Mothers Group Reflection #32: Is The God of the Old Testament the Same as the God of the New? (Part 1 of 2)

Why does the God we see revealed in the Old Testament seem to clash so much with our image of God in the New Testament? I hear this question on and off, especially recently, and to be honest, I have always wrestled some with this concept myself. It isn’t an easy question to answer, truth be told. And it keeps coming back to me in different forms. Earlier this week, as I left to run errands for the day, I asked God what I should write about this week and for His direction toward the right question. An hour later, as I stood in the doctor’s office, one of my doctors said this exact thought out loud...is the God of the Old Testament the same as the God of the New Testament? Coincidence? Clearly, we all have some questions about this topic. I am sure there is a long theological answer to this question. If that is the answer you seek, I’m not your girl. What I can tell you is what I have learned from personal experience. Take it for what it is.

I found myself scouring the books of Jeremiah and Hosea over the summer. Everywhere I turned, it seemed, someone was talking to me about Jeremiah. I was facing a pretty tough decision and it seemed God had something important He wanted to say. Jeremiah is not exactly the most uplifting and light read. It takes some digging to get into it, and I admit, I finally just gave up at some point, but not without my answer. What came to me through that prayer, in seeking what to write about, was a litany of Scriptures that parallel one another from both the Old and New Testament.

In general, I have also noticed some pretty consistent ways that people can see God in the Old versus New Testaments. People seem to see God in the Old Testament as a large judge. Someone more distant and stern, and very rule based, maybe even someone given to a lot of anger or destruction and punishment. In our current culture, I typically hear God in the New Testament described as pure grace and mercy, too often as an “anything goes” type of God, in other words, a big squish. Basically, a lot of people these days describe this NT God as someone who just threw the rule book out and they can tend to justify various sins as being something belonging to the Old Covenant, therefore excusing current actions.

The problem with this theory is that Jesus told us, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19 NRSVCE).

So, I think we need to ask ourselves something. What purpose does the law serve in our lives, because if we don’t understand that, nothing else I say is going to matter. In Romans, St. Paul tells us that the law came to show us our sin. God wanted us to recognize our sin and tendency toward it, and to cry out to Him for help in overcoming it. Yet, the law was powerless to help us actually conquer that sin. Thus Jesus came as a perfect sacrifice in our place and to provide us grace through the Holy Spirit so that we, too, could die to our old nature and live as a new creation in His presence. The law was first presented during the time of the Old Covenant in the Old Testament. But the grace to live it well was given with the New Covenant in Jesus (Ezekiel 36:26-27). It was not the law that caused sin but sin took its opportunity from the law, meaning once we know something is wrong, we have a tendency to sin more and more when we try in our own power to conquer it and fail, but by the grace of God, we will conquer (Romans 7-8).

The prophet Jeremiah actually gives us a beautiful foreshadowing of the New Covenant in the midst of exile after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587BC. He says in Jeremiah 31:31-35 NAB, “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the Lord. All, from the least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.” During the time of the Old Testament, people learned the law and how to know God externally through the example and teaching of the leaders and prophets, but God had a plan to write those laws onto our very hearts and to remind us of His words by the whisper of the Holy Spirit.

The commandments do not cease to apply to us just because we live in a time of grace though. The commandments teach us a lot about how to relate to one another. Jesus told us, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10 NRSVCE). While some Old Testament regulations were specific to that time and culture, pointing to the coming fulfillment in Christ, the Ten Commandments are timeless and enduring. They are pretty simple. They teach us how to love both God and neighbor, and what that love looks like. They are basic life truth. So, anytime we try to “love” in any way other than in the way prescribed by these commandments, we are not truly “loving,” but exhibiting false love. We are relating to others in a way that will never be true or right love. When we relate in these false ways, we can’t truly know others or be known in return. This false love puts up pretenses, which cause ourselves or others to close off our true nature out of self-preservation, and relationships break down. Otherwise known as personal sin.

So, when Jesus says that we show our friendship by following His commands, and that we will be loved for doing so, He isn’t saying that He will only love us if we measure up to a list of rules. He is saying, in essence, this is the only way to truly show and receive love. Anything else is a fake and leads away from God, possibly even the road to eternal separation from Him. And that is the last thing He wants for us. He loves us too much to just sit and watch that happen. So, if this is the only way to love, to follow these commandments, then why would they cease to exist or apply in the New Covenant?

Another thing we need to remember is that the Old and New Testaments are only divided because one took place before Christ and the other is after, but this is all one big story, one continuous outpouring of God’s love for us. The Bible is not just history, it is “His story” of love for each one of us. It is a continuous and ongoing story and revelation of Himself. He desires for us to know Him personally, who He is, and something of His nature and character. God also reveals Himself and His plan for us slowly over time because, frankly, we’re pretty stubborn and given to doing things our own way. Yet He is ever patient to teach us at the pace we can sustain.

For example, when we want to learn advanced calculus, we do not start there, but we begin as little children stacking and counting blocks and learning our numbers. Once we master that concept, we advance to addition, subtraction and so on. It is the same with our faith. We are also a people, a family, and it takes a lot of time, over a long period of time, to move everyone forward. He does not measure time in the same way that we do, and He is patient, not wishing that anyone be lost (2 Peter 3:8-9).

Next week, I will go more in depth to the Scriptural comparisons of the character of God in the Old and New Testaments. But for now, I invite you to reflect upon His love for you in the commandments He gives. Beginning with the Ten Commandments in Exodus and finding their completion in the words of Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40 NRSVCE, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Questions for further reflection:

So, how do you view God in your own life? Do you see a distinction between the way He relates to us in the Old versus New Testaments? Where do you think these ideas come from within your own life?

Verse for the day:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” - Matthew 5:17-19 NRSVCE