ContradictionsReading order 133Bible context 2 min read
How much power did Jesus have?
Specific limitations on Jesus' ability and authority stand beside sweeping declarations that everything has been given to him.
- Textual conflict
- Interpretive tension
- The passages pull in different directions, but the conflict depends on how their wording, scope, or narrative context is read.
- Importance
- Foundational
- A central claim about origins, salvation, divine justice, or religious authority.
Universal authority claims sit beside specific restrictions, but the passages need not describe identical moments or kinds of authority.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Jesus describes limits on his authority and mighty works
And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
Matthew 20:23
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Matthew 20
And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
Mark 6:5
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Mark 6