> This apparent difference between the OT and NT versions of God is something
> that I've struggled with and is the primary reason I reject a literal
> reading of the Bible. My thinking was along the lines of "If by definition
> God doesn't change, then if the way he is portrayed changes, it must be
> because man's view of God changes - and that's what we are seeing in the
> OT/NT differences".
I agree only a little with julie. God is unchanging and man foes view
God differently, but the way that i have veiwed the difference between
God in the OT vs the NT is in the following manner. Just as we grow
from infants to teenagers and finnally into adults, mankind has grown as
a species as well. When God was dealing with man in the old testament
it is similar in the way our parents deal with us when we are children.
We need discipline and teaching on what is right and wrong. We must
accept the rules because they come down from our parents, even if we
don't understand why! For instance, why not eat pork or blood? God
knew that if not cooked right pork could lead to serous illness and
blood is often a carrier of many pathogens. Hence many of the rules we
don't understand come about.
But also, God waited for mankind to develop to the point where we could
understand Jesus's message and the message of the NT. This message is
of love. God wants us to love one another, hte way Christ demonstrated
to those who were his desciples and those he ministered too. This was a
radical concept. He loved the outcast as much as the pharasee. In this
God was showing us what is the meaning behind all he was showing us in
the OT. God in the NT allows us freedom to choose him or reject him by
choosing to accept him and allowing him to show us how to love one
another. By contrast in the OT, God set out rules so that we might
become acceptable to him, and at the heart of these rules is his
teaching love.
In conclusion, this is seen in Jesus's answer to what is the greatest
commandment:
Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV)
34 On Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got
together. 35 One of them, an expert on the law, tested him with this
question: 36 "'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied:"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all
your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest
commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ' Love your neighbor as
yourself' 40 All the law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments."
John Misasi
jmisasi@engc.bu.edu