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“That Troublesome Old Testament God - II”
When we think of some of the tough descriptions of God in the Scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, it is helpful to lay some groundwork. Fretheim discussed the implications of the following statement - “God is a relational God.” He based this, first of all, on the earliest proof in the text – Genesis 1:26-27:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Let US make man. From the beginning, God reveals himself to be a social being and to be a part of a divine community. God translates this into his world by making man a social being designed to function in community as well. God himself works to establish a relationship with mankind, and eventually with a particular community of human beings – Israel.
When Israel speaks of God, she speaks of him in human terms. The Biblical images of God tend to be deeply relational terms. God has a personal relationship with people. He speaks to them – they speak to him. He hears. He is pleased, and sometimes he is not.
So on the one hand, God is described as high above man and beyond his comprehension. On the other hand, God is described almost as if he is a man – using human characteristics to paint the picture of a God who sees, hears, smiles and cries.
God has also made an interrelated world by fashioning a “spider web” of relationships between man and the rest of creation. Man’s behavior affects more than just himself, but also fellow men, and animals, and the rest of creation (think especially of the Flood here).
The amazing thing about all this is that God chooses to work from WITHIN a committed relationship to this world, NOT from without. As a result, when things go wrong on planet Earth, God is affected. Our God is a God who is involved; indeed, who is deeply committed to this world, his creation.
In the next post, we will look a little further into God’s creation and how it sheds light on who God is and how he relates to us.
