Angry God?

[LogosRhema]

The OT is filled with God's wrath and anger, yet the NT takes a new turn in love. Now I fully believe God was still full of love as more shown in the NT, but why was there so much anger before and not so much now? He tells us the dangers of being angry but psalms 2 speaks of His own anger.

Anyone give me some insight on the idea that YHWH becomes angry and how can this anger be taken, considering our Father tells us not to be?

 

[Rhamiel]

well I do not want to sound patronizing, but that is an over simplification, the OT is filled with lots of examples of the love of our God, also the wrath of God is talked about in the NT, though a lot less then it was in the OT.
I look at it as kind of the same, God stays the same, He hates sin, in the OT they had imperfect sacrifices, so no one could really be fully forgiven for sins, so when God killed thousands and millions of people, it was to get rid of sin. Now with the Sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, He can wash away our sin totaly without killing us.

 

[Nadiine]

The OT is filled with God's wrath and anger, yet the NT takes a new turn in love. Now I fully believe God was still full of love as more shown in the NT, but why was there so much anger before and not so much now? He tells us the dangers of being angry but psalms 2 speaks of His own anger.

Anyone give me some insight on the idea that YHWH becomes angry and how can this anger be taken, considering our Father tells us not to be?

K, actually, it doesn't say you cannot be angry. That's a false statement if you heard it from somebody.

The Bible says "be angry and do not sin".
Ephesians 4:26
BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27and do not give the devil an opportunity.

We're made in God's own image, so we have the same range of emotions God has. The difference btwn. us is that our emotions are all susceptible to corruption thru original sin.

In our case, anger OFTEN turns bitter and then into hatred. And in our case, it can give Satan an inroad to work against us.
If we let our anger take control, we have fits of rage and often harm others when we let loose. Uncontrolled anger can easily lead to violence when people drink. This type of anger are behind verbal & physical abuse.
It also works as a hinderance to forgiveness - we're to have a spirit of forgiveness towards others, anger only keeps us from that if we continue in it.

So yes, clearly God would be warning us of unchecked anger that we let continue festering & growing which leads us into serious sins if we aren't careful. We're called to let go & forgive. (and again, forgiving isn't for them - forgiving gives US peace of mind and allows us to keep our joy when we aren't bitter and festering against others)

There IS such a thing as 'righteous anger' - we're to HATE evil and we're to use rebuke or discipline when necessary. It just shouldn't overtake us and continue into more than that.

 

[Simon_Templar]

The OT is filled with God's wrath and anger, yet the NT takes a new turn in love. Now I fully believe God was still full of love as more shown in the NT, but why was there so much anger before and not so much now? He tells us the dangers of being angry but psalms 2 speaks of His own anger.

Anyone give me some insight on the idea that YHWH becomes angry and how can this anger be taken, considering our Father tells us not to be?

We are made in God's image, not he in ours. The result of this is that there are similarities between us... but at the same time it can be dangerous to try and understand God in terms of us.

God has anger, and we have anger.. but the reality is that God's anger is not like our anger.

Our anger is usually a fit of passion, it is often uncontrolled, and leads to rash and foolish actions, and words. This is why the word "mad" means both angry and also crazy.

God has wrath and he can be very angry, but he is never out of control, he is never driven by passion to rash or foolish action or words.

As to the reason why God seems angry in the Old Testament and not in the New Testament, there is a prophecy in Isaiah which begins by fortelling the day of God's favor when his favor and mercy are showered on the earth. The prophecy ends with that favor and mercy ending and God's wrath and judgement coming instead. This prophecy was linked to the coming of messiah.

When Jesus began his ministry, he did so in a synagogue by reading that prophecy of Isaiah. He read the portion that proclaimed the day of God's favor, but he stopped prior to reading the protion about the coming wrath.
After he stopped reading he said to everyone there 'today this is fullfilled in your hearing".

Jesus' ministry began the day of God's favor upon the world. Because of Christ, God's grace and mercy is being showered upon the whole world. Eventually that will come to an end and the day of God's wrath will come and all those who are not in Christ, will experience the wrath they have stored up for themselves.

 

[Nadiine]

As to the reason why God seems angry in the Old Testament and not in the New Testament, there is a prophecy in Isaiah which begins by fortelling the day of God's favor when his favor and mercy are showered on the earth. The prophecy ends with that favor and mercy ending and God's wrath and judgement coming instead. This prophecy was linked to the coming of messiah.

When Jesus began his ministry, he did so in a synagogue by reading that prophecy of Isaiah. He read the portion that proclaimed the day of God's favor, but he stopped prior to reading the protion about the coming wrath.
After he stopped reading he said to everyone there 'today this is fullfilled in your hearing".

Ya I had forgotten that, thanks for the remind

 

[Cris413]

We are made in God's image, not he in ours. The result of this is that there are similarities between us... but at the same time it can be dangerous to try and understand God in terms of us.

God has anger, and we have anger.. but the reality is that God's anger is not like our anger.

Our anger is usually a fit of passion, it is often uncontrolled, and leads to rash and foolish actions, and words. This is why the word "mad" means both angry and also crazy.

God has wrath and he can be very angry, but he is never out of control, he is never driven by passion to rash or foolish action or words.

As to the reason why God seems angry in the Old Testament and not in the New Testament, there is a prophecy in Isaiah which begins by fortelling the day of God's favor when his favor and mercy are showered on the earth. The prophecy ends with that favor and mercy ending and God's wrath and judgement coming instead. This prophecy was linked to the coming of messiah.

When Jesus began his ministry, he did so in a synagogue by reading that prophecy of Isaiah. He read the portion that proclaimed the day of God's favor, but he stopped prior to reading the protion about the coming wrath.
After he stopped reading he said to everyone there 'today this is fullfilled in your hearing".

Jesus' ministry began the day of God's favor upon the world. Because of Christ, God's grace and mercy is being showered upon the whole world. Eventually that will come to an end and the day of God's wrath will come and all those who are not in Christ, will experience the wrath they have stored up for themselves.

Awesome post!

 

[CADude12]

I'm thinking in terms of covenant. God's anger and judgement against "the nations", found throughout the OT, especially in the prophets, had to do with covenant enforcement. Israel lived under the covenant of Sinai, and the Gentiles lived under the covenant of Noah. Israel was judged harshly because they received a greater revelation.

God's anger and judgement is righteous. As humans, with a sinful nature, our anger can be selfish, vindictive, even childish. Since we are not God, we cannot claim the right to anger which He can. God asks us to forgive as we have been forgiven, for we were his enemies when we were apart from Christ.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Hentenza]

We are made in God's image, not he in ours. The result of this is that there are similarities between us... but at the same time it can be dangerous to try and understand God in terms of us.

God has anger, and we have anger.. but the reality is that God's anger is not like our anger.

Our anger is usually a fit of passion, it is often uncontrolled, and leads to rash and foolish actions, and words. This is why the word "mad" means both angry and also crazy.

God has wrath and he can be very angry, but he is never out of control, he is never driven by passion to rash or foolish action or words.

As to the reason why God seems angry in the Old Testament and not in the New Testament, there is a prophecy in Isaiah which begins by fortelling the day of God's favor when his favor and mercy are showered on the earth. The prophecy ends with that favor and mercy ending and God's wrath and judgement coming instead. This prophecy was linked to the coming of messiah.

When Jesus began his ministry, he did so in a synagogue by reading that prophecy of Isaiah. He read the portion that proclaimed the day of God's favor, but he stopped prior to reading the protion about the coming wrath.
After he stopped reading he said to everyone there 'today this is fullfilled in your hearing".

Jesus' ministry began the day of God's favor upon the world. Because of Christ, God's grace and mercy is being showered upon the whole world. Eventually that will come to an end and the day of God's wrath will come and all those who are not in Christ, will experience the wrath they have stored up for themselves.

Well said Simon. Reps going your way.