The New Testament contains numerous instances in which statements were attributed to Jesus that he did not make. A few of the erroneous statements supposedly made by Jesus are listed below. Some early Christians held personal views on certain topics and they did not hesitate to attribute their beliefs to Jesus. In many instances Statements supposedly made by Jesus are partly true and partly false.
     The Apostles were writing from memory many years after Jesus left the planet. They never claimed to be writing by inspiration. It was left to later Christian religious leaders to collect the documents they wished to include in the Bible.
     In time the Christian religious leaders claimed that the Bible was the final, complete, inspired Word of God. They further stated emphatically that not one word was to be added to or removed from the Bible. Those actions sounded the death knell of the Christian religion. It will not survive the current age. During the dreadful Years of Tribulation, it will become irrefutably clear that numerous teachings in the Christian religion simply are erroneous.
     Part IV of The Urantia Book contains a factual account of the life and teachings of Jesus. The celestial authors of Part IV witnessed the life and teachings of Jesus from his birth to his death. The Urantia Book is the fifth epochal revelation to be presented to our planet. It is the most detailed revelation to be presented to our planet in 2000 years.

Matthew 1:18-25:
v. 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
v. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
v. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
v. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
v. 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
v. 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
v. 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
v. 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

There is much erroneous information in these passages.
     v. 18-20: Mary was not "found with child of the Holy Ghost." Joseph was not "minded to put her [Mary] away." Joseph was not told in a dream "that which is conceived in her [Mary] is of the Holy Ghost."
     v. 21: Jesus will save people from their sins if they follow his teachings. But many persons will be saved even if they have never heard of Jesus.
     V. 22, 23 quotes a passage from Isaiah 7:14: ". . . Behold a virgin shall conceive, . . ." This passage in Isaiah may be one of the many predictions that was inserted into the Old Testament after Jesus lived on earth. Then the statement in Matthew 1:22, 23 was either written into the record or an existing statement was revised to make it appear that Jesus had fulfilled a prophecy that was written before he was born.
     v. 24,25: Joseph and Mary were married in the usual manner. Jesus was conceived after Joseph and Mary were married.
     Jesus never stated that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost. And in fact, he was not conceived by the Holy Ghost. He was conceived in the same manner as all children born before him and after him. This superstitious belief was developed by very primitive men thousands and thousands of years ago and faithfully handed down from generation to generation even unto the present day. [UB 119:7:5]
     One of the requirements of Jesus' seventh and final bestowal was that he be born of woman, live his life as an ordinary person, and experience death as does the average mortal. [Two exceptions are Elijah and Enoch who did not experience natural death as they fused with their Thought Adjuster while still in the flesh.] [UB 122:4:4]

Matthew 5:29: Jesus is quoted as saying: And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
     This is a distortion of what Jesus did say. As there is no such place as hell, Jesus would never use the words "cast into hell." Further, Jesus would never suggest that anyone engage in such horrendous self-mutilation.
     What Jesus actually said was: You shall return good for evil. My messengers [Apostles and disciples] must not strive with men, but be gentle toward all. Measure for measure shall not be you rule. [UB 140:6:9]
     Society early adopted the paying-back attitude of retaliation: an eye for an eye, a life for a life. The evolving tribes all recognized this right of blood vengeance. The teachers of revealed religion have always proclaimed, "Vengeance is mine' says the Lord." [UB 70:10:9] [Romans 12:19]

Matthew 5:31,32: Jesus is quoted as saying: "It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery."
     Jesus did not make that statement. In Jesus' time divorce practices were lax in Palestine and throughout the Roman Empire. He repeatedly refused to lay down laws regarding marriage and divorce, but many of Jesus' early followers had strong opinions on divorce and attributed them to Jesus.
     Jesus was not a political reformer; he did not come to reorganize the world. Even if he had done this, it would have been applicable only to that day and generation. Nor was Jesus an economic reformer, although he did frequently call attention to the injustice of the unequal distribution of wealth. Jesus worked, lived, and traded in the world as he found it. Jesus was not a sociologist, but he did labor to break down all forms of selfish isolation. Jesus would make all men Godlike and then stand by sympathetically while these sons of God solve their own political, social, and economic problems. The Master offered no solutions for the nonreligious problems of his own age nor for any subsequent age.
     Jesus' attitude toward the institutions of his day is clearly set forth in The Urantia Book, Paper 140, Section 8.

Matthew 6:16-18: Jesus is quoted as saying: Moreover when ye fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face. That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
     What Jesus actually said: Fasting is not a part of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. . . . Fasting may be an appropriate part of the law of Moses, but in the coming kingdom the sons of God shall experience freedom from fear and joy in the divine spirit. [UB 147:7:2]
     Jesus taught his Apostles that it was their faith that made them secure in the kingdom of the present and the future, and not their affliction of soul nor fasting of body. [UB 147:8:5]

Matthew 10:34,35: Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
     Jesus did not say he came to send a sword. Neither did he make the statements in verse 35. The devil [Caligastia] has excelled in setting one person against another person. Always: The devil's goal has been to foment as much hostility, resentment, physical abuse . . . as possible.
     Jesus knew that peace would not prevail on earth within the near future. In his farewell discourse to his Apostles during the few remaining hours before his arrest and crucifixion, he said: Although this gospel of the kingdom never fails to bring great peace to the soul of the individual believer, it will not bring peace on earth until man is willing to believe my teaching wholeheartedly and to establish the practice of doing the Father's will as the chief purpose in living the mortal life. [UB 180:6:1]

Matthew 12:40: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
     Jesus knew that a Jonah was not three days and three nights in the whale's belly. Neither did Jesus say he would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
     While Jesus was traveling to Rome he used the story in a conversation with a young Philistine who questioned Jesus about the legend. Jesus answered the questions of the young Philistine without actually telling the young man that the story was not factual. [UB 130:1:1-3]
     At a later time Nathaniel asked Jesus one evening: What is the truth about the Scriptures? During Jesus' answer he made the following comments about the story of Jonah: If the story of Jonah should not be a fact, even if Jonah had never lived, still would the profound truth of this narrative, the love of God for Nineveh and the so-called heathen, be none the less precious in the eyes of all those who love their fellow men. [UB 159:4:4]

End of the World?
Matthew 13:40 Said Jesus: And therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
v. 49 Said Jesus: So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, . . .
24:3 The disciples asked Jesus: Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
28:20 Said Jesus: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
     The Apostles were much preoccupied with the possibility that the world would end at some point in the future. However, many theologians believe that the phrase "end of the world" might better be rendered as "the end of the age."

Matthew 19:6,9: Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
     Jesus definitely did not make these comments.
     Some groups of mortals have conceived of marriage as being consummated by divine action. God does not join a man and woman in marriage. If God has once joined any two things or persons together, they will remain thus joined until such a time as the divine will decrees their separation. Marriage is not a department of the church; it is a civil institution subject to the laws of man. [UB 83:8:4]

Matthew 19:28: Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
     Jesus did not make this fantastic promise. Further, there were never more than three or four tribes of Israel. [UB 97:9:1]

Matthew 24:21-31: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
     It is true that during the coming years there will be trials and tribulations such as has never before been witnessed on earth. However, whether those days will be shortened I do not know. The Third Garden of Eden will be created so that all persons who choose to enter the Garden will survive the global holocaust that will occur on the Day of Armageddon. But we will not see the "Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." The "elect" may be those persons who choose to enter the Garden of Eden.

Matthew 24:37-41: But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
     Jesus definitely did not make these comments. These passages, among others, are often cited to support the theory of the Rapture. However, the Rapture as described by Christians will not occur.

Matthew 25:45,46: Jesus is quoted as saying: Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
     It is true that the righteous who are resurrected in heaven and who choose eternal life will have life everlasting. But there is no such thing as an everlasting punishment. There is no bottomless pit, no hell, no furnace of fire, no lake of fire burning with brimstone. If a person does not create a soul with survival value his universe career ends at death.

Matthew 26:24: The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man [Judas Iscariot] by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
     This erroneous statement was not made by Jesus. Someone simply made the comment, wrote it into the record, and attributed it to Jesus. The eleven Apostles were horrified, stunned at the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. The Master regarded the son of perdition only with pity. [UB 139:12:14]

Matthew 26:28: For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
     Jesus definitely did not make this comment. As the authors of Part IV of The Urantia Book make clear, Jesus did not die on the cross to pay for the sins of mankind.

Matthew 4:1-11: In this account after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, he then retired into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. According to verse 2 he fasted forty days and forty nights. In verses 8 and 9 the devil supposedly offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if only Jesus would fall down and worship him.
     First, Jesus did not fast forty days and forty nights. [Can an ordinary person survive a fast of forty days? And remember: Jesus was required to live his life as an ordinary person.]
     Second, the devil did not tempt Jesus by offering him "all the kingdoms of the world." This statement reveals a lack of knowledge of Jesus' true position in our local universe: Jesus began the creation of our local universe about four hundred billion years ago. There now are more than three million inhabited planets in our local universe for which Jesus is responsible. Why would Jesus, now the Sole Sovereign of our local universe, be tempted by the offer of only the kingdoms of our world?
[UB 134:8 The Sojourn On Mount Hermon. See especially Paragraph 6.]