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There are many seemingly conflicting statements in the Bible. We Christians gleefully point out conflicting statements, or contradictions, in other so-called sacred texts, such as the Koran or the Book of Mormon. But the Bible is God’s unbreakable (Jn 10:35) Word (2 Tim 3:16), so there can’t be any contradictions in it. When we come across seemingly conflicting statements in the Bible, we call them paradoxes. All statements are equally true even if our tiny finite minds cannot reconcile how they possibly could be. For God is so much smarter than we are that His foolishness is much wiser than our wisdom.
Is 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
1 Cor 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
God is the source of all truth. A thing is true because God makes it true. Tomorrow God could decide that two plus two equals three, and it would be so. In this thread I would like to glorify God’s wisdom and power by making a list of Bible paradoxes. Any True Christian™ should feel free to add to it. I don’t want to get too bogged down in trying to explain the paradoxes, most of which are pretty much inexplicable anyway. Instead let Scripture reflect God’s glory. I’ll start.
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God cannot be tempted.
Jas 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.
Yet Jesus was tempted, and He is God (Jn 1:1).
Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
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God is invisible.
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
1 Tim 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Jn 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
1 Tim 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
Yet He can be seen.
Gen 17:1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Gen 26:2And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
Gen 32:30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Ex 24:9-10Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: and they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
Ex 33:11 And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
Ex 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
Is 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
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God cannot lie.
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Yet He can deceive.
Jer 4:10 Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people.
Jer 20:7 O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived.
Ezek 14:9 And if a prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet.
1 Kings 22:23 Now, therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.
2 Chron 18:22 Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets.
2 Thess 2:11-12 For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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God cannot repent, or change His mind.
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Yet He can.
Gen 6:6-7And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Jon 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
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Even the Christian life is full of paradoxes. In many places we are given seemingly contradictory commandments which we must keep (Jas 2:10). For instance, we know we must avoid vain repetitions in prayer (Mat 6:7). Yet if we don’t get what we prayed for right away, we must repeat our request till it is granted (Lk 11:5-13; 18:1-8). The Lord’s Prayer teaches that our prayers should be brief (Mat 6:9-13). Yet we must pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17).
Is 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
1 Cor 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
God is the source of all truth. A thing is true because God makes it true. Tomorrow God could decide that two plus two equals three, and it would be so. In this thread I would like to glorify God’s wisdom and power by making a list of Bible paradoxes. Any True Christian™ should feel free to add to it. I don’t want to get too bogged down in trying to explain the paradoxes, most of which are pretty much inexplicable anyway. Instead let Scripture reflect God’s glory. I’ll start.
__________________________________________________
God cannot be tempted.
Jas 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.
Yet Jesus was tempted, and He is God (Jn 1:1).
Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
__________________________________________________
God is invisible.
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
1 Tim 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Jn 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
1 Tim 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
Yet He can be seen.
Gen 17:1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Gen 26:2And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
Gen 32:30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Ex 24:9-10Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: and they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
Ex 33:11 And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
Ex 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
Is 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
__________________________________________________
God cannot lie.
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Yet He can deceive.
Jer 4:10 Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people.
Jer 20:7 O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived.
Ezek 14:9 And if a prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet.
1 Kings 22:23 Now, therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.
2 Chron 18:22 Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets.
2 Thess 2:11-12 For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
__________________________________________________
God cannot repent, or change His mind.
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Yet He can.
Gen 6:6-7And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Jon 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
__________________________________________________
Even the Christian life is full of paradoxes. In many places we are given seemingly contradictory commandments which we must keep (Jas 2:10). For instance, we know we must avoid vain repetitions in prayer (Mat 6:7). Yet if we don’t get what we prayed for right away, we must repeat our request till it is granted (Lk 11:5-13; 18:1-8). The Lord’s Prayer teaches that our prayers should be brief (Mat 6:9-13). Yet we must pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17).
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