In the Gospel of Mark, we read, “Now it was the third hour, and they crucified him” (Mark 15:25.) This seems like a relatively simple statement—until we read the account of Jesus’ trial in the Gospel of John: “Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour” (John 19:14.) How is it possible that Jesus could be crucified before he was on trial? Did one of these Gospel accounts get it wrong?
It certainly looks like a contradiction on the surface; however, there is a simple explanation if one looks closer—particularly at the cultural and political situation at that particular time and place. Jerusalem was a Jewish city, but at that time it was a territory of the Roman Empire. The key to solving this mystery is understanding that between the Jewish natives and the ruling Romans, there were two prevalent and distinct cultural and linguistic traditions. Just as there were two predominant languages spoken, Aramaic and Greek, there were also two measures of time: Jewish and Roman. The Jewish “day” comprised two twelve-hour periods: nighttime, beginning at 6 pm to 6 am, and daytime from 6 am to 6 pm. On the other hand, Roman time was a 24-hour day from midnight to midnight.
If we read both accounts using Jewish time, the time of the Crucifixion according to the Gospel of Mark would be at 9 am, and the time of Jesus’ trial would be at noon. This does not make sense—but if St. John used Roman time, the 6th hour would be 6 am, which would put the trial three hours before the crucifixion—a scenario that makes perfect sense.
How do we know Saint John was using Roman time? If we look at another passage of his Gospel, we can see him again using Roman time: “He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying and remained with him that day (now it was about the tenth hour)”. The tenth hour in Jewish time would be 4 am, which seems an unlikely time for Jesus to be out preaching, but using Roman time, it would be 10 am, which seems much more likely.
On its face, and with no context or background information, this apparent contradiction creates a real problem. If the premise is granted that both St. Mark and St. John were using Jewish time, then it stands to reason that there is something wrong. The contradiction, however, becomes perfect alignment by understanding that St. Mark was using Jewish time, and St. John was using Roman time.
You can find more articles dealing with difficult Bible verses at the link below:
https://copticapologetics.com/category/bible-difficulties/
The video based on this article can be found here:
Was Jesus Crucified at the 3rd hour or the 6th hour?
