05 Big questions · The Bible
Why does God seem different in the Old Testament?
The Old Testament does contain passages about judgement and warfare that many readers today find genuinely difficult, and Christians shouldn't pretend otherwise. But Christians believe it's the same God throughout Scripture — one who is both just and merciful — and that Jesus is the clearest picture of what God is actually like.
A little deeper
This is one of the most common objections to the Bible, and it deserves a real answer rather than a quick dismissal.
It's true that some Old Testament passages, especially around conquest and judgement, are hard to read. Christians differ over exactly how to understand some of these texts, and it would be dishonest to claim they're all easily explained away.
It also helps to notice that the same Old Testament that contains these hard passages also repeatedly describes God as “slow to anger, abounding in love,” compassionate to the vulnerable, and patient with a rebellious people across centuries. Both the difficult and the tender descriptions sit in the same books.
Historical and cultural context matters too. Ancient warfare accounts often used exaggerated language that was standard for describing military victories in that period, rather than being read as precise historical body counts by their original audience. Understanding a book's genre and setting changes how strong claims within it should be read.
It's also worth noticing that the New Testament isn't free of God's judgement, and the Old Testament isn't free of grace and rescue. The exodus, in which God frees an enslaved people, is an Old Testament story. So is much of the Bible's poetry celebrating God's mercy. The division into “angry Old Testament God” and “nice New Testament God” is a caricature that doesn't hold up on close reading.
Christians believe Jesus is the clearest revelation of what God is like — and Jesus himself treated the Old Testament as authoritative Scripture, quoting it and building on it rather than rejecting it.
So the honest position isn't “there's nothing difficult here.” It's: these are real questions worth sitting with, God's character is consistent across the whole Bible, and Jesus gives the clearest picture of who that God is.
What Christians agree on
- Some Old Testament passages about judgement and warfare are genuinely difficult, and Christians take that seriously rather than explaining it away glibly.
- The Old Testament also repeatedly describes God as patient, compassionate and merciful.
- Ancient historical writing, including warfare accounts, used conventions different from modern reporting.
- Christians believe Jesus, who treated the Old Testament as authoritative, is the clearest picture of God's character.
Where Christians differ
Christians genuinely differ over how some Old Testament conquest passages should be interpreted — for example, how literally certain numbers and instructions should be read, and how much weight to give ancient warfare-language conventions. This is an active area of scholarly and theological discussion, not a settled single view.
Read it for yourself
- Exodus 34:6–7God described, by the Old Testament itself, as compassionate and slow to anger as well as just.
- Matthew 5:17Jesus explicitly affirms the Old Testament rather than setting it aside.
- Hebrews 1:1–3An early Christian claim that Jesus is the clearest expression of who God is.
Each Bible reference links to the passage on Bible Gateway (NIV UK), so you can read it yourself rather than take our word for it. Short quotations elsewhere are marked with their translation.