The God we find in the Old Testament is vindictive and cruel. He issues arbitrary edicts; he exterminates people on a whim; he is prejudiced, misogynist and homophobic. As a result, the Old Testament is full of Stone Age barbarity. Jesus, on the other hand, is loving and inclusive. He is concerned for the marginalised; he restores the broken; and he preaches a gospel of love. Thank goodness we have Jesus to tell us the truth about God, in contrast to the misleading impression of the OT.
This might be a slight exaggeration, but in one form or another, this view is quite widespread both within and outside the church today. And it is not new – it was first articulated by Marcion of Sinope (AD85-AD160), an important early theologian and evangelist, who wanted to present Jesus as the loving one who rescued us from the wickedness of the god of the Old Testament.
Critical to exploring this issue is the question of interpretation, of how we read texts. This is illustrated by the popular reading of John 1:17; most read it as saying ‘For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ’ (AV). Yet there is no ‘but’ in the text! John is not contrasting the law with the grace of Jesus, but making them a parallel – we have received ‘grace upon grace’, the gracious gift of the law in Moses, and the gracious gift of the new covenant in Jesus. It is more of the same, not something good in place of something bad.
Here are seven good things about the Old Testament, seven things which show why we need it so much.
1 Its poetry, promises and psalms.
