Isn't the God of the Old Testament different from Jesus?
The Old Testament God is jealous, wrathful and violent: he floods the world, orders wars and punishes harshly. Jesus is loving, forgiving and gentle. They can't be the same God. Either Christians worship two different gods, or the Old Testament got God wrong.
— A view going back to Marcion in the second century; in modern form see Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (2006), ch. 2
The contrast is a caricature of both Testaments. The Old Testament's most repeated description of God is 'merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love' (Exodus 34:6). Jesus, for his part, speaks about judgment and hell more than anyone else in the New Testament. Both Testaments show one God who is both holy and loving. Jesus claimed to be the full revelation of the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, whose Scriptures he quoted and loved.
What Scripture says
6Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, 7maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
God's self-description to Moses: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, yet not ignoring guilt.
2So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.
Jonah complains that God is too merciful, quoting Exodus 34 about God's compassion toward Israel's enemy Nineveh.
8The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. 9He will not always accuse us, nor harbor His anger forever. 10He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities. 11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him. 12As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. 14For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.
God does not deal with us according to our sins; he pities his children as a father does.
8How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred! 9I will not execute the full fury of My anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man— the Holy One among you— and I will not come in wrath.
God's heart 'recoils' at the thought of giving up his unfaithful people.
33You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell? 34Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town. 35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! 38Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”
Jesus pronounces judgment on the religious leaders, then laments over Jerusalem like a hen gathering her chicks.
31When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. 34Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, 36I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? 38When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ 40And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ 41Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’ 44And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ 46And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Jesus describes himself as the final judge of all nations.
9Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father: Jesus claims to reveal the very God of Israel.
1On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. 2But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
The God who spoke through the prophets has now spoken by his Son, the exact imprint of his nature.
28Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Jesus' greatest commandment comes straight from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, the Shema.
The case
An old objection
This isn't a new question. In the mid-second century, Marcion of Sinope taught that the God of the Old Testament, the Creator and lawgiver, was a different and lesser god from the loving Father revealed by Jesus. He rejected the Old Testament and kept an edited Gospel of Luke and ten letters of Paul. The early church, through writers like Irenaeus and Tertullian, rejected his view. They saw that you can't separate Jesus from the God of Israel without cutting Jesus off from his own words.
The Old Testament God is merciful
1. God's self-portrait
When God reveals his name to Moses, he describes himself as "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6). This becomes Israel's creed, repeated throughout the Old Testament (Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; Psalm 103:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2).
2. Patience and pleading
God waits four centuries before judging the Amorites (Genesis 15:16). He sends prophet after prophet to warn Israel. He spares Nineveh, Israel's brutal enemy, when it repents (Jonah 3–4). He cries out through Hosea, "How can I give you up?" (Hosea 11:8). The prophets announce a coming new covenant of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:34).
3. Love for outsiders
Israel was commanded to love the foreigner (Leviticus 19:34; Deuteronomy 10:19). Abraham was called so that "all the families of the earth" would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). The Old Testament's vision ends with nations streaming to worship the God of Israel (Isaiah 2:2–4).
Jesus speaks of judgment
The gentle-Jesus picture ignores much of the Gospels. Jesus warns of hell more often than any other figure in the New Testament (e.g., Matthew 10:28; Mark 9:43–48). He pronounces woes on cities and religious leaders (Matthew 11:20–24; 23). He drives out the money-changers (John 2:15). He presents himself as the judge at the end of history (Matthew 25:31–46). And the book of Revelation, the climax of the New Testament, describes final judgment in the strongest terms in Scripture.
Same God, one story
| Theme | Old Testament | New Testament |
|---|---|---|
| Mercy | "Slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love" (Exodus 34:6) | "God so loved the world" (John 3:16) |
| Judgment | The flood; the exile | Final judgment (Matthew 25; Revelation 20) |
| Love of enemies | Help your enemy's donkey (Exodus 23:4–5); feed your enemy (Proverbs 25:21) | "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) |
| Sacrifice for sin | Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) | "The Lamb of God" (John 1:29) |
The difference between the Testaments is not a change in God's character. It's a development in his plan. The Old Testament tells of God working with one nation through law, sacrifice and kingship. The New Testament reveals the fulfillment: God himself comes in Jesus to bear judgment and open the way for all nations.
Jesus' own view
Jesus never distanced himself from the God of the Old Testament. He called that God "Father". He quoted the Shema as the greatest commandment (Mark 12:29–30). He said the Scriptures bore witness to him (John 5:39). He claimed, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). If Jesus is right, the Old Testament God is not a different deity. He is the God whose face Jesus shows us most clearly.
Why it matters
If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. You will find the same holiness that shook Sinai and the same steadfast love that kept Israel through centuries of unfaithfulness. They meet at the cross, where God judges sin and forgives sinners at once. In Jesus the whole Bible's portrait of God comes into focus.
Word study
hebrew · “steadfast love, loyal love, covenant faithfulness, mercy” · Exodus 34:6
Hesed is one of the Old Testament's central words for God's character, appearing about 250 times. It describes loyal, committed love that goes beyond obligation. Psalm 136 repeats 'his hesed endures forever' in every verse. The God of the Old Testament is defined by this kind of love.
“But what about…?”
But why is there so much more violence in the Old Testament?
Partly because the Old Testament covers far more history: about two thousand years of a nation's life, including war, while the Gospels cover a few years of Jesus' ministry. Even so, the violent episodes are relatively concentrated, and many are described rather than endorsed. The most terrible judgment in the Bible, the final judgment, is described most vividly in the New Testament (e.g., Revelation 19-20).
Didn't the early church reject this view?
Yes. In the mid-second century Marcion taught that the Creator God of the Old Testament was a lesser deity distinct from the Father of Jesus, and kept only an edited Luke and ten letters of Paul. The church rejected his teaching, and Tertullian wrote five books Against Marcion showing that Jesus' own words depend on the Old Testament.
Doesn't Jesus contradict the Old Testament in the Sermon on the Mount?
Jesus' 'you have heard it said... but I say to you' corrects misreadings and pushes commands to the heart (anger, lust). 'Love your neighbor' itself comes from Leviticus 19:18, and the Old Testament already commanded kindness to enemies (Exodus 23:4-5; Proverbs 25:21). He fulfills the law rather than replacing God.
Is God's wrath compatible with love?
Yes. A God who was not angered by child abuse, oppression or genocide would not be loving. Wrath in Scripture is God's settled opposition to evil, which harms what he loves. At the cross, Christians believe, God's justice and love meet: he bears the penalty himself (Romans 3:25-26).
Where Christians differ
Go deeper
- book · 2011Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament GodPaul Copan
- book · 2008The God I Don't UnderstandChristopher J. H. Wright
- book · 2017The Old Testament Is Dying: A Diagnosis and Recommended TreatmentBrent A. Strawn
- ancient · 207Tertullian
- book · 2008The Reason for GodTim Keller
Sources (3)
- Tertullian, Against Marcion, books 1-5 (early 3rd century)
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.27.2-4: Marcion's teaching
- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, s.v. hesed
Related questions
Did God command genocide against the Canaanites?
These texts are genuinely hard, and Christians should not soften them. But several facts matter: the command was a unique judgment limited to one time and place, given after centuries of patience toward cultures that practiced child sacrifice; its main aim was to remove the Canaanite religious system, and it was not driven by ethnic hatred; and the same books show that 'leave none alive' was stock war rhetoric, since many Canaanites remained. It was never a standing command, and Jesus points to a different way.
Does the Bible condone slavery?
Much of what the Old Testament calls 'slavery' was debt service, not the race-based, lifelong chattel slavery of the Americas, which the Bible condemns at its root by forbidding kidnapping and slave-trading. Some laws, especially those about foreign slaves, remain hard. They regulated a fallen institution in a fallen world rather than endorsing it as ideal. Meanwhile Scripture planted principles (every person made in God's image, master and slave equal in Christ) that Christians eventually used to dismantle slavery.
Why don't Christians follow all the Old Testament laws?
Christians don't pick laws at random. The Old Testament law was the covenant God made with Israel as a nation, and the New Testament teaches that Jesus fulfilled it. Laws that marked Israel as distinct, like food and purity rules, sacrifices and many civil penalties, pointed forward to Christ and are not binding on the church. The moral will of God behind the law (love God, love neighbor) continues, and the New Testament restates much of it. The question isn't 'Is it in Leviticus?' but 'How does it apply after Christ?'
This entry is a draft and has not yet been theologically reviewed.