CLAIM: John records that Jesus was still on trial at the “sixth hour” (Jn. 19:14). Likewise, Matthew records that the darkness fell from “the sixth hour… until the ninth hour” (Mt. 27:45; Lk. 23:44). However, Mark records, “It was the third hour when they crucified Him” (Mk. 15:25). Mark writes that Jesus was crucified at 9am or “the third hour” (Mk. 15:25), while John records that he was crucified at noon or “the sixth hour” (Jn. 19:14). Mark agrees that the darkness occurred from noon until 3pm (Mk. 15:33; cf. Lk. 23:44), yet they disagree on the beginning of Jesus crucifixion. How could John record that Jesus was on trial at the sixth hour, when Mark states that he was already being crucified? How can we resolve this?
OPTION #1. This is a later gloss. Matthew and Luke do not record this “third hour” time frame from Mark, and neither does the (pseudepigraphical) Gospel of Peter. This is an odd omission, because these other texts mention the darkness from noon until 3pm—yet they omit this first time signature. Even though verse 25 has “firm textual support,” Lane holds that this is “gloss inserted by an early reviser who noticed that Mark had failed to state the hour when Jesus was nailed to the cross.”[1]
OPTION #2. This was a copyist error. As we have already pointed out (c.f. Ex. 12:37), numbers were very easy to distort as a copyist. Wessel writes, “An early copyist has confused a Greek Γ—the letter that stands for three—with a ϝ [digamma]—the letter that stands for six.”[2] Therefore, it is possible that an early copyist erred in recording Mark’s time (i.e. the third hour). Since numbers were difficult to pass along, this is entirely possible.
OPTION #3. John used a Roman clock, while Mark used a Jewish clock. John was prone to do this (c.f. Jn. 13:1). Under this view, John was using a Roman clock in his gospel, but the other authors were using a Jewish clock.
John states that Jesus was preaching in the “tenth hour” (Jn. 1:39). On the Roman clock, this would be 10 a.m. This makes more sense than the Jewish clock, which would be 4 a.m. Moreover, when Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, John writes, “Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour” (Jn. 4:6). This would fit with the normal time that people would visit the well, having travelled all day long (6 p.m.).
OPTION #4. These time signatures are rough estimates. People estimated the three-hour intervals to the closest interval. Thus, “any time between 9:00 a.m. and noon may have led one person to say that an even occurred at the third (9:100 a.m.) or the sixth hour (12:00).”[3]
Comparison of Crucifixion Chronologies |
||
Mark |
John |
Matthew & Luke |
|
Used the Jewish clock. |
Used the Roman clock. | Used the Jewish clock. |
| The day ran from 6 pm to 6 pm. | The day ran from midnight until midnight—like a modern clock. |
The day ran from 6 pm to 6 pm. |
|
The “third hour” would’ve been 9 am on this clock, when the crucifixion started. The darkness didn’t occur until noon, according to Matthew (Mt. 27:45). Jesus died at 3 pm. |
The sixth hour would have been at 6 am. However, notice that John says the trial was “about” this time.[4] Later Jesus was handed over to be crucified (v.16). This would concord with Mark’s account that Jesus wasn’t crucified until 9 am. |
Darkness fell from “the sixth hour… until the ninth hour” (Mt. 27:45; Lk. 23:44). This would be from noon until 3 pm. However, Jesus had been crucified before this darkness (see vv.30-44). This could be the time from 9 am until noon that Mark mentions. |
[1] Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 567). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
[2] Wessel, W. W. Mark. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke (F. E. Gaebelein, Ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. 1984. 780.
[3] Andreas Köstenberger, John, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), p.538.
[4] We should also point out that these time measurements were approximate times. The evangelists didn’t have Timex watches. They were judging the time by the position of the sun in the sky.