The transfiguration – after 6 days or after about 8 days?

Some have wondered why when two gospels record a 6 day gap before the transfiguration, Luke says “about 8 days”.

Matthew 17:1 “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and brings them up into an high mountain apart.”

Mark 9:2 This is the same as Matthew’s account.

Luke 9:28 “And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.”

Notice that Luke says “about” – an approximation. There are several ways of accounting for the difference in the number of days. The most probable one is that Luke, who account is based on eyewitness interviews (Luke 1:2) takes over a common method of counting in which case he would count the remaining part of the day on which Jesus spoke (see vs. 27) as one day, as well as the early part of the day before they went up into the mountain. These two days, plus the intervening six of Matthew and Mark’s record, account for the eight days. This may be a question of Luke’s style, or Luke wanting to connect together the events on both sides more clearly than Matthew and Mark do.

Another possibility is that Matthew and Mark, being wary of the Jewish command about journeying on the Sabbath, and if the two events were both on Sabbaths, made the journey only 6 days. Luke, as a Greek writing for Gentiles, would not have this concern.