The perceived differences between God’s portrayal in the Old Testament versus the New Testament is a common question for many people exploring the Bible. At surface level, it can seem like God behaves quite differently between the two testaments – appearing harsh, judgmental, and even violent in the Old Testament, while being loving, gracious, and forgiving in the New Testament.
However, while there are some differences in emphasis and manifestation, God is consistent in His character and nature throughout the entirety of Scripture. Here are some key factors that help explain the ways God seems “different” between the Old and New Testaments:
1. God’s progressive revelation throughout Scripture
The Bible is a story of God’s progressive revelation to humanity over centuries and in different cultural contexts. God meets people where they are at and gradually reveals more of Himself over time. As such, later Scripture builds upon and clarifies earlier Scripture.
In the Old Testament, God begins revealing Himself to a world filled with pagan polytheistic religions and rampant idolatry. He establishes His identity as the one true living God to the fledgling nation of Israel. This requires clear instructions, strict boundaries, and severe consequences for rebellion and sin.
By the New Testament, God’s people have a more established understanding of who He is. Jesus comes to more fully reveal God’s loving desire for relationship and redemption. The specifics of God’s interactions with humanity change across time, even as His character remains constant.
2. God’s hatred of sin versus His love for sinners
Both the Old and New Testaments reveal God’s passion for justice and hatred of sin, as well as His mercy and love for His creation. However, the Old Testament deals more directly with the devastating impacts of human sin and rebellion, and God’s acts to restrain them.
Examples like the flood (Genesis 6-9), Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19), and the Canaanite conquest (Deuteronomy 20) emphasize God’s judgment against widespread depravity and evil. The harsh nature of these accounts often disturbs modern readers.
Yet we also see God’s patience and mercy as He preserves a remnant of humanity and promises a Messiah who will redeem people from sin (Genesis 12, 15; Isaiah 53). The New Testament centers on the arrival of that Messiah in Jesus and subsequently focuses more on God’s compassion.
3. Different covenants and stages of redemptive history
The Old Testament emphasizes Israel’s unique role as God’s chosen people under the Mosaic Covenant at Sinai (Exodus 19-24). God establishes a theocratic nation set apart to model His character and draw other nations back to Him.
Under this covenant, the Israelites were constitutionally a socio-political entity as well as a faith community. Harsh punishments enforced covenant fidelity and discouraged the influence of neighboring peoples’ idolatry and immorality.
In the New Testament, Jesus institutes the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34). This covenant expands God’s people to include all nations who place faith in Christ. It is marked by the gift of the Holy Spirit, inward transformation, and integrating faith within existing cultures.
The differences between the Old and New Covenants explain many differences in how God interacts with His people under each one.
4. Human assumptions and limited perspectives
Our inability to fully comprehend God’s ways also contributes to perceived differences between the testaments. We see the world through limited human perspectives and bring our own assumptions and ideas about God to the text.
The Old Testament authors also wrote from their limited cultural worldview. They did not yet have the fullness of New Testament revelation to correct potential misconceptions about God’s character.
As we interpret Scripture, we must seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance to look beyond human limitations and gain deeper understanding of God’s consistent righteousness and lovingkindness.
5. The incarnation of Christ
A key distinction between the Old and New Testaments is that the second person of the Trinity takes on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Jesus embodies the perfect love, justice, mercy, and wisdom of God in tangible form.
By walking in Jesus’ shoes, we witness aspects of God’s character in action that seem more abstract when He is interacting directly with His creation or prophets. We see how God responds to human pains and joys.
The Gospels’ accounts of Christ illuminate the heart of God more fully. At the same time, Jesus also affirms the Old Testament revelation of God’s holiness and hatred of sin (Matthew 5:17-19).
6. The purpose and message of different biblical authors
The human authors of the Old and New Testaments wrote with different audiences and purposes in mind. This contributes to differences in tone and emphasis about God between the testaments.
Old Testament prophecy focuses heavily on judgment for sin, to provoke repentance and pave the way for the Messiah. Gospels emphasize Jesus’ love and sacrifice. Epistles instruct new churches in right living and theology. These differences illuminate facets of God’s nature but do not contradict each other.
7. The Old Testament prepares the way for the New
It’s impossible to fully comprehend Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection without the foundation of the Old Testament. God develops patterns, symbolism, and expectations in the Old Testament which come to fulfillment in the New.
For example, the Passover Lamb and Temple sacrifices pave the way for understanding Christ’s crucifixion as the ultimate atonement for sin (1 Corinthians 5:7). The Psalms’ prophecies give the context to grasp Jesus as the promised Messiah. God unfolds His redemptive plan progressively across both testaments.
8. Jesus affirms the Old Testament picture of God
Critically, Jesus Himself affirmed the Old Testament and never contradicted its divine inspiration or portrayal of God. He referenced the Law, Prophets, and Psalms constantly and treated them as authoritative (Luke 24:27).
He quoted passages regarding God’s holiness like Leviticus 19:2 and linked them directly to His purpose. While clarifying some misinterpretations, Jesus never denied that the Father He revealed was the same God present throughout Israel’s history.
9. God’s character is unchanging
Ultimately, the fundamental truth underlying any perceived differences between Old and New Testaments is that God Himself does not change. His character remains steadfast.
“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed” (Malachi 3:6).
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).
As Hebrews 13:8 declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” The incarnation makes God’s unchanging love and righteousness more visible, but Christ reveals the same God known to Old Testament saints.
Conclusion
Understanding context and God’s progressive revelation helps reconcile perceived differences between Old and New Testament portrayals of God. Ultimately, God is holy, just, and merciful from beginning to end across Scripture. His interactions with humanity differ across redemptive history, even as His character remains constant.
With prayer and wise interpretation, we can come to know the same loving God that David called “my rock, my fortress and my deliverer” (Psalm 18:2) and that John declared as “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The unified testimony of Scripture provides a full picture of our unchanging, faithful God.