Why is God so Different in Old & New Testaments?

Have you ever read through the Bible and found the depiction of God very different between the Old and New Testaments? Did it make you wonder if there were two gods being spoken about or if God had changed very much through the years? Why then does the Bible claim He's unchanging?

In everything, it's important to ask questions and seek them unflinchingly, though the answers have the potential of making us uncomfortable. God gave us brains to seek Him all the better. Let's begin with the many times the Bible states God is unchanging, since this the origin of our idea about His everlasting nature.

For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. - Malachi 3:6

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. - James 1:17

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. - Hebrews 13:8

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? - Numbers 23:19

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. - Psalm 102:25-27

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. - Hebrews 6:17-18

Let's now consider the parts of the Bible that seem contradictory concerning God's nature.

First, some say the Old Testament God is wrathful while the New Testament God is full of love. Actually, He's both in both places. Here are verses showing a God of love in the Old Testament.

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and egracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness - Exodus 34:6

The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty (unrepentant), visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation. - Numbers 14:18

For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. - Deuteronomy 4:31

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. - Nehemiah 9:17

Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster. - Joel 2:13

In the New Testament, He's also shown as willing to punish or even allow painful natural consequences.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives. - Hebrews 12:6

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! - Romans 5:9

They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. - 1 Thess 1:9-10

If you read the Bible from Genesis to Revelations, you get a full picture of God and His relationship to humans. See, the Bible was written by us, through the divine spirit, so when humans felt the wrath of God, it poured out in their works. When, they were visited by blessings, that spilled into their writings.

God is a God of love, and one thing He despises is when evil is visited upon innocents. Our choices throughout history have a rolling domino effect onto others in the present and future. We may not always understand His directives, and His directives do change according to the circumstances. Yet, He has always wanted to change us for good above all. He yearns for us to change for good, and if we don't, it understandably upsets Him. It upsets Him not just that He's losing us but that we're inflicting the world and future with our evils, death, and pain.

Second, some will point to how God ordered the Israelites to kill many peoples as they moved through the lands. How could a loving God ask for us to do such a thing?

First of all, God doesn't like death. In fact, He's completely at odds with it.

Old testament:

For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! - Ezekiel 18:32

New Testament:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9

Same God.

Evil is a cancer, spreading to kill all the healthy cells. What do we do with cancer? We remove it, but any cancer that doesn't or can't come out manually must be killed (i.e. radiation or chemo). If we don't kill it, it will KILL EVERYTHING ELSE. God would rather thousands die than for trillions, innumerable souls die.

The command was only to annihilate the inhabitants of Canaan (Deuteronomy 20) who didn't leave or choose to join Israel. You need to remember that the inhabitants were given a choice, first and emphatically, to leave their lands or join Israel. It's just that many refused. Some did though, like the prostitute spy Rahab and the entire tribe of Gibeonites!

Other enemies were not be handled the same. They were supposed to not kill their women or children as they were not part of the soldiers and had little to no power over, well, anything at the time. Yet, they couldn't be abandoned at the time or they'd all die. So, they were absorbed into the Israelites.

However, it's important to note that God told them to push the inhabitants out of the land of Canaan because He was promising it to His people so they could develop their own identity, an identity that would be supremely important in clearing a genetic pathway to the savior of the world. If they didn't get the other people out somehow, those inhabitants (who by the way were noted to be very wicked, violent, sacrificed children regularly) would influence the Israelites in turning from God. The children are innocent, though, right? Yes, they definitely are, while they were children. Those children were being raised in a horrible situation, doomed to spiritual and possibly physical death and pain. If they had the ability to join Israel, they could make that choice too. It's impossible to make warfare comfortable for people, and it's certainly not comfortable for God. So, imagine your discomfort times a million for a God who created each one of those people, loved them, and watched them suffer and die. Do you believe in a God of love? Then, you must understand that He loves those who died, and this was a last resort.

If a people were relentlessly evil, breeding needless violence, creating deformities through incest, bringing pain and death through their many means, He would always warn first and then allow natural consequences if they didn't change. Do you not think a God of love wouldn't give many chances before the last resort or that He doesn't know people's hearts better than us?

Third, some may bring up the harsh punishments Israelites were ordered to give for breaking various laws. Surely, we're no longer supposed to kill anyone who cheats, are gay, or who has premarital relations?

No, we're not. Israel was a theocracy, created in order to bring the ways of God into the forefront, to mold an entire line of genealogy, and these punishments weren't all that different from the punishments given by other nations in the same time period (example: Hammurabi's Code). Another point to make, take it as you will, is that Moses had a degree of leniency in creating punishments and rules in that theocracy, so he may have been influenced somewhat by other nations. Why do I say that?

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” - Matthew 19:3-9

Now, the laws still stand that were written in the Old Testament, but now, the punishment is eternal death (if one doesn't change their heart). That's the crux of it. Things were made plain black and white for the Israelites to fully understand the consequences of their sins. However, it was just symbolic of what was occurring spiritually. We no longer live in a theocracy, so punishments can't be the same. Moses was trusted to give out instructions, and he did so for the better of the Israelites in their time period. It was the beginning of a change. Not the fulfillment or perfection of it.

There are as many examples of His love as His wrath throughout the Bible. He is our truest Father, guiding, warning, allowing consequences, forgiving forever until we learn.

Another reason for the change in depiction of God is because the purpose of each book of the Bible is different. Some were meant to warn people of the consequences of their ways. Many times, even if it warned, it would remind them that God loves them and will keep harm away if they'll just change. The entire purpose of most of the New Testament was to spread the message of the gospel and the story of Jesus as the savior of mankind. That obviously makes the tone more one of hope and joy. As we've stated before, the word gospel literally means "good news."

God doesn't change. Our views on Him might have throughout history. Our relationship with Him definitely have.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. - John 15:15

The Old Testament was a leading up to the reasoning of us needing a savior, our hopelessness without God. The New Testament is the fulfillment of God's plans to finally save us and the joy we have in spreading this hope. Really, the way we chose to characterize God in the Old and New Testaments have more to do with us and our reactions to God than God actually changing in any way. Of course God is more angry in the Old Testament while His people are still learning, trial and error, His ways and failing miserably. Of course God is more joyful in the new Testament as His plans have come to fruition for His people and the invitation for ALL nations to be His people was spreading in the world.

Thank God for His unchanging nature. We need that permanence in a forever changing universe.

The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. - Psalm 93:1