Jesus Versus Jehovah: Understanding the Violent God of the Old Testament in Light of the God of the Cross

I have had several posts regarding God of OT vs. God of NT issues (post #1, post #2, Post #3).  Here is a recent post from Greg Boyd’s blog on this issue (it sounds like he is going to write a book on the topic).

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Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, doctrine, Evil and Suffering
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5 thoughts on “Jesus Versus Jehovah: Understanding the Violent God of the Old Testament in Light of the God of the Cross”

  1. Jesus father is the Holy Spirit whom is only capable of loving traits. The Holy Spirit is not a vengeful or jealous god but a loving god. This is why Jesus said I will reveal this to my flock. Jesus is like his father, and his flock is like him. I personally would like to spend eternity with loving people, or as Jesus called us his brothers and sisters.

  2. Apologies for the delayed response on this. I appreciate Scott’s commentary but don’t see anything contradictory between God’s loving nature and His punishment of various people throughout the bible. In addition, the passage in Matthew that is quoted is Jesus’ instruction for us; as we are not God, we are not given the power to judge in the way He is.

    Simply put, if God created us, He can decide what He wants to do in each person’s life. Have a look at Romans 9:14 – 29, in particular verse 21 “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”

    It is His divine justice that requires punishment for sin. I say this as one who is under such judgement and who deserves no mercy, yet is given it through Jesus. Who will help any of us if we don’t trust in Him?

  3. As with so many paradoxes, maybe it is both/and not either/or issue? There is clearly tension between OT & NT. There were several articles in the latest Philosophia Christi (http://www.epsociety.org/philchristi/current-issue.asp) regarding Jehovah’s wrath in OT.
    My brief thoughts:
    1. Don’t major in the minors–focus our lives on being Christ like and loving others and sharing His love–1st and foremost–“To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

    2. I often focus on God’s love and not God’s supreme holiness–He is both all holy and all loving.

  4. Iain has an intersting point. But in Matthew 5:43-48 we see that Jesus defines God’s goodness by his unprejudiced love for the world, even those who are evil, and then asks us to do the same. How could God, who defines Himself this way, encourage some of the violent acts of the Old Testament – no matter what His end goal happened to be? Wouldn’t this go against God’s good and perfect nature?

  5. I think Boyd misses a vital piece of the puzzle here. God had a very specific purpose for the Jews in Old Testament days and these required very specific actions to achieve them.

    Greg Koukl had an interesting parallel to share on how the British were very intolerant of “small” crimes during WWII and assigned the death penalty for petty theft. This was necessary at the time as part of the broader war effort.

    Similarly, the context of the strict rules and punishment in the OT makes sense of the apparent dichotomy. God needed to separate His people for a specific purpose, which He did and which was fulfilled in Jesus.

    This, along with the multitude of references to love and trust in God in the OT, have helped make this easier for me to understand.

    Iain

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