The test Jesus gave us
Every great teacher can be misrepresented. The question is whether there is a test that cuts through the misrepresentation and gets to the character. Jesus gave us one: "You will know them by their fruit."
Not their history. Not their titles. Not the tradition that grew up around their name. Their fruit. What they actually did and said when they had power over life.
The Bible contains two portraits that fail to match each other. On one side: Yhwh, the covenant Elohim of Israel – who commands genocides, sanctions slavery, withholds rain until people repent, kills priests for wrong incense, and sends lying spirits into his own prophets' mouths. On the other: Jesus – who heals every disease, feeds hungry crowds, refuses a sword, forgives enemies, protects the accused, and announces a kingdom that cannot be taken away.
Current theology says these are the same person in different eras. That claim is the one Jesus' fruit test puts on trial.
Five of the starkest are below. The full study walks through all 23.
See all 23 contrasts in the full study →
"By their fruits you will know them." – Matthew 7:20
What to do with the contrasts
You have two options when you see this table.
Option one: These are the same person in different eras, moods, or methods. The Old Testament shows one side of God. The New Testament shows another. He was adapting to his audience. Christian apologetics has a different explanation for each contrast. None of them make the contrasts go away.
Option two: Jesus said "if you have seen me, you have seen the Father" – and Jesus meant it. The Father Jesus describes matches how Jesus actually behaves. And how Jesus behaves does not match the Yhwh column – not once, across 23 issues in a row. At some point that stops being a theology problem and starts being a portrait of two different people.
The full study walks through every contrast with the verse in full, the context, and why these two patterns sitting side by side in the same text matters.