The tension: Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:5 reports that the risen Jesus appeared "to Cephas, then to the twelve." But by the time of the resurrection, Judas Iscariot had alrea…
The tension: Matthew 12:40 has Jesus predicting he will be "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" — a precise duration of 72 hours, paralleling Jonah in th…
The tension: Matthew 28:19 places baptism at the center of the risen Jesus' Great Commission to the eleven — go, make disciples, baptize them in the triune name.
The tension: Acts 1:9-12 places the ascension on the Mount of Olives (Olivet), with the disciples returning to Jerusalem from there "a sabbath day's journey." Luke 24:50-51…
The tension: John 15:13 and 10:11 describe Jesus laying down his life for his friends (philoi) and for the sheep — the in-group, the disciples, those who love him.
The tension: John 19:7 has the Jewish authorities declaring that under their own law, Jesus deserves death — "by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of…
The tension: Matthew 11:2-5 has Jesus point to his miracles — blind seeing, lame walking, lepers cleansed, deaf hearing, dead raised — as the answer to John the Baptist's q…
