Mark 15:25

Mark 15:25. And it was the third hour, i.e., nine o'clock in the morning. The last examination before the Jewish rulers took place at daybreak, three hours intervened, during which occurred the examinations before Pilate and Herod. A later hour would scarcely give time for all the incidents up to noon, at which time the darkness began. As death on the cross set in slowly, the period could not have been shorter than from nine o'clock to early evening, before sunset (see Mark 15:42). The accounts of Matthew and Luke accord with that of Mark in regard to the time of the darkness, and thus support the accuracy of this verse. But John (John 19:14) says the final effort of Pilate to release Jesus, was ‘about the sixth hour.' ‘The third hour' might mean sometime during that watch (i.e., between nine and twelve noon) and ‘about the sixth' some time before; but such an explanation is very unsatisfactory. An error in the text of John is possible, owing to the resemblance between the Greek signs for 3 and 6, but this explanation is not supported by any considerable evidence. A third and the most probable solution is, that John uses the Roman mode of reckoning time, from midnight to midnight. In other cases (Mark 1:40; Mark 4:6) he certainly uses the common Jewish method from sunrise to sunset. The supposition of a mistake on the part of one of the Evangelists is inadmissible. About the events of such a day these two men could not make a mistake. With memories so correct about such minute details, they could not possibly forget precisely when Christ was crucified. Some good explanation can be given, even if we are not competent to do so. An apparent discrepancy of such long standing is a proof (1) that there was no collusion between the two writers, if the difference originally existed; (2) that those who have held these writings as sacred have been very honest, or such an apparent disagreement would have disappeared long ago.