The Nature of God in The Old Testament and The New Testament

The term God refers to a supreme being with absolute knowledge of everything. The Old Testament depicts a creature with great abilities as outlined in the creation story. The section of the Bible shows that God created everything on the face of the planet in seven days. The power is evident through the verbal commands given to the creations and their instant conformity to the controls. For example, God created light by word of mouth and directed a strict separation from the darkness to differentiate day from night. Afterward, the creator separated the land from water and created all animals including man. The creation story depicts God as a creative architect with the absolute power of commanding both the living and the dead into obeying his commands. Therefore, God in the Old Testament is a creator.

In addition to the creation story, the Old Testament God appears to be very strict with instant punishment to persons that went against his will. Mosses received the Ten Commandments from the bible to guard the people against immorality and sin. However, the population broke the laws frequently leading to punishment. In Egypt, the pharaoh mistreated the Israelites and treated them as slaves. Through Mosses, God stroke them with the ten plagues leading to a tough encounter for the Egyptians (Smith 109). For example, God sent locusts that destroyed all the agricultural products in the land, diseases and lastly death to all the first-born sons in the country. In Sodom and Gomorrah, the level of immorality in the country led to the destruction of the city through brimstone of fire. Therefore, the God depicted by the Old Testament is strict to the law with instant punishment to the sinful persons.

In the New Testament, the nature of God changes to a lenient one with a forgiving character. In the New Testament, God gives humanity a second chance to amend their ways and reform according to the commandments. In the New Testament, God offers his only son to die for humankind. The death gives the people a chance to repent their sins and live right. Therefore, the nature of God in the New Testament changes from a punishing one, to one that offers the people a chance to repent to the extent of sacrificing his son for the well-being of the people. Therefore, anyone who commits a sin and repents through the son of God receives instant forgiveness. More so, He gives the people a guarantee of life after death where everyone will receive a judgment that reflects his or her life on earth.

The New Testament shows that God is the savior and the only link to eternal life. The Bible indicates that God is a spirit with three sections namely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The son died on the cross to save humanity from their sins. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit acts as the power that assists human beings through temptations on earth (Retana 7). Therefore, God sacrificed the pain and death of his son for the salvation of man. In an effort to keep the salvation of man intact, God gave him the Holy Spirit to act as a constant reminder of the redemption and avoid falling back into sin. Such actions show the different nature of God from the Old Testament to the new one. However, both cases indicate that punishment for the sinful people is eminent after rising from the dead during the judgment day.

The Old and the New Testament depict one nature of God that is constant throughout the bible. God punishes evil doers and rewards those that abide by his laws. In the Old Testament, God commanded Lot to leave the city of Sodom and Gomorrah before the destruction. Lot and his family lived in the sinful city; however, God judged him personally and punished the other people individually. The story shows the value attached to man by God. God is just in his punishment and strict to those that do not honor his law. In the New Testament, the Bible talks of a judgment day when God will judge all people individually. The sinners will suffer an eternity of hell while the righteous will enjoy the tranquility and peace in heaven. Therefore, the nature in punishing sinners and rewarding the righteous is constant from the old to the New Testament.

In the modern era, many acts in society go against the laws of God. For example, the bible advocates against the killing of other human beings (Mitchell 22). However, terrorist activities in the world today are responsible for the deaths of millions of people. Such an act puts humanity under the wrath of God. However, living right is the only way of ensuring that the judgment day does not confine one to eternal fire. The old and new testaments depict God as forgiving. Nonetheless, he is also right to his word and strict to the punishment of the offenders. Therefore, humanity needs to understand that the concept of God does not change. In the end, all the people who will not repent and live according to the guidelines given by the Bible must suffer the consequences of their actions. The New and the Old Testament are a clear indication of the nature of God that does not change in the past, present or future.

In current times, the notion of God is very different from traditional times. For example, the priests lived in the church for easy accessibility by the members of the church. During the time, working in the religious places was a spiritual duty. The priests feared God and communicated with him directly as the case of Moses in the bible. In modern times, financial prosperity is the messaged conveyed by most churches. The religious institutions push the members into contributing money for the churches in return for blessings. Therefore, the owners of the churches end up leading lavish lives when the congregation languishes in poverty. Therefore, most of the churches in the modern era use the religion as a source of financial income and not the traditional platform for calling people to God. The contemporary period lost the fear of God in them and lives according to ways that fulfill their human desires.

In the present concept of God, human beings remember the creator when in problems. For example, moments of terror attacks, national calamities such as earthquakes and droughts. However, people tend to forget about the existence of God when things go according to their wishes. In the past, the communities used to worship God and offer burnt sacrifices at all times. Therefore, the practice was continuous and not dependent on the events in the society or the country. More so, the worship places had designated rooms for the priests to offer the sacrifices and communicate with God (Alston 45). The ordinary persons did not have the purity to access such areas. In the current era, the New Testament gave access to all people to pray without the need for assistance from the pastor. Therefore, the persons pray without cleansing themselves as the bible dictates. In the text, the prayer from an unrighteous person is noise in the ears of God. Therefore, God requires righteousness for those that seek to communicate with Him. However, the concept is changing with all people praying without considering the virtue of their lives as the bible dictates.

In the physical aspect, God should look like human beings (Hovhannisyan 146). The Old Testament quotes God preempting to make human beings in the image and likeness of man. Therefore, it is safe to presume that the image of man is identical to that of God. However, his clothes must be purely white. White is a symbol of purity. As the creator, God sets laws that will model the character of a man to resemble His. Therefore, God is morally upright, and the whiteness of his clothes depicts his pure nature and lack of any blemish. In the New Testament, two doves appeared during the baptism of Jesus. The two doves were white and very pure. Such attributes indicate the importance of the color concerning the character and moral uprightness associated with God. The Holiness of God is the reason behind his worship by the angels in heaven as well as the humanity on earth.

Works Cited

Alston, Wallace M. The church of the living God : a reformed perspective. Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002. Print.

Hovhannisyan, Hayk. Men and Women in the Ministry for Christ Scandalous Confusions Exposed. City: West Bow Pr, 2014. Print.

Mitchell, John B. Understanding assisted suicide : nine issues to consider. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2007. Print.

Retana, Helen. Practical guide to living spirit filled life. Place of publication not identified: Lulu Com, 2012. Print.

Smith, James E. Book of Acts made simple. Florida: James E. Smith, 2010. Print.