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John 13:6 vs. John 16:5 - A Contradiction in the Bible?

by Matthew Elton

copyright 2009 Matthew Elton

Question:

In John 13:6 Simon Peter asked Jesus "whither goest thou?" but in John 16:5 Jesus says "none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?"  Did Jesus not hear Peter's question?

Answer:

Here are the two verses in their entirety:

Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

--John 13:6

But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?

--John 16:5

There is no contradiction here. If we read the record through chronologically, by the time we reach John 16:5, a few entire chapters have elapsed since Peter asked Jesus "whither goest thou?"

The key is that Jesus uses the present tense verb "asketh" (or "ask" in other translations) instead of the past tense "asked". If he had said "none of you asked me" that would be a contradiction. But that's not what Jesus said! By using the present tense form, he is saying "none of you are asking me right now." Obviously Peter had asked him, but that was a few chapters ago... probably several hours ago!

Therefore there is no contradiction because Jesus is using the present tense to speak about the present, and at that time in the present no one was asking him "whither goest thou?" Peter's question occurred in the past, several chapters earlier.