The O.T. Bible shows a God of wrath; Jesus shows a God of love. Did God change? or Bible change?

Question

This question is for sincere Christians. Please explain and also state your religion, denomination or affiliation. Thank you.

Peace and progress.

Answer 1

I'm Catholic.

Catholics enjoy a 2000 year old body of superb theological scholarship that began with Jesus and the apostles, was reinforced at Pentecost, and still continues today.

We operate from a position of complete divine revelation and truth, according to all that which was divinely revealed to the church, by means of sacred Tradition ... oral, written, and practical.

Catholics have always understood that God's apparent attitude towards humanity was and is solely a function of divine grace ... which is a share of God's very own power and divine life.

Grace comes in two varieties:

Actual grace ... which empowers both saints and sinners to do God's will.

Sanctifying grace ... which transforms, makes one holy, and which is required for admittance to heaven.

After Adam's fall, and prior to Christ, the world was totally devoid of God's sanctifying grace, dominated by Satan, and in open rebellion against God.

A technical state of war existed, and earth was a virtual hell ... with all of mankind fighting on the side of Satan ... in a form of forced slavery ... under pain of death.

While we were still grevious sinners, and out of infinite love, God acted to redeem us, and by the power of actual grace, he raised up generations of priests, prophets, and kings, in order for his divine son ... in the fullness of time ... made of woman ... under the law ... to come into the world as a man, in order to redeem us.

Before we could be redeemed, and before sanctifying grace and forgiveness could be offered, it was necessary to destroy Satan's evil dominion.

According to God's most fundamental law of sin and death, one without sin is NOT liable to die.

Jesus was certainly without sin. Satan used his minions, the Jews and the Romans, to unjustly put Jesus to death.

God knew this would happen, and Jesus permitted it to be done to him.

And since no one ... not even the devil himself ... had the power or authority to take the life of a sinless man ... let alone the only begotten Son of God ... the moment Jesus died, Satan once again came under God's judgment ... losing all that he had earlier gained from Adam's sin.

Once Satan had been "cast out" ... he was officially powerless, and without any dominion at all.

Once this dominion of evil had been destroyed, Jesus was raised up, and appointed the new and sinless head of all mankind.

The "New Adam".

Under these new "terms" and under this new and divine leadership ... God is more than willing to grant forgiveness, sanctifying grace, and peace to anyone who swears faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ ... typically through baptism into his church.

The Catholic Church is God's primary dispenser of grace in the world today, and it distributes God's grace freely, and as necessary ... primarily through the seven sacraments that Jesus personally established ... all of which constitute a close and personal encounter with the risen Christ ... courtesy of the church, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, who remains the constant advocate of the authentic and universal church ... and who will continue to be so, until the end of time.

Now .. thanks to God .. and through the work of Christ ... we live in an era of superabundant grace ... freely available to all ... through the only church that Jesus ever personally founded, authorized, empowered, and personally guaranteed, for the purpose of our salvation ... the Catholic Church.

This divinely appointed era of peace between God and man, was precisely what the angels foretold on that first Christmas:

Luk 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds watching and keeping the night watches over their flock.
Luk 2:9 And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them and the brightness of God shone round about them: and they feared with a great fear.
Luk 2:10 And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people:
Luk 2:11 For, this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.
Luk 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.
Luk 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying:
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest: and on earth peace to men of good will.

Peace be to you!

Answer 2

I'm not a Christian but your question interests me since I have observed the same thing . The fact that the OT and NT comprise "The Bible" is in itself a dicotomy since the message that Jesus preached was a revolutionary message .He was a Jew and was teaching about a very different concept than his own religion in his day. Hence the various reactions to it. The Bible definitely split into 2 very different ideas about God so one would have to conclude that he was talking about a different God. I find it interesting that the message he brought was very similar to the spiritual ideas that had spread widely in the East thro the teachings of Guatama Buddha 500 yrs earlier.
These were the same concepts " Refrain from the use of force"
"Treat others as you want to be treated" "Love your neighbour" .
These ideas and philosophy had civilized most of Asia for 500 years before Jesus appeared on the scene in the Middle East.

(I am a Scientologist. I was raised in the Jewish faith but chose Scientology about 35 years ago)

Answer 3

God did not change.

What's changed is mankind's understanding of God and His Will.

If you were to examine the Scriptures, in chronological order; that is - start with the first Scripture penned and end with the latest one, you will see an increasingly clearer picture of God and His Will as time goes on.

The God "of Wrath", as seen in the OT, reflects a limited (not inaccurate mind you, just limited) understanding of God.

God has revealed Himself, little by little over time. And with each piece of Scripture comes a slightly better understanding of Who/What God is and what He's all about.

By the time we get to NT times, we've heard from God Incarnate Himself and, as a result, we get a much clearer picture of the Merciful God we know from the NT.

To be fair, the OT does indeed teach and preach of a loving and merciful God, "slow to anger and rich in kindness", I'm sure you've heard before. It's just that, as time went on, there was less about God's "wrath" and more about His "love and mercy".

Answer 4

For our muslim friend the comforter is the holy spirit, Muhammed told you to chop off hands and legs for stealing, Jesus told you to forgive each other for their sins, no love in muhammmeds message, which is why muslims have to convince themsleves and us of the otherwsie by insisting that religion is a religion of peace

Do you hear Chrisitans going round saying that Chrisitanity is a religion of peace, no need to, as people already know it is,
by the actions of Christ who never killed, chopped or hurt anybody

In the old testament, it talks of the flood

God does not flood the world straightaway
He decided the flood eas inevitable
But he also wanted people to change their hearts and minds and join noah on the ark

Tihs is an example of his mercy

The wicked people were a result of the fallen sons of man, angels who rebelled and fornicated with women on the earth, the result were demi gods, and hybrid men-angels,

as they were not men, they would not die a natural death like adam and eve

therefore God said, my spirit will not strive with man forever

I will limit his days for 120 years

Noah preached for 120 years, to tell people to change their ways and come no the ark

no one did, except for noah and his family

God is merciful in the OT and the NT

Times were harder, as only a tiny handful of Jews had to remain pure in his ways, if they were wiped out by other tribes there would be no lineage of David,

if they became corrupted by sin to a great extent, then Jesus would never come from their lineage

Answer 5

the old testament is a beginners book for a shadow of things to come much based on Justice for those peoples who were willing to live that law! The new testament is the next level a more spiritual level ( raising the bar) and as the atonement mercy can over come justice by the love of the the Father has for the Son so when he pleads for us (since we are legally indentured to him). The books together are the stick of judah mentioned in Isaiah. You must therefore look for the Stick of Joseph which in the hands of the priesthood (the prophet and apostles Amos 3:7)which is of course the Book of Mormon

Answer 6

The Old Testament is the book of the Law. The Law was given to Moses and there were no exceptions, judgment followed for transgression of the Law. We see, in the O.T., how difficult, if not impossible it is for man to keep the law because of his fallen nature.
Jesus came to bridge the eternal gap between God and man. By following Him, acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior, we are able to have relationship with God and our sins forgiven. Jesus said He did not come to abolish the Law. He came to show us the way. Paul said in Romans, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." We earned death by our sins, but the gift of God is Jesus. A gift is unearned and usually quite undeserved. You can't earn a gift, it is just bestowed. Because of our relationship with Jesus, we are given the gift of eternal life.

One of the previous posts referred to the Comforter that Jesus referred to. Christians believe that is the Holy Spirit that was sent in the book of Acts to Peter and the other believers on the day of Pentecost. That is the indwelling that every believer receives.

I am a Christian and an ordained minister. I have a Master's degree from a Baptist seminary. I do not belong to any denomination but belong to the body of Christ.

God bless you.

Answer 7

To me Old Testament signifies that God is the creator, God placed a very hardcore law to Moses that not even a human can qualify to go to heaven. Because God is too pure and not even a minor evil thought exist in his mind. New Testament make way for sin to be forgiven and fresh chances for human beings to repent of their sins and do good, able to reconcile make neutral based on our human weaknesses that God experienced when he was flesh into a human and went back to heaven after resurrection based on my understanding of the New International Version of the trinity bible, so that heaven is still reachable by soul caught by special cameras shown in "national geographic" after death, if true repentance is made in time before death. Remember heaven is not reachable when we are still alive on planet earth because journey to heaven has not started and approved yet depending on the judgement day and everyone including me will witness God as human beings' JUDGE, depending on the passing marks of good against evil on what we have done on planet earth after all repentance of sins. Soul coming out from the dead body is already proven by special cameras in national geographic researches.

Answer 8

It is only the new testment that speaks of JC and this loving god. the original bible, written by and for Jews, makes no mention of the kind of loving god you refer to.. the original bible has not changed. The new testament has changed the concepts of god and the relations of the people who want to follow this line of thinking.

Answer 9

OT God is a tribal warrior deity. NT Jesus is modelled on many pagan (pre-Christian) dying saviour gods eg Mithra, Attis, Dionysus & Horus.

Answer 10

No, God didn’t change it just shows he is who he said he was. How much more loved could God have shown while with the Israelites? His wrath was on the disobedient. Should we being made in his image underestimate his emotion? The difference is he can speak no lie, his word is true. Are his promises fulfilled?


Jesus, had the emotion of wrath, we see it in the turning over the tables and stating he hated the works of the Nicolaitanes. The love of God shows through in the teachings of Christ. Jesus taught of the Kingdom, but did he not also remind us of eternal death? He wondered how long he would have to suffer being here with this generation…this shows us he was frustrated with the lack of faith people had.


Matthew 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

Revelation 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.


Did his Word change?


God’s promise as the redeemer: OT. Here is God’s love for all people. He tells us he is the only savoir…

Hosea 13:4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

The Bible is the Word of God, God tells us who he is and what he will do…we can see the many facets of God…if we look. God promised to be the savior…and in the name of Jesus he came.

Again, did the Bible change?


If one does not believe the Bible is the Word of God, is he following a different doctrine? What warnings are we given regarding false teachers, prophets, and doctrine?

Ephesians 4:14
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Jeremiah 14:14
Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.

Matthew 7:15
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

2 Peter 2:1
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Matthew 24:11
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Mark 13:22
For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

God has NOT changed; His Word has not changed;…BUT… has been corrupted by men who set new doctrines to fit there…ideas. Only through the false teachings of men does the Bible change.


Non-denomination Christian

Answer 11

The wonderful gift that Jesus gave us is that God's love and grace is infinite. There is no Old testament judgment, vengeance or punishment.