Was the Robe Placed on Jesus Scarlet or Purple?

Recently I was asked "Was the Robe Placed on Jesus scarlet or Purple? and why is there so much contraversy between the Gospel accords regarding this. I found this artical written in Apologetics press that was very articulate in covering the subject matter so I am quoting it here and refrences are given.

Apologetics press
Http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/559

Was the robe Placed on Jesus Scarlet or Purple?
By Eric Lyons, M. Min

After being flogged with a dreadful Roman scourge, Jesus was taken by Pilate's soldiers into the governor's headquarters where the whole garrison gathered around Him. It was here that the soldiers placed a crown of thorns on His head, a reed in His hand , and a robe on his body. Skeptics maintain that a contradictions exists between the Gospel accounts because they describe the color of the robe differently. Whereas Matthew says that the soldiers "put a scarlet robe" on Jesus (27:27-28), Mark says that "they clothed Him in purple" (15:16-17), and John states that the soldiers put "a purple robe" on Him (19:1-2). These differences have lead some to believe and advocate that the Gospel writers wrote under their own power with no help from a Higher being , and thus they contradicted one another in their narratives. Because increasingly more people are swallowing such allegations blindly and rejecting the inerrantcy of the Scriptures, logical answers are required. The question is do such valid answers exist for the differences in the Gospel narratives concerning the robe placed upon Jesus after his scourging?

All would agree that we oftentimes see colors a little differently. What one person calls blue, some one else may be more specific and call navy blue. a die-hard football fan may render to his team's color as dark red, whereas someone else who sees the teams faded uniforms for the first time at the end of a grueling season may conclude that the teams color is more maroon. While coloring pictures for their parents, one child may color an orange-yellow Sun, while the other draws a Sun that is bright yellow. Surely no one would accuse these individuals of lying or being deceitful because on was more specific than another. Like wise skeptics have no solid grounds on which to stand when they disregard common sense and create biblical contradictions that do not exist. The simple face is , Matthew, mark, Luke and John wrote from different perspectives; they did not participate in collusion. The same way that individuals today look at colors and see different tones, shades, and tints, the Gospel writers saw the activities surrounding the life of Jesus from different angles.

The garment placed upon Jesus after his brutal scourging likely was similar to the faded football uniforms mentioned above, but in His case we read of "a scarlet robe..faded to resemble purple" (The Wycliffe Bible Commentary). [It is difficult to imagine Pilate arraying Jesus' bloody body with a new robe. More likely it was one that had been worn and cast off as useless 9Barnes). According to A.T. Roberson, there were various shades of purple and scarlet in the first century and it was not easy to distinguish the colors or tints (1997) . In fact, the ancients (especially the Romans) used the term purple when speaking of various shades of red (Mcgarvey, 1875, p. 361;Barnes, 1997). Consequently, these different colors sometimes would be called by the same name.

AS one can see there is no discrepancy in the Gospel narratives concerning the color of the robe Jesus wore. Just like other of their day, the Gospel writers simply used the terms scarlet and purple interchangeably.

Barnes, Albert (1997), Barnes' Notes (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).

McGarvey, J.W. (1875) Commentary on Matthew and Mark (Delight AR: Gospel Light).

Robertson, A.T. (1997) Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).

The wycliffe Bible Commentary (1985), Electronic Data base: Biblesoft.


Although many different people from many diverse backgrounds wrote the books fo the Bible in very diffrent styles, in many diffrent places, over a long period of time, the bible really has only one author - God. Since, God is perfect, Holy and true, there are no real contradictions in His Word, even if it looks like it a first glance. So we have to look a little deeper. We can rest assure that if the Bible is truly from god, and if God is a God of truth (as we know Him to be), then if two parts of his word seem to be in opposition or in contradiction to each other, our interpretation of one or both of these parts must be in error. In many cases context, audiance, persepctive, and culture often brings clearity.

I am reminded of the Samaritan woman who came to the well upon meeting Jesus she was shocked that He would ask her for a drink of water. Jesus said to her " If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you "Give Me a drink you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water". Later on Jesus askes her to Go, call her husband and the woman says she has no husband and Jesus calls her on having five husbands and the one whom she was with is not her husband either. She is amazed that Jesus knows her life but, she quickly changes the subject to our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. In other words lets not talk about me and you. Lets talk about religion and third party facts. "Jesus said to her, Woman believe me, the hour is comng when you will neither on this mountian, nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. "You worship what yo do not know;we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. [V:24] God is Spirit and those who whorship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

The things of the flesh cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit. We must seek Him in Spirit and in truth... We must ask ourselves if we are truly seeking truth and are we doing it in the Spirit of the Lord. Most often confusion is easier then truth because confusion allows us to continue our lifestyle of choice and has no requirments and demands nothing of us. Truth demands a choice. Love demands a choice and it demands truthfulness.

The woman at the well said "I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When He comes He will tell us all things."

Jesus said to her, "I AM HE!" The color of the the Robe dosen't change that - She knew enough to make a choice. You may not understand all thing but perhaps you know enough to make a choice. You will never understand the things of the Spirit unless you seek in the Spirit.

Don't miss the Messiah because your stumbled on the Color of his Robe or any other minute detail that you may be stumbling on. Don't let your lack of ability to completley understand every single detail keep you from accepting Gods love and the other 99% of the bible. When I think about the creator of the Universe writting me a letter I'm not amazed that sometimes it takes me a little while to understand all that he is saying to me. But I know He loves and I'm going to keep reading that Love letter knowing he loves me until I understand.