Old Testament God Vs. New Testament God
September 21st, 2007 Posted in Faith & ReligionI came across an interesting question by a member of a forum I frequent related to the community I live in. They asked the question, “Why is God so different in both testaments? (Bible - Old and New)” They provided no other details as to what they were referring to, however I’d make a pretty good that guess that they were comparing the differences between God’s grace and God’s wrath.
You see the Old Testament is filled with occurrences of God’s judgment upon sinners - the plagues of Egypt, Sodom and Gomorrah, King Nebuchadnezzar, David’s adultery with Bathsheba, and the list goes on. In fact if you start reading through the first five books of the Bible, you might get the impression that God is very strict, impatient, angry and wrathful. The New Testament can give the impression that God is a God of love and grace. So which is true? Is God a God of judgment and wrath or a God of love and grace? Actually He’s both.
The Old Testament comprises the history of man before Christ along with prophecies, proverbs and psalms. The New Testament comprises four books recounting Christ’s time here on Earth, the early history of the church (Acts), and several letters to the churches. However, keep in mind that the last book in the New Testament is “The Book of Revelation” in which we once again see a God pouring out wrath and judgment, but at the same time exhibiting extreme patience and lovingkindness as He gives mankind a chance to repent.
Therefore, the Old Testament may give readers the impression that God is this mean old man just waiting for us to screw up so He can whack us over the head with a big ol’ baseball bat while in the New Testament, God seems to have chilled out a bit. It appeared that way to me when I first became a Christian. I started reading in Genesis and got up to Joshua before I ever ventured into the New Testament. What inspired me to leave off in Joshua and go to the book of Matthew in the New Testament was viewing the movie “Jesus of Nazareth” where I saw a God of love. I then realized that He is a God of love but at the same time, He just.
Another thing to remember is that in the Old Testament, God’s chosen people were under the law. Now we live under grace meaning that all mankind’s sins have been paid for once and for all by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. No longer do we have to make our own atonement for sin as they did in the Old Testament because it has already been done for us.
So it is not necessarily a situation where God is uptight in the Old Testament and is now laid back in the New Testament. In fact if you read through the Book of Revelation, you will see more of God’s wrath poured out upon unrepentant sinners than anywhere in the Old Testament. So remember, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Old and New Testaments represent different times in history as well as different covenants between God and man, and yet they both show not only God’s judgment and wrath but His grace and love as well.
11 Responses to “Old Testament God Vs. New Testament God”
By Debra on Sep 23, 2007
David, the blog is wonderful and a welcome change in topic! Keep it up. Now about God…I believe it’s more about the people writing the N/O Testaments than it is about a change in God. Like you said, “God is the same, yesterday, today and forever”. Thanks for including me on the email.
By Ryan on Sep 24, 2007
This is all very true. We have to keep in mind that without the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross, we would be under the same wrath and judgement that the OT crowd was under (and anyone currently outside of Christ’s authority). Everything about the OT is a precurser to set the stage for things in the NT. Another effect this has is we gain “perspective.” Without seeing just how messed up mankind is and how hard it is just to keep our side of the street clean in contrast to a supremely holy God (in the OT) we might not be able to see just how incredible the grace, mercy and love of Jesus Christ is and what our faith in Him does (in the NT). As you’ve stated, David, this is the same God through and through; the only thing that has changed in our position and relationship with Him with the catalyst Jesus Christ. Well said!
By Paxson on Mar 20, 2008
While I believe you are correct in saying that there is more in common between the God of the Old and New Testaments than many people assume, let me respectfully comment that I think you minimize the wrath of the “Old Testament” God. God’s not just waiting to whack various people with a baseball bat, he’s repeatedly calling for their genocide. I realize that this era of human civilization was dominated by small, warring tribes that regularly engaged in acts we would consider morally repulsive today. The problem is not that the Jews engaged in these acts but that God specifically declares certain rival tribes “wicked,” and fair game for slaughter. Incidentally, these tribes tend to be inhabiting land that the Jews want to settle. The very idea that whole ethnic groups of people are or can be or have ever been “wicked” and deserving of genocide is so utterly repugnant to me, so offensive to my most basic moral instincts, that I cannot believe in the justice of God as revealed in the Old Testament. Genocide is not morally permissable now, then, or ever. God is the ultimate moral relativist.
By Linda on Mar 24, 2008
The purpose of the Old Testament was to show us that we need the Messiah. There is no other way to Heaven. In the New Testament Jesus fulfilled the laws of the Old Testament and payed for our sins, giving us the only Way to Heaven. He gave us new commandments, to love God and our neighbors. The wrath of Revelation is only taken out on nonbelievers who turn their backs on Christ.
By Jon on Apr 23, 2008
(in response to Paxson) I agree that it is extremely difficult to reconcile God’s command to wipe out every man, woman, and child (and cattle) of a specific people group. Yet however difficult it is to come to grips with the God of the Bible - this is who He is. Follow Him or follow your own path - but in the end it is God’s Word which reveals the truth of His character, and we cannot allow our preconceptions of who God should be or what is acceptable by our own rationale to undermine the truth of God’s character.
By Paul on Jun 4, 2008
Come on, Jon. You’re working from the preconception that the writers of the OT had the same understanding of God as the writers of the NT. It is blindingly obvious that they did not. There’s a divergence of views about God within the OT itself. Remember, the Bible doesn’t claim that it was dictated by God, unlike the Koran. It was written by humans, who may have been inspired by the Holy Spirit (as we understand it through the lens of Jesus Christ) or not. God’s Word is Jesus Christ, not the Bible. There’s a huge difference.
By Kate on Jul 19, 2008
The OT god was a tribal god for the hebrews only. They created him in their image and that explains the continual orders from Moses and his cohorts to steal, kill, enslave and RAPE WOMEN AND CHILDREN. This is no god, this is work of very evil, lying and brutal men. The OT is full of filth, hate and bloodshed. Any decent person would never read such trash to a child!
By David Wallace on Jul 19, 2008
@Kate - I’m not sure we’re reading the same Bible. Your description of God in the Old Testament sounds a lot more like your “bittered” opinion rather than fact.
Where did Moses ever order those he lead to “steal, kill, enslave and RAPE WOMEN AND CHILDREN?”
You might want to go back and read the account of Moses again.
By Kate on Jul 19, 2008
I think you need to re-read it and please do not make some silly lame excuses for what is clearly written.
(Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)
They attacked Midian just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. All five of the Midianite kings – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba – died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.
Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the people went to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was furious with all the military commanders who had returned from the battle. “Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD’s people. Now kill all the boys and all the women who have slept with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.
Clearly Moses and God approves of rape of virgins. The KJV clearly reads they are to keep the women children for themselves and it would take a fool not to understand what that means. Women children could be as young as 2 or 3!!! It gives no restriction of age! Try to visualize what these towns looked like after these gruesome barbaric attacks. Read on, it only gets worse.
(Deuteronomy 21:10-14 NAB)
“When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives, if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife, you may take her home to your house. But before she may live there, she must shave her head and pare her nails and lay aside her captive’s garb. After she has mourned her father and mother for a full month, you may have relations with her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife. However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.”
I can’t begin to imagine how it would feel to watch all those you love being butchered before your eyes and then being taken as a sex slave by the thugs who did it! This is nothing more than forcible RAPE of the most disgusting kind. What this clearly is saying if one of the ‘chosen’ sees an attractive female he lusts after, he may take her and rape her repeatedly until he grows tired of her. This is NO marriage!
Judges 5:30 NAB)
They must be dividing the spoils they took: there must be a DAMSEL OR TWO for each man, Spoils of dyed cloth as Sisera’s spoil, an ornate shawl or two for me in the spoil.
Do you find it strange that they kill everyone except those they want to rape? God commands these killing claiming the people are evil. What could be more evil than rape? Why would a god want his precious holy people having sex with ‘evil’ women? Just like a flock of buzzards, they are picking over the spoils. That is the bottom line anyway. This entire group was too lazy to work, so they took by violence from those who did work and build. They were nothing but a band of robbers, liars and butchers. They were a more brutal version of the Benny Hinns and John Hagees of this day who use the name of the same god to mass fortunes and deceive millions.
We are at war in Iraq. How would we feel if our armies were doing such things? There are laws against this and any who commit such crimes would be tried in a court of law for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl’s owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)
This book was written by evil men and used the name of a god they created as an excuse to do as they wished. Women are not treated as well as cattle. They can be taken by force or sold and it is up to them to PLEASE the monster who is raping them.
Lo, a day shall come for the Lord when the spoils shall be divided in your midst. And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be removed from the city. (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)
Stealing, killing and raping of women!!!!
Deuteronomy 20:10-14)
As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.
What kind of God approves of murder, rape, and slavery? THINK ABOUT IT!
(Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NLT)
If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.
What kind of lunatic would make a rape victim marry her attacker?
(Deuteronomy 22:23-24 NAB)
If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has relations with her, you shall bring them both out of the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbors wife.
The victim is being blamed. Perhaps the thug was holding a knife to her throat, holding his hand over her mouth or threatening to kill her or her loved ones is she screams. It is clear that God doesn’t give a damn about the rape victim. He is only concerned about the violation of another mans “property”.
There is no way to clean this up and make it anything other than what it is. It is pure filth. These are tales of kidnapping, rape, theft, murder and enslavement ordered by a god, we are told. These are crimes against human beings and innocent animals. This is NOT the Creator of this world. This god is the invention of the sick minds of very evil greedy barbaric men. All through history man has done violence to his fellowman and justified in the name of his gods. It still goes on today as it did back then. Why can’t people see this for what it is?!
History is indeed written by the winners!!!!!!
By Kate on Jul 20, 2008
Here is some truth for anyone who cares.
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/about_the_holy_bible.html
Note from editor: Original comment contained lengthy excerpts from link above. I have removed those and rather left the link in place so that no occurrences of copy infringement would exist on this site. In other words, the reader can choose to read the contents of the link above but we will not include the copy here out of respect for the creator of such content.
By David Wallace on Jul 20, 2008
@Kate - While it is true that the Old testament is PG13 and sometimes even R rated, keep in mind that it is a depiction of sinful man. Yes, many of God’s chosen people were horrible sinners. To say however that God approves of and ordered acts of rape is stretching the truth, don’t you think?
First of all one must understand that back then they did not necessarily have “marriage ceremonies” as we do today. Take Issac for example who took Rebbecca into his mother’s tent and lay with her (had sex) and she became his wife.
That seems to indicate to me that once a man lay with a woman, they were in essence married. If the man refused to take her as his wife but had sex with her against her will, that is rape. Or if both decided to have sex but were not going to commit themselves to each other in marriage, that is fornication.
You reference Numbers 31 where Moses says, “Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves,” you are assuming that their intention was to rape them but I see it as they could keep the women to become their wives.
You then reference Deuteronomy 21 which I agree is a pretty barbaric compared to our times. I can only think that a wife was considered more as property back then rather than the equals or a companion as today. This was very unfortunate but isn’t it still that way in a lot of countries in the Middle East today?
So, I not saying that law was right but you must remember many of the laws given back in the days of Moses’ were trying to deal with the evils of mankind at that time.
One must also keep in mind that God had ordered Moses and then Joshua to completely wipe out ALL the people that inhabited the lands that Israel was to occupy. Yes God is a killer. He wanted Israel to eradicate all the people in the lands they were to inhabit because 1.) those people did not serve or recognize Him as the one and true God and 2.) God knew those people would turn the hearts of Israel away from Him. Sounds like genocide, doesn’t it?
God’s people did not completely obey Him however to which God promised that those who were left would be a thorn in Israel’s side forever. Thus we have the Israeli/Arab conflict even to this day.
Later you reference Zechariah 14 and seem to indicate that because God brought armies against Jerusalem, He also ordered the “ravishing” but you error. Rather it was a prophecy of what was going to happen.
Finally I’d like to point out that the law of the Old Testament was really a witness against us that we could not keep it and in essence, constitutes our need for a Savior. In other words, because we cannot keep the law, we cannot be “right” with God by our own efforts but rather need the saving grace of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us. Paul so eloquently writes about this in Romans.
I could go on but really what is your point? Are you saying that God is an evil sinner or rather that those who wrote the Old Testament and/or were considered God’s leaders such as Moses and Joshua tried to use the the name of God to justify crimes against humanity?