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[Luke 2:13,14]
[Matt 10:34]Luke 2:14 says, "peace among men with whom he is pleased."
Mt. 10:34 says, "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
The first verse could very well mean that peace exists among those with whom God is pleased, i.e., the fellowship of believers. Yet such believers are like a light among the darkness, and men prefer the darkness. Thus, the fellowship of believers, while full of peace, incurs the wrath of the nonbelievers.
One only need consider that in some nations Christians peacefully gather, yet are persecuted, to see how easy this "contradiction" is resolved.
[John 5:33,34]
[John 15:27]I see it as follows: In John 5:34, Jesus claims that the witness he receives comes not from men. If we read Luke 1:76, we see that John is to be a prophet, one who speaks for God. Thus, John's witness, as a prophet, is really God's witness. In other words, Jesus is not rejecting John's witness; he is clarifying it. (Also, this verse is particular to the witness for Jesus early in his ministry.) These verse do not necessarily teach that Jesus does not recieve witness from men.
The verse in John 15 speaks of a different situation. This is after Jesus' crucifixion and the indwelling of the Spirit.
[John 8:14-18]
[John 5:31]This is a bogus "contradiction." Jesus is not saying His witness of Himself is untrue. He is pointing out that if He alone bore witness of Himself, it would be untrue. Since Jesus did not bear witness of Himself alone, His witness of Himself is not untrue.
MaryAnna adds:
113 Was Christ's witness of Himself true? John 8:18 and 14 is talking about the legal stipulation in the Old Testament that a person giving testimony for himself was not to believe unless he had at least one other witness. John 5:31 is talking about the verity of Christ as a witness. Of course, in the sense of verity, Christ's witness is indeed true. --MAW
[John 15:13/ John 10:11]
[Rom 5:10]Did Christ lay down His life for His friends or His enemies?
Both. The friends mentioned in John 15:13 and John 10:11 are His disciples. The enemies mentioned in Rom. 5:10 were all of us. He could easily die for both His enemies and His friends. This could be answered more completely, but even this simple answer shows that these two verses are not contradictory. --MAW
[John 19:7]
[John 18:31]Was it lawful for the Jews to put Jesus to death?
By Jewish law, as stated in the Old Testament, yes. (John 19:7). But by the law of the occupying Romans at the time of Jesus' walk on earth, it was expressly forbidden for the Jews to put anyone to death on their own without going through the proper Roman legal channels and using the Roman means of execution (John 18:31). --MAW
[Ex 20:5]
[Ezek 18:20]Are children punished for the sins of the parents?
Exo. 20:5 tells us that God is to be feared, as He has the ability to visit the sins of the fathers on the children.
Ezek. 18:20 tells us this will not happen if the children repent and turn away from the ways of their fathers. Not a contradiction. --MAW
[Rom 3:20/ Gal 2:16/ Gal 3:11,12/ Rom 4:2]
[James 2:21,24/ Rom 2:13]Romans 3:20 man is justified by faith, and not works of law.
If we want to be justified, we have to receive the divine life. Otherwise, no matter how many good works we do, we can never be justified in the sight of God.
However, after we receive the divine life of God, this will issue in a kind of living which will manifest our justification.
James 2:21, 24; Rom. 2:13.
James is making the point that faith without works is dead. Certainly it is a dead faith if it has no effect on our living. The living is the evidence that our faith is effective and that we have indeed been justified.
Romans is talking about the law and says that the doers of the law shall be justified.. in the context he is making the point that no one can be justified by works without faith because it is impossible to keep the law. -- MAW
It's interesting that the Bible protrays our relationship to God as a marriage. A loving marriage is one in which both faith and acts converge toward the same end.
[John 10:28/ Rom 8:38,39]
[Ezek 18:24/ Heb 6:4-6/ 2 Pet 2:20,21]John 10:28 says the believers shall by no means perish forever.
Romans 8:38, 39 say nothing can separate us from the love of God.
So these two verses tell us we don't have to worry about our eternal destiny.
Ezek. 18:24 is an Old Testament verse.
Hebrews 6:4-6 tells us salvation is once for all and cannot be renewed. If we fall away, we have only to repent and turn back to the Lord; it is not necessary to be saved all over again. Also, the sacrifices of the Old Testament time are no longer valid and are actually an insult to the Lord who died for us. (Some Christians mistakenly use these verses to say that if you are saved you can lose your salvation and never get it back.)
2 Pet. 2:20-21- The last state is worse than the first.. Some believers "fall away from grace" in this age and suffer for it. This doesn't mean that their eternal destiny changes. They will still be with the Lord for eternity, but they will suffer first and be more miserable than before they believed in the Lord. This suffering is only temporary. -- MAW
MaryAnna's explanations might provoke disagreement amongst some Christians (not me though), but recall that in the context of this reply, it only need be possible that she is correct. If she is, the contradictions are easily resolved.
[1 Kings 8:46/ Prov 20:9/ Eccl 7:20/ Rom 3:10]
[1 John 3:6-9]Of course no man is without sin, in himself. 1 John 3:6-9 does not say that Christians are without sin. It says that everything that has been begotten of God does not practice sin. The word "practice sin" refers to a habitual life of sin. It does not mean that Christians never do anything sinful. A believer who truly has an inner knowing of the Lord will not have the practice of habitual sin in his living. -- MAW
[1 Cor 15:52/ Rev 20:12,13/ Luke 20:37/ 1 Cor 15:16]
[Job 7:9/ Eccl 9:5/ Is 26:14]Job 7:9-10; Eccl. 9:5; Is. 26:14
1 Cor. 15:52; Rev. 20:12-13; Luke 20:37; 1 Cor. 15:16
Of course, at the Lord's return there will be a
resurrection of all the dead to judgment. Then
some of them will pass on to eternal fire and
others will receive a reward. This is not to
resume their former lives. Hence this is not
a contradiction. -- MAW
The verses in Isaiah may be teaching that the dead do not normally rise. That is, they don't rise in of themselves, but they will be raised at a later date. Also, there is a definite comparative theme - where the dead are forgotten, God is never forgotten. The verses in Eccl and Job also have a temporal/worldly perspective. That is, while the living experience rewards, know things about each other, and are remembered by each other, this is not the case with the dead.
One could also resolve these by claiming as a possibility that the
dead "sleep" until they are raised.