The tension: John 3:22 says Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea and 'there he tarried with them, and baptized' — Jesus is the explicit subject of the baptiz…
The tension: John 1:1, 1:14 identifies the Word (Logos) as God and says the Word became flesh — the classic textual foundation for the deity of Christ.
The tension: Matthew 5:9 blesses peacemakers; Luke 2:14 has the angels announce 'on earth peace'; John 14:27 and 16:33 have Jesus give peace to his disciples; Acts 10:36 sa…
The tension: Matthew 6:5-6 explicitly forbids public prayer: do not be like the hypocrites who pray in synagogues and street corners to be seen — go into your inner room (*…
The tension: John 16:30 and 21:17 affirm that Jesus knows all things (*panta oidas*), and Colossians 2:2-3 says all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ.
The tension: John 1:29-34 has John the Baptist not only recognize Jesus on sight as "the Lamb of God" but explicitly testify, "I saw, and bare record that this is the Son o…
The tension: In Matthew 11:14 Jesus says of John the Baptist: "this is Elijah, which was for to come," and Matthew 17:12-13 makes the identification explicit — the disciple…
The tension: Matthew 13:10-11, Mark 4:10-11, and Luke 8:9-10 all have Jesus tell the disciples that the parables function as a deliberate esoteric/exoteric distinction: "un…
The tension: Matthew 16:16-17 has Peter confess Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God" at Caesarea Philippi, and Jesus explicitly tells Peter this knowledge came…
The tension: The Synoptic Gospels record Jesus making at least three explicit, detailed passion predictions to the disciples (Matt 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:18-19; Mark 8:31; 9:3…
The tension: Matt 20:23 has Jesus admit that assigning the right- and left-hand seats in his kingdom 'is not mine to give' — that prerogative belongs to the Father.
The tension: John 2 places Jesus' violent cleansing of the temple at the very beginning of his public ministry, right after the Cana wedding miracle and years before his ar…
The tension: Matthew 21:1-7 has Jesus dispatch two disciples to fetch *an ass and her colt*, and the disciples bring back both animals; Matthew even depicts Jesus sitting o…
The tension: The Synoptic apocalyptic discourses and Revelation 1:7 stack up to say the return of the Son of Man will be a universally visible event: every tribe of the ear…
The tension: In the Synoptic Gethsemane scene (Matt 26:36-42, Mark 14:35-36, Luke 22:41-42) Jesus prays explicitly that the cup of suffering pass from him — 'let this cup p…
The tension: The three Synoptic arrest scenes (Matt 26:47-49, Mark 14:43-45, Luke 22:47-48) all have Judas identify Jesus by approaching and kissing him — the prearranged s…
The tension: John 2:19-21 has Jesus straightforwardly speak this saying as a public pronouncement at the temple cleansing, and the narrator helpfully tells us he meant the…
