Old/New Testament God
There’s a common misconception that comes up in discussions between believers, even within congregations led by Bible teaching pastors, that undermines the deity of Christ, the immutability of God, and/or the reliability of the Bible. This confusion is often expressed with the terms “Old/New Testament God”.
When discussing this supposed divide, people often point to how the “Old Testament God” was one of wrath, whereas the “God of the New Testament” is one of mercy. It’s not that those characterizations are wrong. It’s that God as revealed in the Old Testament is also merciful and Christ is also returning with the greatest wrath creation has and will ever see. The God of creation has not changed and he is perfect both in his mercy and his wrath. Always has been, always will be.
The Old Testament God of Mercy
Even Job who, after Genesis, is about as far back in history as we can go recognized God as merciful.
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
Job 19:25-27
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
Clearly, he is counting on Christ (whom he barely had revealed to him compared to what we have now) to redeem him for his sins so he can stand before the very face of God.
There are many examples throughout the Old Testament of God’s mercy. David speaks of the blessing of one who’s sins God forgives. Jonah was so confident in God’s mercy that he didn’t want to deliver a message of judgement to Nineveh specifically because he knew if they repented God wouldn’t destroy them (and he believed they should be destroyed).
However, perhaps the most clear promise of God’s mercy toward the repentant can be found in Ezekiel 33.
“And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’ Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
…
Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.
Ezekiel 33:10-11, 14-16
This isn’t talking about a person doing good until they balance some scale of right and wrong. In the context, it’s focused on the direction of a person’s life. If a man lives righteously for his whole life and then believes that he has “earned” the right to turn from God for a time, judgement is immediately upon him. Similarly, if a man is wicked for a lifetime, and then turns and seeks God, his promise is that of immediate forgiveness.
The New Testament God of Wrath
There is an even more common misunderstanding than an unmerciful God in the Old Testament. It is the toothless Christ. We are constantly regaled with the stories of Christ’s mercy toward tax collectors and prostitutes. Sometimes, to the point where people forget that in his earthly ministry, Christ often pronounced extreme judgements against people who were too proud to come to him for forgiveness.
His church, under the inspiration of the Spirit, likewise warned of the judgement upon those who loved their sin rather than Christ.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
Revelation 21:8
This lake of fire, also called the second death in this verse, is the judgement which Christ himself will pronounce upon those who will not enter his kingdom. While we tend to think of Jesus has the Christmas baby who grew up to be the man carrying a lamb and letting the children come to him, we can sometimes forget what he said about his mission in creation.
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Luke 12:49-53
While there is perfect mercy for those whom the Father has given to the Son, there is perfect wrath for those who live as slaves to sin. This division is felt now as the church and the world find themselves at odds with one another, but will be finalized when Christ returns to judge the world with fire.
The Unchanging God
As we can see, God as revealed in the Old Testament is both wrathful toward sin and merciful toward those whom he is saving. God as revealed in the New Testament and specifically through the person of Jesus has a ministry both of reconciling the church to God and destroying eternally those who remain slaves to sin.
This shouldn’t be a surprise, as the Father, Son, and Spirit are all one in being and therefore perfect in mercy and wrath. God’s judgement and mercy are both aspects of his perfect nature and are found throughout the whole council of scripture.
1 thought on “The Lord (as Revealed in Scripture) is One”