Less than 50 years after the apostle John’s death in about 100 C.E., a rich young man named Marcion publicly asserted that the Old Testament should be rejected by Christians. According to English historian Robin Lane Fox, Marcion argued that “‘God’ in the Old Testament was a ‘committed barbarian’ who favoured bandits and such terrorists as Israel’s King David. Christ, by contrast, was the new and separate revelation of an altogether higher God.” Fox writes that these beliefs “became ‘Marcionism’ and continued to attract followers, especially in the Syriac-speaking East, far into the fourth century.” Some of these ideas persist. As a result, over 1,600 years later, writes Philip Yancey, “knowledge of the Old Testament is fading fast among Christians and has virtually vanished in popular culture.”

Has the Old Testament been replaced? How can we reconcile “Jehovah of armies” in the Old Testament with “the God of love and of peace” in the New Testament? (Isaiah 13:13; 2 Corinthians 13:11)

Sadly, as noted in the preceding article, some ignore the Hebrew Scriptures because they believe that the God portrayed therein is a cruel deity who destroyed his enemies without mercy.a Let us consider what the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Greek Scriptures themselves tell us about the Author of the Bible.

About the Author

According to the Hebrew Scriptures, God told the nation of Israel: “I am Jehovah; I have not changed.” (Malachi 3:6) Some 500 years later, the Bible writer James wrote of God: “With him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.” (James 1:17) Why, then, does it seem to some that the God revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures is different from the God of the Christian Greek Scriptures?

The answer is that different aspects of God’s personality are revealed in different parts of the Bible. In the book of Genesis alone, he is described as feeling “hurt at his heart,” as the “Producer of heaven and earth,” and as “the Judge of all the earth.” (Genesis 6:6; 14:22; 18:25) Do these differing descriptions refer to the same God? They certainly do.

To illustrate: A local judge may be best known by those who have faced him in court as a firm enforcer of the law. His children, on the other hand, may view him as the loving, generous father that he is. His close friends may find that he is an approachable man with a good sense of humor. The judge, the father, and the friend are all the same person. It is just that various aspects of his personality become apparent under different circumstances.

Similarly, the Hebrew Scriptures describe Jehovah as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and truth.” Yet, we also learn that “by no means will he give exemption from punishment.” (Exodus 34:6, 7) Those two aspects reflect the meaning of God’s name. “Jehovah” literally means “He Causes to Become.” That is, God becomes whatever is needed to fulfill his promises. (Exodus 3:13-15) But he remains the same God. Jesus stated: “Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.”​—Mark 12:29.