They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross.
World English Bible
Mark 15:21
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Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Matt 27:32 — “they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him … that he might carry his cross” / John 19:17 — “He went out, bearing his cross”
Who carried Jesus' cross?John 19:17 has Jesus carry his own cross to Golgotha — explicitly, *bastazōn heautō ton stauron*. Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, and Luke 23:26 have Simon the Cyrenian compelled to carry the cross for him.
Critical scholarship: Leans toward a genuine contradiction.
More on this question
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Read as a real contradiction:
D. F. Strauss (d. 1874)
The tension: Strauss reads John as having Jesus carry his own cross where the synoptics have Simon the Cyrenian bear it in his stead.
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Read as reconcilable:
John Gill (d. 1771), Albert Barnes (d. 1870)
Harmonization: Gill reads Jesus as carrying the cross first, until Simon the Cyrenian was compelled to bear it after him, the two accounts describing different stages.
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Read as a real contradiction:
D. F. Strauss (d. 1874)
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
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Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
Cite this page
This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Mark 15:21 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/mark/15/21?version=WEB (retrieved 26 August 2026).