regarding the staff.
https://carm.org/bible-difficulties/did-jesus-tell-his-disciples-to-take-a-staff-or-not/
There is a textual variant here, and the variant changes the meaning of the verse and either eliminates, or creates the contradiction.
Jesus did not tell the disciples that they were not allowed to take a staff, he clearly did allow them to take one as per the instruction given in the Gospel of Mark, but the instruction was very specific, they were allowed to take one singular staff, by this Jesus actually indirectly prohibited them from taking more than one staff.
The word translated as staff in the modern versions of the Bible is again ῥάβδον rhabdon which as we saw in Mark is in the singular
The Greek that underlies the Modern versions is the Nestle and Aland 27th edition/USB 4th edition Greek text. It has staff in the singular:
καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς Μηδὲν αἴρετε εἰς τὴν ὁδόν, μήτε ῥάβδον μήτε πήραν μήτε ἄρτον μήτε ἀργύριον, μήτε [ἀνὰ] δύο χιτῶνας ἔχειν. (NA27/UBS4)
However, the Greek that underlies the KJV has staves in the plural, this being the Greek ῥάβδους
καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτούς, Μηδὲν αἴρετε εἰς τὴν ὁδόν· μήτε ῥάβδους, μήτε πήραν, μήτε ἄρτον, μήτε ἀργύριον, μήτε ἀνὰ δύο χιτῶνας ἔχειν. (Textus Receptus Beza 5th edition)
John Gill makes reference to the reading here:
“neither staves, The Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read in the singular number, “neither staff, rod, or club”; and so it was in one of Beza’s ancient copies, but in all the rest in the plural, as in Matthew; which last must be the true reading, since one staff was allowed, according as in Mark 6:8 though more than one were forbidden:”
John Gill Exposition of the entire Bible (Luke 9:3)
Adam Clark in his commentary on the Matthew 10:10 lists a number of manuscripts that support the reading that underlies the KJV and also references the supposed contradiction with Luke 9:3, stating that it removes the seeming contradiction with Mark 6:8:
“all the following manuscripts and versions have STAVES: C, E, F, G, K, L, M, P, S, ninety-three others, Coptic, Armenian, latter Syriac, one of the Itala, Chrysostom, and Theophylact. This reading is of great importance, as it reconciles this place with Luke 9:3, and removes the seeming contradiction from Mark 6:8; as if he had said: “Ye shall take nothing to defend yourselves with, because ye are the servants of the Lord, and are to be supported by his bounty, and defended by his power.”
The correct reading is staves plural.
Thus, the meaning of airó as used by Mark and Luke does not need to be different, nor is it. The two Gospels are recording similar information but not the exact same information. They are written from different perspectives. They both utilised the word with the same meaning, to take, Mark records the allowing of taking one staff while Luke records the prohibition of taking staves plural which in no way contradicts the permitting of taking one.
When we take all 3 verses together we see there is no contradiction at all, provided you do not use incorrect translations. Shabir has either yet again cherry picked the versions he has used in order to allow him to assert this contradiction or he has completely misread the text as it is in the KJV, not seeing the distinction between one staff and multiple staves. The main issue I see here is the lack of understanding of what is actually being recorded and so incorrectly understanding that all 3 Gospels are recording the exact same information when they are not.
The simplicity of these 3 Gospels can be broken down as such.
Jesus told the disciples that they could only take one staff(Mark). They were prohibited from taking more than one staff (Luke) neither were they allowed to acquire another on their journey (Matthew).
With just a little bit of investigation the “contradiction” just disappears.
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