There is a popular notion that
the God of the OT is not the same as the God of the NT. People have a tendency
to see the wrath of God sweeping across the varying landscapes of the Old
Testament and the gentle love of God in the terrain of the New Testament. Those
who draw a distinction see God as more accepting, loving, healing, and
forgiving of others in the NT than in the OT, a God giving His life rather than
taking life. So harsher and more critical thinking goes something like this, “The
Old Testament is bad news, and the New Testament is good news! God so loved the
world in the NT, but God poured out His wrath on the OT world!” Hmm!
God has been, is, and will be,
in my humble opinion, the most misunderstood Person in the world this side of
eternity even though He has revealed Himself to man via creation revelation and
documented revelation (Genesis – Revelation). Unbelief has a way of mangling up
the truth of Scripture into a twisted wreck of beliefs comprised of faulty
perceptions, prejudices, and propositions. I personally think people will see
what they want to see in spite of any evidence to the contrary unless the
Father draws them to the Truth (Jn 6:44, 1 Cor 2:14).
Ever hear someone say, “My mind is made up; don’t confuse me
with the facts!” Wasn’t it the serpent in the Garden that painted an incorrect
picture of God to Eve? And she bought it hook, line, and sinker (cf. 1 Tim 2:14;
2 Cor 4:4;)! He has been painting an incorrect portrait of God ever since and
baiting people not to believe in what God says in His Word. He is relentlessly recruiting people, lost and saved alike, to spread his slanderous propaganda.
Satan is able and willing to use our ignorance of the Scriptures against
Christianity like nobody’s business!
So many see God in the OT as
austere, belligerent, cruel, unapproachable, and intolerant (e.g., 1 Sam 15:3),
but when it comes to the NT and the flagship of verses, “God so loved the
world” (Jn 3:16a), God is seen as flexible, loving, kind, approachable, and tolerant.
But is this opinion valid or is this merely another example of twisting the
Scriptures in self-deception or molding it to an agenda that willfully misleads
others about the truth of God?
Let’s talk about this because there is a major theological problem in making the assertion that the God of the two Testaments was somehow different in those covenants. It is essentially calling out God as being a “liar!” God does not take too kindly to those who take a willy-nilly or haphazard view of Him by distorting, insulting, or maligning His character (cf. Ex 20:7; Rom 1:18) We don’t want any part of that, do we!
I understand how people would
think that way if they were reckless in their interpretation of Scripture (contrast
2 Tim 2:15) or blind to the truth of it (2 Cor 4:4; 1 Cor 2:14), but when
believers begin to embrace that vein of thought, I get concerned. It is a given
that we can validate any view of God if we take what general revelation
(creation, Rom 1:20) and specific revelation (the Bible, 2 Tim 3:16) reveal
about God out of their respective contexts.
So what I have done is looked at
words translated as wrath and love in both Testaments to get a usage perspective.
After reviewing 500 additional verses that were synonyms or distant cousins
related to wrath or love, I was getting deeper into research than I wanted to
go for this article. So I have this chart below on those above words, and basically, after a preliminary look, they are virtually neck in neck in usage. Try not to breeze over it; it was a bunch of
work! I had to look at 753 occurrences just for this love versus wrath chart!
There were, thankfully, just a handful of occurrences where it posed some mental gymnastics for me being dimmer than a light bulb at times. So I took my best shot and didn’t want to overthink it (easy to do let me tell you). I tallied them up and derived a percentage of usage in Scripture. Are you game to put up with some stats? It ain’t quite like treading through Chronicles; I promise, but it challenges any notion of disparity of the God of the two Testaments, on the surface anyway.
There were, thankfully, just a handful of occurrences where it posed some mental gymnastics for me being dimmer than a light bulb at times. So I took my best shot and didn’t want to overthink it (easy to do let me tell you). I tallied them up and derived a percentage of usage in Scripture. Are you game to put up with some stats? It ain’t quite like treading through Chronicles; I promise, but it challenges any notion of disparity of the God of the two Testaments, on the surface anyway.
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In fairness, the synonyms of these words and relatives should be included for a more accurate picture to uncover any reasons why people are thinking that God is different in the Testaments. I will give you a suggestive list below with
their occurrences in the Bible, but you will have to read each verse to see
which one applies to God or to man! Why did I stop? Time, but more importantly, one
answer will neutralize any distinctions being made of God. You may already
know; we will come to that later. It quells the notion, glory!
If after looking up in the NKJV all these words and making a
determination which ones refers to God or man, for examples, anger (x233), angered (x1), angry (x92), sin (x446), sinners
(x46), sinned (x110), sinful (x10), sinning (x6), rebel (x18), rebelled (x37),
rebellion (x23), disobeyed (x1), disobedient (x14), disobedience (x11), warn
(x12), warned (x21), warning (x9), holy (x637), holiness (x32), fury (x70),
peace (x392), kindness (x46), k, mercy (x281), mercies (x38), grace (x148), rebuke (x70), rebuked
(x32), reproach (x89), admonition (x3), reproof (x1), praise (x236), encourage
(x7), jealousy (x33), provoke (x37), provoked (x30), provoking (x5),
provocation (x5), offense (21), please (209), judge (x188), judged (x61),
destroy (x231), destroyed (x153), consume (x41), consumed (x74), hate (x86),
hated (x53), punish (x47), punished (x18), punishing (x1), punishment (x46),
chasten (x7), chastened (x9), chastisement (x2), displeasure (x4), enraged x5,
hot (x31), fierce (x49), fierceness (x13), trampled (x28), die (x289), good
(x703), goodness (x44), repay (x47), vengeance (x51), we may find that it is
not as lopsided as we thought (I am speculating since I have not determined on
many of the words above how many relate to God or man.).
Even if we discovered an imbalance favoring wrath-like words, there still remains a theological reason to put the shovel down and quit trying to unearth a distinction between God in the Old and the New. On a side note, I think that is the longest sentence I have ever written above, and you know that I can run on with my sentences!
Even if we discovered an imbalance favoring wrath-like words, there still remains a theological reason to put the shovel down and quit trying to unearth a distinction between God in the Old and the New. On a side note, I think that is the longest sentence I have ever written above, and you know that I can run on with my sentences!
You may come up with even more words that I didn’t think of! So, if you’re
feeling pumped, go for it to get the inside scoop, or accept the conclusion I've reached. Even if there were more wrath-like words or remotely wrath-like
in the Old Testament than love-like terminology in the New Testament that you or I may come up with, there are many variables that can be a factor when formulating a perception.
Some examples are progressive revelation stretching over 1500 years, fluctuations in English word usage in various translations, bias, and sheer volume between the Testaments. Of the 31,102 verses in English Bibles, the OT contains 23,145 verses (74.4%) and the NT has 7,957 (25.6%). Is God different in the two Testaments? Well, this article has three parts. Hang with me on the God of the two Testaments series! <><
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Some examples are progressive revelation stretching over 1500 years, fluctuations in English word usage in various translations, bias, and sheer volume between the Testaments. Of the 31,102 verses in English Bibles, the OT contains 23,145 verses (74.4%) and the NT has 7,957 (25.6%). Is God different in the two Testaments? Well, this article has three parts. Hang with me on the God of the two Testaments series! <><
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| To Part 2 |
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