Who Is God? (Good Cop, Bad Cop, and the Key)

The suspected killer has been caught. Now he faces the grilling of his life. Across the table from him in the interrogation room is Detective Lenny Briscoe, a veteran cop of the NYPD, and he is not in a good mood. With his voice rising with every syllable he utters, he berates the suspect relentlessly with accusatory questions. The anger is palpable in his face as his veins protrude from his forehead and neck. He is fully convinced of this man’s guilt and he is ready to exact severe punishment.

At the other end of the table sits Lenny’s partner, Detective Ed Green. He’s willing to give the suspect the benefit of the doubt. His approach is much calmer and reassuring. With a subtle move, Detective Green quietly slides in between his enraged partner and the startled suspect to prevent a potential bloodbath. Then in a soothing tone, Ed begins to hold a friendly conversation with the suspect in his quest for truth.

You may have recognized the names of the two detectives from the TV series Law & Order. It was one of my favorite shows for many years. You may have also recognized the tactics being employed by both detectives. It’s what is commonly known as good cop-bad cop.

The good cop-bad cop scenario serves as a perfect analogy for the two views of God that were the focus of my previous article. One view portrays God as two sides of the same coin, as both a loving Father and a wrathful judge. In that view we get the image of God as both good cop and bad cop. Sometimes He’s the good cop and showers repentant sinners with love. Other times He’s the bad cop who can’t contain His anger against His rebellious enemies.

That Loving Father/Wrathful Judge view is only slightly different from the Penal Substitution view. In the Penal Substitution view, we get the image of God the Father as the bad cop and Jesus Christ as the good cop. It’s God the Father we see punishing those who dare disobey Him, while it is Jesus who is protecting us from his angry Father by satisfying His wrath. Neither view is an accurate one. Let’s see why.

The main problem with both views is the image of God the Father as an angry, wrathful judge. Quite simply, that is not who God is. And I say that in spite of the fact that there are many stories portraying Him that way throughout the Old Testament. I mentioned several of them in my previous article. There’s the Flood incident, the Canaanite genocide, the death of Achan and his family (Joshua 7:24-26), the venomous snakes incident in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9), and on and on. The stories of God unleashing His wrath against those who oppose Him are numerous.

And yet I still say that is not who God is. How can I say that? What makes me go against the clear revelation of the Bible? First, I don’t think the revelation of the Old Testament is as clear as we’ve been led to believe by our traditional church teachings. More on that later. Second, the clearest revelation of God is not in the written pages of the Old Testament, but is found in Jesus Christ. He is the one who has revealed exactly who his Father is. Apart from him our understanding of God becomes foggy at best. As Paul said, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).”

It is Jesus who helps us see clearly and know fully. He is the one we need to turn to understand who God is. Take a look at the following verses and see what is being clearly communicated to us. Let’s start by seeing what some of the apostles declared about Jesus.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Colossians 1:15)

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. (Colossians 2:9)

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God… (Philippians 2:5-6)

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. (Hebrews 1:3)

These verses are perfectly clear who Jesus is – he is the image of God and the exact representation of His being. In fact, if you want to know God’s nature, you turn to Christ, who is the very nature of God. Even more, as John so eloquently stated at the opening of his gospel, Jesus is God. So to know Jesus is to know God. Now let’s see what Jesus said about himself.

“I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” (John 14:10)

Could Jesus be any clearer? He and God are one and the same. This is a wonderful truth to behold in our quest to understand who God is. To know Jesus is to know God. So we don’t need to try to figure him out through some mysterious means. Jesus reveals everything we need to know about God. How?

“Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19)

“So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” (John 12:50)

When you pick up the Bible and read the stories about the things Jesus did and said, you can know that this is precisely what God did and said. We don’t have to guess at what God would do or say. We just need to listen to what Jesus said and he reveals it to us. God Himself told us as much.

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)

There were very good reasons why God was well pleased with his Son. One of the reasons why Jesus came into this world was to reveal God to the world. That was a key element to Jesus’ mission here on earth. That’s why God directed Jesus’ disciples and us to listen to him. And according to Jesus and John, he succeeded in that mission.

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. (John 1:18)

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.” (John 17:6)

Jesus came to live among humanity so that he could clearly reveal to the world who God is and what He thinks of us. Jesus and John both declared that he accomplished what he set out to do – he made God known to the world. Mission complete.

So what can we conclude from this? Is God a good cop or is He a bad cop? Is He Ed or is He Lenny?  Or is He both, depending on the situation? As the voices of the apostles, Jesus, and God Himself are telling us, the answer lies in Jesus. He is the key. What we see in Jesus is what we have in God. What we see him doing is exactly what our Father does. So if we encounter something in the Bible that is attributed to God and we’re not sure if God would really do that, turn to Jesus for clarity. Examine his life and see for yourself who God is. Since Jesus and the Father are one, since Jesus is the exact representation and image of God, then how Jesus lived his life, how he dealt with suffering, how he engaged the self-righteous, how he encountered those in pain, and how he treated sinners is exactly how God does the same. Otherwise, if that’s not the case, then Jesus was lying when he said that if you saw him you saw the Father. Jesus and God would then not be one, and Jesus did not truly reveal the Father to us all.  But on the other hand, if Jesus is the truth, if he and God are one and the same, if he truly is God in the flesh, then we can be rest assured that how Jesus treated people is exactly how God has always treated people. God is unchanging. His nature is the same yesterday, today, and all the way into eternity. We can be confident in Him.

So with all that in mind, beginning next week we shall start exploring more deeply some of the troubling, nasty images we get of God from stories in the Old Testament and compare them to Jesus. And we will also begin answering some questions that may be nagging at you right now, such as, “Can we then trust what the Bible says?” But until then, may God richly bless you with His love and grace.