Summarising chapter 3 of Greg Boyd’s Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence (Fortress Press, 2017).

What do we think about a wife who is repeatedly and viciously attacked by her husband, and yet stands by him because she is convinced that ‘He loves me’.

Why do so many Christians confess that ‘God is love’ and yet believe that he does hurtful things to people (such as predestining large numbers of them to eternal punishment)?

Let’s get God’s character straight.  Christ’s laying down of his life for us is both the supreme expression of divine love, and also the great motivation for us to love one another (1 Jn 3:16).  The cross is the definitive revelation of God’s character.  It is the mirror through which everything else must be seen.

On the cross, the sinless divine Son identified with our sin (2 Cor 5:21), became a curse for us (Gal 3:13), endured separation from God in our behalf (Mt 27:46).

The cross was central to Jesus’ own sense of his mission (Jn 12:27f).  We should therefore understand everything else that he said and did from this vantage point.  Moveover, if Christ is the centre to which all Scripture points, then it points specifically to Christ crucified.

Even the incarnation is not to be viewed as an event in itself, but as leading to the cross (Phil 2:8).

So central is the cross in the Gospels, that they have been described as ‘passion narratives with extended introductions’ (Kahler).

The self-sacrifice of Christ on the cross is anticipated many times, as in his resistance to the devil’s temptation to resort to power and glory (Mt 4:8-10); in his declaration of his mission to ‘serve’, and not ‘be serve’; in his rebuke of Peter (Mt 16:23); and in his washing his disciples’ feet (Jn 13:3-5).

Jesus commanded his disciples to emulate his example (Jn 13:15; Mt 5:9; 16:11–14; 20:20–28; 23:11–12; Lk 9:23; 14:27; 18:15–17).

Furthermore, Jesus reverses some of the covenant blessings of the OT.  The ‘blessed’ are no longer rich, well-fed, secure and powerful (Deut 28:1–14; Lev 26:3–12), but rather poor, hungry, weak, and vulnerable.  Those blessed by God are no longer those who are victorious in battle, but the peace-makers (Mt 5:9).

In repudiating the law of retaliation (Mt 5:38), Jesus commands his followers to love others indiscriminately and unconditionally, thus reflecting the Father’s character.

Given that the Jews’ principle enemies were the Romans, it follows that Jesus’ teaching about loving enemies extends to all kinds of enemies, including those who threaten one’s family and nation.  Note that Jesus suffered and died at the hands of the Romans, not only as our substitute, but as our example.

The cruciform shape of Christ’s kingdom is also seen in his association with social outcasts of every kind.  Moroever, he threw down the ‘dividing wall of hostility’ between rival ethnic groups – Samaritans, Romans, Gentiles.  He did so throughout his earthly ministry, and supremely on the cross (cf. Eph 2:14f).

The centrality of the cross is prominent in Paul’s writings.  Indeed, the gospel is ‘the message of the cross’.  To be an enemy of the gospel is to be an enemy of the cross (Phil 3:18).  See also 1 Cor 2:2.  The cross displays the love of God, signals the defeat of the evil powers, provides atonement for sin, and empowers people to live for God.

The cross is the model for Christians to follow.  A disciple is one who has been ‘crucified with Christ’.  Paul echoes the teaching of Jesus when he says that Christians should not retaliate, but rather do good to their enemies (Rom 12:14-21).

It is remarkable that, for Paul, although the cross is seen by many as weak and foolish, it is in fact the power and wisdom of God.  And it is so, not simply in the sphere of personal salvation, but in expressing the power by which God governs the world and defeats evil.

Many Christians down the centuries have failed fully to accept God’s power-in-weakness and wisdom-in-foolishness.  Most have assumed that God acts in the world with coercive power and deals with sin by punishing it.

It follows that abuse is always incompatible with love.  Further: it follows that our mental picture of God should not merely be anchored in Christ, but in Christ crucified.  Still further: it follows that it is not sufficient to affirm that all Scripture witnesses to Christ: rather we must affirm that all Scripture bears witness to Christ crucified.

Now, to return to the central question posed in this book: How do the OT portraits of God as mercilessly violent point to this central truth of the ‘nonviolent,  self-sacrificial,  enemy- embracing love of God that is supremely revealed on the cross?’

Putting the best possible spin on these OT portraits isn’t going to resolve the problem, for this still leaves us with a God who still violent, just slightly less so.

No: we have seen that the OT is a shadow of the reality that we are given in Christ.  The shadow will point to the reality, but only if we remember that it is just that – a shadow.  We find out what God is like, not from the shadow of the OT portrait, but from the reality of the cross of Christ.  Only when we focus on the cross are we in a position to see how OT picture, with all its violence, points to the revelation of God in Christ.