This is an "old chestnut" but is more apparent that real for two reasons:
1. Jesus taught what was in the OT
Most of what Jesus taught is taken directly from the OT in various ways, including Jesus teaching about love and the greatest commandments. Look at Matt 22:37-39 -
Jesus declared, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’
The first is a quote from Deut 6:5 and the second is a quote from Lev 19:18. Jesus' entire "sermon on the mount" (Matt 5, 6, 7) is essentially a commentary and expansion of the Torah.
We also have numerous NT commands of God to forgive (Col 3:13, Eph 4:32, Matt 6:14, 15, 18:35, etc) and to be loving and kind (John 13:34, 35, Luke 6:34-36, 1 John 4:8, 16, Eph 5:1, 2, etc).
2. The Divine Dilemma
Despite the above, there is a lot of apparent violence in the OT such as:
- Gen 7-9 – the flood destroys most of humanity
- Gen 19 – Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed
- Num 21:21-27 – Sihon of the Amorites destroyed
- Num 21:32-35 – Og of the Amorites destroyed
- Deut 3:1-11 – Og and Bashan destroyed
- Deut 7 – Hittites, Girgasites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizites, Hittites, Jebusites destroyed
- Josh 5:13ff – Jericho destroyed
- Josh 8 – Ai destroyed
- Josh 10 – Jerusalem, King Adoni Zedek + five kings destroyed
- Josh 10:28-38 – Makkadah, Libnah, Lackish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir destroyed
- Josh 10:40 – no survivors!
- Josh 11 – northern kings destroyed
- Josh 12 – 31 more kings destroyed
- 1 Sam 15 – Amalekites destroyed
... and so forth. Therefore, is the God of the NT different from the God of the OT? To be consistent, should God have simply forgiven and not relied upon violence to accomplish His purpose? It will now be shown that forgiveness and being too kind is often short-sighted and cruel.
Let me put this in more modern terms. Should a child molester be forgiven and allowed back to lead the children’s group? Should compulsive/addicted gamblers be forgiven and allowed back as bank tellers? Should beaten and battered wives forgive their drunk and abusive husbands to return home to be possibly killed? Should serial killers and rapists be forgiven and given another chance?
Thus, we face the same dilemma that God faces. Simply forgiving and being kind with “another chance” ignores the needs of the VICTIMS and their safety; it almost always creates more victims; it ignores the consequences; forgiveness does NOT mean that victims and perpetrators must be re-united in all cases.
Let there be no doubt – the cites that God ordered to be destroyed were supremely evil. Note the reception of the two angels (Gen 19:1) in Sodom:
Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city
of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot,
“Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so
that we can have sex with them.”
This was typical – daily and hourly life in these idolatrous and evil cities was characterised by incessant violence and perverted, illicit sex.
Now, there are two very loud cries from well-meaning modern Christians about these situations that create the so-called divine dilemma of theodicy (Rom 3:4):
- If God is all-powerful and just why does He not stop these evil people?
- If God is supremely kind why does He not forgive them?
So what is God to do? Does He prioritize mercy or Justice?
The answer is He does BOTH. Both are different sides of the same loving divine Character of God. Here is a sample:
- Ps 33:5 - The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His loving devotion.
- Ps 101:1 – I will sing of lovingkindness and justice, To You, O LORD, I will sing praises.
- Isa 30:18 - Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.
- Jer 9:24 - but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.
- Ps 85:10 - Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Let there be no doubt that balancing mercy and justice is a supremely non-trivial, and uniquely divine task that is well beyond human ability. Further, I am absolutely confident that if we knew what God knows, that we would have made the same choices to destroy when God chose to in the OT.
