a reference of jesus' cloak quote from the insight book the color of the cloak with which jesus christ was clothed on the day of his execution has caused some persons to argue that a discrepancy exists in the bible record with reference to this garment matthew said that the soldiers draped him with a scarlet cloak mt while mark and john say that it was purple mr joh however instead of being a discrepancy such a variation in describing the garment s color merely gives evidence of the individuality of the gospel writers and the fact that they were not in collusion matthew described the cloak as it appeared to him that is according to his evaluation of color and he emphasized the garment s red hue john and mark subdued the red tint calling it purple purple can be applied to any color having components of both blue and red so mark and john agree with matthew that the garment was red to some extent of course background and light reflection could have given it different casts a body of water varies in color at different times depending upon the particular color of the sky and the reflection of light at a given time so when such factors are considered it is seen that the gospel writers were not in conflict in describing the color of the cloak that mocking roman soldiers clothed christ with on the last day of his human life