The tension: John 20:17 has Jesus tell Mary Magdalene, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." Matthew 28:9 has the women hold Jesus by the feet and worship…
The tension: John 5:22, John 5:26-27, John 9:39, Acts 17:31, 2 Corinthians 5:10, and Revelation 19:11 say Jesus judges everyone, with the Father committing all judgment to…
The tension: Galatians 5:4, Hebrews 6:4-6, and 2 Peter 2:20-21 all explicitly treat falling away from saving grace as possible — Hebrews even pronounces it irrevocable.
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: 1 Corinthians 7:14 says the unbelieving spouse is sanctified through the believing one; Acts 16:31 promises the Philippian jailer that he and his household wil…
The tension: John 12:40 attributes the blinding of unbelievers' eyes to God, and 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 has God sending strong delusion so that they will believe a lie and…
The tension: Matthew 7:8 and Proverbs 8:17 both promise that those who seek will find — the seeker-finds-God formula is presented as a universal principle.
The tension: Genesis 6:5-7 has God resolving to destroy humanity precisely because "the wickedness of man was great" and "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was…
The tension: Paul in Romans 1:20 says God's invisible attributes — his eternal power and divine nature — are "clearly seen" from the creation, so that humans are "without e…
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: Romans 4:19 and Hebrews 11:12 both emphasize that Abraham's body was "as good as dead" and Sarah's womb was barren, so the birth of Isaac required miraculous d…
