Bible Q&A: Old Testament 'God of Aggression'?

October 12, 2002

See: All Bible Q&A columns Bible questions and answers by John Myers, Internet Photojournalist

Bible Question: "I have recently accepted Christ into my life, and am reading the Bible and have many questions. One is the Old Testament aggression from God against everyone else but the Jews. In the New Testament we are told to be abundantly helpful to others. Why the big difference? And, wasn't there anyone else at all that God loved besides the Hebrews?"--W.E.
Bible Answer: It's easy to get the wrong impression about God from reading just the Old Testament. But when you add the New Testament message of Jesus, we see the loving side of God that is not revealed very clearly in the Old Testament.
As a new Christian, I would urge you to study the New Testament for many months, perhaps years, before trying to read and study the Old Testament. It's the same God in both Testaments, but once you truly understand the God of the New Testament, then you can try to get a grip on the Old Testament, which seems to show a God of hatred. In reality, the Old Testament God is showing us God's demand for justice, while the New Testament God is showing us God's provision for mercy we didn't deserve, which is the definition of the grace of God toward us.

Old Testament + New Testament = whole picture of God

In the Old Testament, God is revealed as a God of justice, whose wrath is often displayed with fire falling from heaven to burn up evil doers and the earth opening up to swallow them alive, just to name of couple of many such violent episodes.
But in the New Testament we see Jesus, who said He came not to kill and destroy, but to give life and to give it more abundantly; not to judge, but to supply mercy as the one sacrifice that could take upon Himself the sin of the entire world.
Perhaps the best verse to sum up the message of Jesus and the New Testament revelation of God as a God of mercy and love is John 3:16.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
And the following verse continues the good news that God loves sinners.
"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved," John 3:17 says.
There are glimpses of the mercy and love of God in the Old Testament, such as God's relationship with Abraham, who was chosen to start a new race, the Hebrews, and God's conversations with Job and all the other Old Testament prophets.
Perhaps the best summation of the Old Testament and New Testament views of God is the introduction of the Book of Hebrews, verses 1-4:
"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." Everything we wonder about God is revealed in Jesus, His "express image."

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 20 years.)