The tension: Genesis 1:1 and Isaiah 44:24 state that God the Father created everything alone, explicitly stretching out the heavens 'by myself.' John 1:3 and Colossians 1:1…
The tension: Genesis 2:18-24 presents marriage as a divine solution to the problem that 'it is not good that man should be alone.' 1 Corinthians 7:1 and 7:7 have Paul decla…
The tension: A wide set of passages (Gen 14:19, 22; Exod 9:29; 19:5; Deut 10:14; Ps 24:1; 50:12; 89:11; 1 Cor 10:26) affirm that God owns the earth absolutely.
The tension: The Torah (Exod 20:14, Deut 5:18) and the New Testament (Acts 15:20, 1 Cor 5:1, 6:13, 6:18, 10:8, 2 Cor 12:21, Gal 5:19-21, Eph 5:3, Col 3:5-6, 1 Thess 4:3, He…
The tension: The Tenth Commandment as quoted by Paul in Romans 7:7 and 13:9 prohibits coveting, and Ephesians 5:3 and Colossians 3:5 reinforce that covetousness is idolatry…
The tension: Jesus in Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:37 commands his followers not to judge, and Paul echoes that in Romans 2:1 and 14:10 along with James 4:12.
The tension: The Hebrew Bible's wisdom literature and older narrative strata treat death as terminal — the dead go to Sheol, lose consciousness, and do not return.
The tension: Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:21, 3:18, and 4:10 actively recommends becoming a fool — God saves through the foolishness of preaching, and Paul calls himself and his…
The tension: Paul's hymn to love in 1 Corinthians 13:7 says love 'believes all things,' but Proverbs 14:15, Proverbs 26:25, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, and 1 John 4:1 issue blank…
The tension: Deuteronomy 24:1-2 permits divorce for any 'uncleanness' (Hebrew *ʿerwat dābār*) — historically read liberally by the school of Hillel as covering almost any c…
The tension: The Synoptic Jesus tells his followers they must become like little children to enter the kingdom — receive it, in fact, *as* a little child or stay locked out.
The tension: Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as the evidence of things not seen; 2 Corinthians 4:18 says we look at things unseen rather than seen; 2 Corinthians 5:7 — "we walk…
The tension: Acts 1:15 reports the number of names "together" right after the ascension as "about one hundred and twenty." Paul, writing decades earlier in 1 Corinthians 15…
