The tension: Job 15:14, Isaiah 64:6, and Romans 3:10 deny anyone is righteous — all our righteousness is as filthy rags, there is none righteous, no, not one.
The tension: The Decalogue and a long chorus of prophetic, wisdom, and epistolary texts prohibit lying absolutely — false witness, false reports, deception are abominations.
The tension: The Torah, prophets, and Wisdom literature relentlessly command fear of YHWH — Deuteronomy 6:13, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Proverbs 9:10, Matthew 10:28, and Hebrews…
The tension: 1 Kings 8:46, 2 Chronicles 6:36, Proverbs 20:9, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:23, and 1 John 1:8-10 all declare that no human is without sin.
The tension: Proverbs 2:3-5, Proverbs 8:17, and Matthew 7:8 / Luke 11:9-10 promise that anyone who seeks God will find him — ask and receive, knock and the door opens.
The tension: Psalm 37:25, Psalm 112:1-3, Proverbs 13:22, and Proverbs 15:6 all treat wealth as a marker of divine favor — the righteous never beg, their houses fill with tr…
The tension: Paul stacks Romans 3:28, Romans 4:13, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:11-12, and Ephesians 2:8-9 to insist humans are justified by faith apart from works of the la…
The tension: Habakkuk 1:4 and 1:13 complain that the wicked surround the righteous and devour those more righteous than themselves, and Hebrews 12:6 affirms that Yahweh cha…
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: 1 Timothy 2:3-4 and 2 Peter 3:9 say God wants every human saved; Proverbs 16:4, John 12:40, Romans 9:18-22, and 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 portray a deity who cre…