He is the same God in both the Old and the New Testaments!
“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed." Malachi 3:6 BSB
God is...
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“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed." Malachi 3:6 BSB
Seems like the accounts of the old testament and new testament vary wildly on this, no?
I don't think that there is any difference between the two Testaments in the way they describe God's character. I do think there are differences in the way God revealed Himself to people and differences in the commands God gave.
For example: God dealt differently with Adam and Eve, as His first creation, created good and without fault, than He does with us, who have been born with rebellion in our hearts.
God gave a single, arbitrary command to Adam and Eve as a test of obedience. He warned them of the consequences of disobedience.
After the global flood and Noah and his family survived in through the ark, God gave new commands for people to follow. People mostly didn't follow them or seek God on His terms and few people knew God at that time. A few hundred years later Abraham did believe God and God talked with him and blessed him for it. Because of Abraham's obedience and faith God promised to bless his descendants.
Eventually, God worked with the Israelites and gave them the Torah and then the rest of the Old Testament.
Throughout all the generations since Adam and Eve, people have demonstrated an innate tendency to sin and desire to do as they want to rather than desiring to have a relationship with God based on His terms. However, there has always been some, at every time in history, who have held such a relationship with God.
Although God gave commands, and some of them may seem kind of pointless, the commands were for their own good AND to test their obedience. There is also one more reason for giving commands. There's a saying, "Rules were made to be broken." It's not a quote from the Bible, but it does demonstrate the difficulty people have in keeping rules. In order for one to truly come into a relationship with God, one must understand the inner rebellion in their heart towards Him. One must come to see his or her sinful conduct in light of God's righteous standard, and that is better understood when one realizes they he or she has actually broken a direct command from God. It's only by recognizing our sins as compared to God's goodness that we can begin to turn to God to be the One who can deliver us from the mess we are in. In the Old Testament this was taught as well as the New Testament. The Old Testament looked to a future provision for sin, though it was not clearly understood that God Himself would be that provision. In the New Testament Jesus is revealed as the One whom the Old Testament pointed to.
Think I'll stop here before I write so much that it becomes a book....
Wait....one more thing. There is one thing that separates the Biblical teachings from all other religions. Throughout the Bible, reconciliation with God is always based on a Substitute for sin. In the New Testament we see that Jesus is that Substitute. It is God's work, not ours, and not our trying to be better that brings someone into a reconciled relationship with God.
In other religions, merit is always based on an individual striving to do better.
DO versus DONE.
Other religions focus on what people can DO to make themselves better and thus more acceptable to God or their idols or whatever system they believe in.
Biblical teachings, when studied carefully, show that God has done for us what we cannot do ourselves. We cannot become righteous before God on our own. However, we can be clothed with the righteousness of God through Jesus, because of what God has already DONE for us.
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I'm no expert on organized religion. Biblewise, do old testament human transcribed accounts depict the image of a kinda wrathful and jealous cat? What's your view on the bible old testament interpretation of God.I don't think that there is any difference between the two Testaments in the way they describe God's character. I do think there are differences in the way God revealed Himself to people and differences in the commands God gave.
For example: God dealt differently with Adam and Eve, as His first creation, created good and without fault, than He does with us, who have been born with rebellion in our hearts.
God have a single, arbitrary command to Adam and Eve as a test of obedience. He warned them of the consequences of disobedience.
After the global flood and Noah and his family survived in through the ark, God gave new commands for people to follow. People didn't and few people knew God at that time, but Abraham did believe God and God talked with him and blessed him for it. Because of Abraham's obedience and faith God promised to bless his descendants.
Eventually, God worked with the Israelites and gave them the Torah and then the rest of the Old Testament.
Throughout all generations since Adam and Eve people have demonstrated an innate tendency to sin and desire to do as they want to rather than desiring to have a relationship with God based on His terms. However, there has always been some, at every time in history, who have held such a relationship with God.
Although God gave commands, and some of them may seem kind of pointless, the commands were for their own good AND to test their obedience. There is also one more reason for giving commands. There's a saying, "Rules were made to be broken." It's not a quote from the Bible, but it does demonstrate the difficulty people have in keeping rules. In order for one to truly come into a relationship with God, one must understand the inner rebellion in their heart towards Him. One must come to see our sinful conduct in light of God's righteous standard. It's only by recognizing our sins as compared to God's goodness that we can begin to turn to God to be the One who can deliver us from the mess we are in. In the Old Testament this was taught as well as the New Testament. The Old Testament looked to a future provision for sin, though it was not clearly understood that God Himself would be that provision. In the New Testament Jesus is revealed as the One whom the Old Testament pointed to.
Think I'll stop here before I write so much that it becomes a book....
I'll get back to you on this. I have a busy day. But thanks for the question!
I'm glad you asked these questions. I'm not sure if my reply will fully answer them. If you have specific examples to bring up, maybe we can discuss this further.
God is fully balanced in all of His attributes and characteristics. Although God does show wrath, it is always displayed against rebellion or evil behavior. God also shows perfect love, perfect patience, perfect mercy and forgiveness. I see God as described in the Old Testament the same as God as described in the New Testament.
If God’s wrath was shown whimsically towards perfectly good beings, undeserving of wrath, then He could not be trusted. The thing is, we all are deserving of God’s wrath. There is no one who is innocent. Even though we want to think of babies as being innocent, because they have not yet committed any crimes, they have within them the nature of a sinner. Their life was passed on from parents of rebellion, so they too are under God’s wrath. When one views all of humanity as existing in a state of rebellion towards God and rightly deserving His judgment, then one can begin to realize that God has been merciful and kind to seek out people who will turn to Him, be delivered from His wrath and brought into a relationship with Himself. This type of relationship existed in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.
God has revealed Himself to be a wonderful Friend to those who will be friends with Him. God had friendships with many in the Old Testament. These friendships were unlike peer to peer relationships, because God is in authority over people. God also takes on the role of a good and loving Father towards His own. Many examples are given throughout the Old Testament of those who belonged to God yet sinned against Him. God demonstrated His correction toward them. Moses and David are two well known examples of God demonstrating correction to His own. They still praised and loved Him. Another person wrote in Psalms 119:75, “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”
There are many Old Testament passages that show His people really loved Him. The following verse is a good example:
“I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy. Because He has inclined His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.” Psalm 116:1,2
I can imagine a person questioning God and asking why God doesn’t do something about the sin of humanity? The answer to that question is that God has done what only a perfectly good and loving God could do: He became a Substitute in our place so that His justice would not need to be served on whoever receives God’s pardon. What makes this so sad, is that it’s the very people He created and that He loved who gave Him an excruciating death. It took a lot of love to go to the cross and remain on the cross for people, when it was people who were killing Him.
Think of how Jesus must have felt when He said, "They hated Me without a cause." John 15:25
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This documentary has some contributors that I listen to occasionally, who are well-known in Christian circles. I started watching it tonight but probably won't finish it for a few more days since it's over an hour long.
The God Who Speaks is a 90-minute documentary that traces the evidence of the Bible’s authority through interviews with some of the world’s most respected biblical scholars. This film answers common objections about the Bible’s reliability and equips believers to confidently base their lives on the power of God’s Word.
https://thegodwhospeaks.org/about-the-documentary/
https://thegodwhospeaks.org/about-the-documentary/
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