Things People Believe About the Bible - That Aren't Actually True

Most of us learned Bible stories through listening to sermons on Sunday’s, reading children’s Bible story books, watching Christian plays or movies, or from paintings from famous artists. Over centuries, tradition and imagination quietly blended with Scripture itself – until we weren’t able to tell them apart anymore. The result? Some of the things we confidently believe or know are in the Bible or Torah… simply aren’t. And some things we hold to be true and certain facts, are actually made up by us frail humans. Here are some common misconceptions about the Bible that aren’t really in it at all. This is a growing list – bookmark it and come back, because there’s more to uncover.

Wrong Belief #1 The first commandment is “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.”

Correct – The first command given to humanity is “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28).
Explanation: The Ten Commandments come much later at Mount Sinai. The earliest divine command was given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and concerns fruitfulness (propagation of life) and stewardship.

Wrong Belief #2 – Adam and Eve ate an apple.

Correct – The Bible only says “fruit.”
Explanation: The apple tradition developed later in art and storytelling. Genesis never names the fruit. (Genesis 3:6)

Wrong Belief #3 – There were three wise men.

Correct – No one knows how many wise men were there, because the number is never given.
Explanation: In the gospels, Matthew 2:11 lists the three gifts given to Jesus as gold, incense, and myrrh, but it does not say how many Magi came from the East.

Wrong Belief #4 – The wise men visited Jesus at the manger.

Correct – The wise “entered a house” and saw Jesus and with Mary.
Explanation: Shepherds came to the manger after the angels announced Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:8 to 21). The Magi arrived later and visited Jesus in a house (Matthew 2:11).

Wrong Belief #5 – the disciples understood everything Jesus taught.

Correct – No, they didn’t.
Explanation: Mark 9:32 says “But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it” and John 12:16 says “His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him”. These are just a few examples, but no, even though they had Jesus living and breathing with them for three years, the disciples did not understand everything He taught them or everything He did. They were often confused and uncertain, and even the disciples took time to grow in understanding.

Wrong Belief #6 – Paul changed his name from Saul after being Saved.

Correct – He is called both Saul and Paul in Acts 13:9.
Explanation: Paul was his Roman name, while Saul was his Hebrew name. The text doesn’t frame it as a name change at conversion.

Wrong Belief #7 – Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Correct – It says “a great fish” (Jonah 1:17).
Explanation: The Hebrew term is non-specific. It could have been a whale – but the text says that God specifically “prepared” or appointed this creature, meaning that Jonah’s miraculous survival was by divine design, and the species of fish did not matter. For more details, look further down in the post.

Wrong Belief #8 – The Bible says money is the root of all evil.

Correct – The Bible says “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).
Explanation: The misquote drops both “love of” and “all kinds of” from the sentence; and these two changes completely alter the meaning. Money itself is neutral in Scripture. It’s the obsession with it that Paul warns against.

Wrong Belief #9 – God won’t give you more than you can handle.

Correct – That’s not what the verse in 1 Corinthians 10:13 says.
Explanation: 1 Corinthians 10:13 is specifically talking about the temptation we face, not suffering or hardship in general. It promises that God won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, and will provide a way out. It is a promise about being well able to resist sin – and does not say anything about us enduring pain or loss, or learning to be content no matter what.

Wrong Belief #10 – Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.

Correct – The Bible never says this.
Explanation: Luke 8:2 says Jesus cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene, and that is the only personal detail given about her. The idea that she was a prostitute came from a 6th-century sermon by Pope Gregory I, who apparently got quite confused (Could it have been on purpose?) and conflated her with other women in the Gospels who were also called Mary. This belief has no biblical basis, and the Catholic Church formally clarified this in 1969.

Wrong Belief #11 – “Cleanliness is next to godliness” is in the Bible.

Correct – This phrase is not in Scripture at all.
Explanation: This famous phrase was coined by John Wesley, the 18th-century theologian, who used it in a sermon. It has been repeated so often that it sounds biblical, and people assume that it came from the Bible, but it really isn’t.

Wrong Belief #12 – Noah took two of every animal onto the ark.

Correct – Noah took two of every unclean animal, but seven of every clean animal (Genesis 7:2–3).
Explanation: Most Sunday school lessons and many movies about the flood only mention the pairs. But God specifically instructed Noah to bring two pairs of every unclean animal (male and female) seven pairs of every clean animal (male and female). So basically, 4 unclean and 14 clean. Why so many clean? Maybe because some would be needed for sacrificing to Abba after the flood, while still leaving enough breeding pairs alive.

Wrong Belief #13 – Jesus was born in a stable.

Correct – The Bible never mentions a stable.
Explanation: Luke 2:7 says Mary laid Jesus in a manger because there was no room at the inn. A manger is a feeding trough, but it doesn’t have to be in a stable. Back in 1st-century Judea, animals were often kept in courtyards or along streets, or at the lower levels of the homes. So Jesus could have been born anywhere. The stable is simply an artistic tradition, not a biblical detail.

Wrong Belief #14 – “This too shall pass” is in the Bible.

Correct – It’s not in Scripture at all.
Explanation: This phrase is of Persian origin and can be traced back to 12th-century Persian Sufi poets. It reached the Western world when the English poet Edward Fitzgerald translated a Persian poem in his poetry called Solomon’s Seal. Later, Abraham Lincoln included it in a speech, as did many others.
Some people also attribute the poem to a 10th-century Old English poem called Deor, in which the poet laments his troubles and repeats the refrain “that passed away, so may this.”
The same sentiment also appears in Jewish folklore with the Hebrew phrase Gam zeh yaavor – “this too shall pass.” It is a beautiful, ancient sentiment – but it belongs to Persian poetry and Jewish wisdom tradition, not to Scripture.

Wrong Belief #15 – “Thou shalt not kill” means no killing of any kind.

Correct – The original Hebrew says “Thou shalt not murder.”
Explanation: The Hebrew word used in the Book of Exodus 20:13 is ratsach, which specifically means unlawful killing or murder. It does not prohibit all killing. The same law that prohibits murder also prescribes capital punishment for certain crimes, which would be contradictory if it meant all killing. The distinction between murder and justified killing is built into the commandment itself.

Wrong Belief #16 – “God helps those who help themselves” is From the Bible.

Correct – Not in the Bible.
Explanation: This phrase is assumed to be a part of Scripture, but it doesn’t appear anywhere in it. It’s also often attributed to Benjamin Franklin from his 1736 book Poor Richard’s Almanac. But in truth, it is the moral of an Aesop’s Fable from Ancient Greece called Hercules and the Waggoner – the moral being ‘The gods help them that help themselves’. The actual message of Scripture is closer to the opposite — Romans 5:8 says Christ died for us while we were still helpless sinners.

Beliefs that could be Wrong or Right

Potentially Wrong/Right Belief 1 – Eve faced temptation alone.

There is no fixed answer here. Many scholars believe that Adam was “with her” in the Garden because of the Hebrew word “immah” in Genesis 3:6. If this was so, it makes him complicit in the sin of eating the forbidden fruit, and his silence inexcusable. But there are other scholars who believe, that “immah” or “with her” simply points to the intimate relationship that Adam shared with Eve. What’s the right answer? We’ll have to wait till we meet them to find out!

Potentially Wrong/Right Belief 2 – Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

The Bible does not say that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. It says “a great fish” in the Book of Jonah 1:17. It could possibly have been a whale, but it could have also been any other sea creature. As Christopher Eames explains, the “sperm whale” could have swallowed Jonah whole, but he would not have been able to survive three days in it’s belly. The only way that would have been possible was if God intervened. And as Jonah 1:17 says, God “prepared” a great fish, meaning He assigned or appointed it. And the miraculous became possible.

Potentially Wrong/Right Belief 3 – Mary rode a donkey to Bethlehem.

Correct – The Bible never mentions a donkey.
Explanation: Luke 2:4-5 simply says that Mary and Joseph “went up” to Bethlehem to be registered for the census. No mode of transport is described. The donkey has been a fixture of nativity sets and children’s picture books for centuries, but it is tradition that was absorbed from the Protoevangelism of James (Ch17:2), an apocryphal or infancy Gospel from the 2nd century that is not accepted as Scripture. Was it true? We’ll have to wait till we meet Jesus again to ask him.

Did any of these surprise you? Comment and let us know! And if you have any that might surprise us, please please comment those too and we might add them to this list!

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