This is an interesting question that comes up from time to time. In fact, I’ve been asked it twice within the last month, once by a Christian and once by a non-Christian. Sometimes it’s phrased in a more observational and casual way, like this:
What’s up with God in the Old Testament? He seems so cranky – you know, smiting people all the time. I like the God of the New Testament better. He’s all peace, love, and harmony. What a big difference between the two.
So, the first thing I want to do here is point out that two assumptions are usually being made when this question is asked:
What’s up with God in the Old Testament? He seems so cranky – you know, smiting people all the time. I like the God of the New Testament better. He’s all peace, love, and harmony. What a big difference between the two.
So, the first thing I want to do here is point out that two assumptions are usually being made when this question is asked:
- The God of the Old Testament was unjustly violent. There seems to be an implication that God’s wrath in the Old Testament was disproportionate or misplaced. You can see this in the question above where the question-asker called God “cranky.” And even in the cases where the question is asked more neutrally (like the title of this article) the focus is on God’s violence rather than, say, His love, and that reveals the problem that the question-asker is taking issue with. (ie: Nobody ever asks why God is so forgiving in the Old Testament - even though He is.)
- The God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament (or if they are the same God, He changed his personality a lot.) This is obvious because the person usually never says, “Why is God violent?” but rather they say “Why is the Old Testament God violent?” This shows they believe God is quite a bit different in the Old Testament compared to the New.
I reject both of these assumptions. So, let me address them one at a time:
THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS NOT TOO WRATHFUL
I do not believe that God was “cranky” in the Old Testament, nor do I believe that any time He slaughtered a group of Canaanites or Philistines that He was unjust or wrong to do so.
God created everything, and the potter has the right to do with his clay whatever he desires. God can give life, and God can take it away. Typically, when we humans get mad at someone, and end their life, it is called murder. However, it is not murder when the Creator ends someone’s life (in fact, He eventually ends everyone’s life). God is not the same as us; He has rights that we do not have.
Additionally, we are not simply inanimate clay in God’s hands, but we are clay that betrayed and rebelled against the Potter. He has every right to punish, and His wrath is never an overreaction to sin. Sometimes we think he overreacts because we are sinners and we underestimate what a big deal our sin is before a Holy God.
God was not unjustly violent in the Old Testament.
THE GOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IS ALSO WRATHFUL
(BECAUSE HE'S THE SAME GOD FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT)
It is not the case that God, in the Old Testament, was all wrath, while God, in the New Testament, was all peace & harmony. God is both judgmental and loving in both Testaments, and the most extreme examples of these two character-qualities are actually found in the New Testament, not the Old.
God does come across as more loving in the New Testament because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ died on the cross for our sins, in our place, so that we could receive eternal mercy rather than judgement. That was such a huge act of sacrificial love that people have rightly said that the God of the New Testament is so lavishly merciful. And that is true. But I would point out that God comes across as extra loving in the New Testament because of the extra information about Him that we didn’t have until that time. However, He’s the same God; It is the Lord of the Old Testament who showed up and saved us in the New. (Mark makes this point in the first several verses of his gospel.)
Additionally, I would argue that God also comes across as extra wrathful in the New Testament when compared to the Old. Go ahead and read Revelation 20:11-15 and 21:5-8. Both of those passages describe a Lake of Fire judgment for sinners that is far worse than anything that happened to any Philistine in the Old Testament.
The God of the New Testament doesn’t just frolic around with the sheep at Easter-time. He judges the sins of the nations in a way that is more extreme than what is described in the Old Testament. When people say that God is more wrathful in the Old Testament, it’s because they aren’t reading carefully.
CONCLUSION
The fullness of God’s wrath is made more clear in the New Testament, just as the fullness of God’s love is made more clear there.
There’s not actually a “God of the Old Testament” and a “God of the New Testament.” There’s just God. And He is a God of both love and justice. He is not unjustly violent in either Testament. He is, was, and will always be fearsome and merciful.
I do not believe that God was “cranky” in the Old Testament, nor do I believe that any time He slaughtered a group of Canaanites or Philistines that He was unjust or wrong to do so.
God created everything, and the potter has the right to do with his clay whatever he desires. God can give life, and God can take it away. Typically, when we humans get mad at someone, and end their life, it is called murder. However, it is not murder when the Creator ends someone’s life (in fact, He eventually ends everyone’s life). God is not the same as us; He has rights that we do not have.
Additionally, we are not simply inanimate clay in God’s hands, but we are clay that betrayed and rebelled against the Potter. He has every right to punish, and His wrath is never an overreaction to sin. Sometimes we think he overreacts because we are sinners and we underestimate what a big deal our sin is before a Holy God.
God was not unjustly violent in the Old Testament.
THE GOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IS ALSO WRATHFUL
(BECAUSE HE'S THE SAME GOD FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT)
It is not the case that God, in the Old Testament, was all wrath, while God, in the New Testament, was all peace & harmony. God is both judgmental and loving in both Testaments, and the most extreme examples of these two character-qualities are actually found in the New Testament, not the Old.
God does come across as more loving in the New Testament because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ died on the cross for our sins, in our place, so that we could receive eternal mercy rather than judgement. That was such a huge act of sacrificial love that people have rightly said that the God of the New Testament is so lavishly merciful. And that is true. But I would point out that God comes across as extra loving in the New Testament because of the extra information about Him that we didn’t have until that time. However, He’s the same God; It is the Lord of the Old Testament who showed up and saved us in the New. (Mark makes this point in the first several verses of his gospel.)
Additionally, I would argue that God also comes across as extra wrathful in the New Testament when compared to the Old. Go ahead and read Revelation 20:11-15 and 21:5-8. Both of those passages describe a Lake of Fire judgment for sinners that is far worse than anything that happened to any Philistine in the Old Testament.
The God of the New Testament doesn’t just frolic around with the sheep at Easter-time. He judges the sins of the nations in a way that is more extreme than what is described in the Old Testament. When people say that God is more wrathful in the Old Testament, it’s because they aren’t reading carefully.
CONCLUSION
The fullness of God’s wrath is made more clear in the New Testament, just as the fullness of God’s love is made more clear there.
There’s not actually a “God of the Old Testament” and a “God of the New Testament.” There’s just God. And He is a God of both love and justice. He is not unjustly violent in either Testament. He is, was, and will always be fearsome and merciful.
