Bible Synapse
Did the transfiguration take place six days or eight days after Jesus’ saying?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
“After six days” Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain.
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
“After six days” Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain, and is transfigured.
And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
“About an eight days after these sayings” Jesus takes Peter, John and James up a mountain to pray.
And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
The objection
Matthew and Mark say that Jesus was transfigured “after six days”, counting from his saying that some standing there would not taste death before they saw the kingdom. Luke says it was “about an eight days after these sayings”. Critics say the Gospels cannot agree on how long it was.
The answer
Luke does not claim to give an exact count. His words are “about an eight days” (Greek hōsei hēmerai oktō, ‘about eight days’), an approximate way of saying ‘about a week later’. Matthew and Mark give a more precise figure, “after six days”, which does not contradict an approximate one.
The two figures also fit exactly if they count differently. Matthew and Mark count the six full days that came between the saying and the transfiguration. Luke, counting in the inclusive way common in the ancient world, includes the day of the saying and the day of the transfiguration as well, which makes eight. John uses the same reckoning when he says that the risen Jesus appeared to the disciples again “after eight days” (John 20:26), meaning on the next Sunday, a week after the first appearance. Gill and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown both explain the passages this way.
From the classic commentators
The other evangelists, Matthew and Mark, say it was six days after: the reason of this difference is, because Luke takes in the day in which he delivered these sayings, and that in which he was transfigured, and they only reckon the intermediate daysJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on Luke 9:28 (1746–1763)
Sources
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Luke 9 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: Luke 9 (1871), at Bible Hub