Old Testament and New Testament portrayal of God

Today’s blog entry is inspired by a recent audio reflection, which I came across from American Theologian and Professor of Systematics Theology Rev Robert Barron.  He spoke eloquently about how we should always read and understand the passages of Holy Scripture, especially parts of the Old Testament, which seem to portray the image of a rather violent God, YHWH, who seems to have no qualms about smiting the enemies of Israel, sometimes in rather cruel ways.

What do we do with such a picture of a seemingly violent God who seems to show little compassion by raining down fire and brimstone on an unrepentant people?  Oftentimes, we end up making the mistake and compare this portrayal of God with the God that is featured in the New Testament and in our hearts think erroneously that there are two Gods or at least a God who had some sort of split personality through the centuries, and we like to say that we prefer the God of the New Testament to the God of the Old Testament.  This is a very wrong reading of scripture as our God is not schizophrenic and is never meant to be portrayed as such.  What is the key then to a proper reading of scripture so as not to fall into such a common false and wrong thinking?  We must never think that there is more than one God portrayed in the Bible.  He is one and the same through the centuries and time.

Fr Barron reminded us that the key to a correct interpretation of such passages is something that requires us to always be mindful of the last book of the Bible, which is the Book of Revelation where in chapter 5, we see that it is finally the slaughtered lamb who is able to open the seven seals of the scroll because he alone is worthy to break its seals.  In other words, everything that came before Christ has to be interpreted in the light of Christ the wounded and worthy Lamb of God, and this includes understanding the writings and prophecies of the all that is contained in the Old Testament.  Read it outside of this context, and one is bound to enter into confusion and wrong interpretation of scripture. 

What does this mean practically then?  Does it mean that God didn’t mean to smite the Egyptians?  Did he make a mistake by sending brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah?  No, it doesn’t mean that.  We need to see that the slaughtered Lamb of God had no limits to doing God’s will and was not half hearted in his living out his deepest calling.  God doesn’t do things in half measures.  The God as portrayed in the Old Testament was totally serious about wanting his people to know that he alone was their God and there was no one else that came close to loving and looking after them.  Those seemingly strong violent scenes were really strong scenes of unremitting love portrayed in a way that folk in that time were able to comprehend instantly.  Taken out of context, we will end up with only an image of a blood thirsty and violent God.  We are a people of both Old and New Testament, and as such, we have to read scripture with both lights on.  Jesus will always give us the right lights to shine on places that seem dark because he is the light of life.

This was a revelation given by one of the great fathers of the Church, Origen, and we should always be aware of this key when things become problematic for us.  It is a reminder that in our Christian life too, we cannot live in half measures because our God has never been a God of half measures.

It also reminds us to ask ourselves daily how serious we are in our Christian living and discipleship?  Are we satisfied merely in being nominal Christians, fulfilling the mere basic obligations with a ‘dragging our feet’ attitude?  Are we satisfied with just telling ourselves that we are ok simply because we have not cheated, lied, stolen, murdered, lusted, been greedy and coveted others’ goods, and have not turned an eye to foreign gods?  Let’s be honest – yes, those are ‘big ticket’ items, but in reality, it’s the small things that really can add up if we are not aware of the ways in which we may have given in to them.

Fr Barron gives some vivid examples of being really serious about our Christian living.  He makes the connection with the way that the medical world works.  If a doctor finds a tumor and goes into the body to excise it out, is he or the patient happy that he only removed 60% of the tumor, leaving 40% still in there?  Or in my case, I have been back in the hospital for over a week now due to a pneumonia that had developed in my lungs.  The doctors will not be happy to release me if my chest x-rays show a complete clearing of the patches of cloudiness that should the infection 100%.  Not 80%, not 90%.  A complete clearing.  My intake of oxygen levels also need to be between 98% and 100% without aid for them to be confident that my infection is cleared.  So far, my lungs are still not strong enough, and I am still recovering and strengthening my lungs through a regiment of strong steroids, which have side effects.  But this shows how serious the doctors are in getting rid of the pneumonia 100%. 

If this is the kind of attitude, the kind of serious attitude that doctors have for their patients under their care, how much more should we as disciples of Christ be totally serious about getting rid of the little sins that add up to show that we are not really 100% serious about Christian discipleship and living as close a life to Christ’s as possible?  It’s not difficult with the grace of God because all things are possible with God’s grace.

Having said this, we also have the compassion of Christ to rely on, especially when we come across the wonderful passage in Matt. 13:24-30 about the wheat and the weeds.  Much as we would love in our desire to be totally dedicated to God in our quest for holiness, Jesus also does remind us that some stumbling blocks in our lives cannot be simply gotten rid of in an instant because they grow with the good in us.  If we are too gung-ho about instant sanctification, we may end up doing more bad that good to ourselves.  Our quest for holiness may require the grace of a holy patient waiting and an allowance for things to happen without too much of our own manipulation, which often is the result of our own egos at work.

It’s a bit like my condition.  The supply of oxygen to my lungs has to be very slowly lessened little by little so that my lungs do not get into shock and fail to strengthen on their own.  It’s a delicate procedure that has to be sensitively handled.  Rush it and it will fail.  The steroids that are being administered cannot be suddenly cut down but has to be slowly tapered down such that my body can strengthen itself from within. 

Patience is thus key to many things in life, and that includes our spiritual lives.  No one becomes a saint over night, much as we may want to be.  The trials that we are given in life are the rich and necessary training grounds that give us the experience that God wants us to meet him in his different ways of loving and sustaining our lives.