The God of the new Testament - Part 1 - Setting the scene
What follows should be read in conjunction with a previous article on this site entitled ‘God in the Old Testament’. While neither article provides the definitive teaching on God as presented in either testament, they both seek to offer a few thoughts that might be of interest to the general enquirer.
In ‘God in the Old Testament,’ we noted how the People of Israel began to experience and explore their relationship with God. Through this experience and their reflection upon it, they sought to make sense of what they had learned, primarily by telling stories (often rooted in historical events and real people), and then eventually writing those stories down. These sacred texts tell us many important things about who God is and who we are called to be in response to God. These things are enduringly ‘true’ and reflective of what God wants us to know. As a result, they are acknowledged as inspired and sacred.
That does not mean they are an easy read. Certain passages are, but if you were to read the Old Testament from cover to cover, you would soon discover that your patience might be tested and your attention pulled in many directions. As discussed in the previous article, even the way that God is described in these texts lacks consistency. To make sense of it all, we need something to help us bring the essential teachings and ideas the Old Testament into focus: a key to help us unlock the mystery and discern its essential message.
This is where the New Testament and, in particular, the story of Jesus comes in. Without wanting to anthropomorphise God, we can imagine a discussion among the Persons of the Trinity speculating on how their attempts to communicate the reality of God to this people had gone well and, perhaps, where they had gone a little awry. The important things had been received in one form or another, but this ‘headstrong people’ (see Isaiah 48: 1–11) kept missing the point. What to do? More to follow in Part 2.