One of the most common questions from both Christians and non-Christians concerns the connection between how God is presented in the Old Testament and the New Testament. We associate the Old Testament with God’s wrath and judgment: the earth swallows people up, armies wipe each other out, and God’s fire consumes sinners. We associate the New Testament with God’s grace and kindness: Jesus dies for sinners, the thief on the cross is forgiven, and all who come to Jesus are promised eternal life. We may find ourselves asking, “Is this really the same story?”
On May 5 we held a Deeper event in order to explore this question. I encourage you to listen to the whole session in order to gain perspective on this question.* Here, however, I just wanted to answer it in short order. Below are two key reasons why we should not conclude that the Old and New Testaments present a different picture of God.
God consistently reveals Himself to be full of both grace and wrath. God’s wrath is not limited to the Old Testament. Jesus spoke more about hell than any other character or author in the Bible (Matthew 5:29-30). We see Ananias and Sapphira struck dead for lying to God’s people (Acts 5:1-11). Paul speaks of Jesus saving us from God’s wrath (Romans 5:9-11). Revelation contains the outpouring of God’s wrath and judgment against humanity. In both testaments we encounter a God who takes sin so seriously that He judges it fiercely. We don’t eliminate God’s wrath by ignoring the Old Testament. Just as God’s wrath is not limited to the Old Testament, His grace and kindness is not limited to the New Testament. God reveals Himself to be slow to anger, abounding in love, and overflowing with forgiveness (Exodus 34:6-7). He is a God concerned with saving His people (Isaiah 45:22), whom He chose out of the overflow of His own great love (Deuteronomy 7:7-9). Both the Old and the New Testament present a God who is overflowing with both grace and wrath. We cannot solve our problem with His wrath by ignoring the Old Testament, and we miss out on His powerful grace when we limit ourselves only to the New Testament.
God’s people consistently respond to God with both fear and love. Sometimes we read the Old Testament and think that God is not very loving. Whether or not this is our conclusion, it certainly was not the conclusion of the Israelites who lived under the Old Covenant. The Psalms overflow with Israelites who see God as their gracious and compassionate Savior (36:5, 59:16, 145:8, etc.). He is their fortress, their only hope, and their source of life. It is certainly true that they responded to God with appropriate fear. But it is equally true that they saw God as the ultimate source of grace, kindness, and forgiveness. On the flipside, the fear of God is not absent from the New Testament. Jesus talks about it (Matthew 10:28), as do Peter (1 Peter 1:17), Paul (2 Corinthians 5:11), and the author of Hebrews (10:30-31). It is true that John says that perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:17-18), but he is not saying that we don’t fear God at all. In the context it simply means that we don’t fear final judgment and condemnation from God. There is a powerful consistency about how God’s people relate to Him. There is always love, and there is always appropriate fear.
There will always be passages in the Bible that confuse us. There will always be passages that will rub us the wrong way. As this happens, I want to encourage you to be willing to engage with God’s Word instead of ignoring or disregarding it. God has spoken to us. We shouldn’t assume that we will always instantly agree with Him. After all, shouldn’t God have the ability to correct and instruct us? The key is not that we should instantly understand and agree with God immediately. The key is that, when we disagree with Him, we adjust to Him, instead of demanding that He adjusts to us.
*You can find the video recording of the Deeper event on May 5 on our website: lbfchurch.com
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