By: Matt MeadeGod is Good
In Mark 10:18, the rich young ruler asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus begins his response by saying, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Jesus is making the point that the rich young ruler shouldn’t call Jesus “good” unless he acknowledges that Jesus is God. This is an eye-opening response: Jesus has a very high definition of the term good.
In this installment of our Fruit of the Spirit blog series, we are discussing goodness. If you’ve read this blog series to this point, it should be no surprise that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are not only outward displays of a repentant believer’s heart, but also aspects of God’s perfect character. So, what is goodness? If it’s one aspect of the fruit of the spirit that believers have, what does it look like?
Let’s go back to what Jesus says in Mark 10:18. According to him, no one is good except God. This should clarify that Jesus is equating goodness with holiness and righteousness. We can think of goodness here as perfectness. There’s a notable quote from Herman Bavinck that elucidates this further. He says, “God is the sum total of all perfections. All virtues are present in Him in an absolute sense. . . His goodness, accordingly, is one with His absolute perfection.” Thinking about goodness this way, we see it as God’s perfect and pure nature. Goodness is eternal.
But goodness, also, has different connotations throughout Scripture. God is not only good in terms of nature, but also in action and creation. We see this from the very beginning when God speaks light into existence. He calls it “good.” God’s perfection extends out into his actions and through his creation.
God creates mankind to show his goodness, also. Jen Wilkin points out on the Knowing Faith podcast, that God shows his goodness by not only giving of himself but giving in abundance. Isaiah 63:7 says, “I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.” Good parents who love their children don’t give them the bare minimum. They give to their children in abundance. They want their children to have everything they need and so much more.
Our Goodness
Knowing what the Bible says about goodness, where does that leave God’s children? If you don’t know Jesus Christ as Lord, Mark 10:18 would be very discouraging. Jesus finishes the verse by telling the young ruler to keep all the commandments perfectly and give away all of his possessions. THAT is how he would attain salvation? We see throughout Scripture that God gives us his Law. God’s law is perfect. And it was given to us for our benefit. Joshua 1:7 says, “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.” God shows his people what is good and right through the Law, but also what is wrong and bad from disobeying it. In order for us to be perfect, we would have to follow it perfectly. They couldn’t do it then; we can’t do it now.
However, God in his infinite goodness gave us a solution. I’ll let Paul explain it through Colossians 1:19–22, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”
God sent his one and only perfect Son to live a perfect life and die on a cross for us. Through this, he took on our sin and gave us his righteousness. Before, God saw our works as polluted garments, according to Isaiah 64:6. But after we are reconciled back to the Father through Christ, we are finally able to be good and do good. The Greek word agathosune translates to an “uprightness of heart and life.” The Holy Spirit works through us, and we are able to achieve this truly. We see a blueprint of doing good in the New Testament, specifically in the book of Acts. Believers in the early Church gave sacrificially to the Church, helped widows and those in need, and picked out men and women with good character to help the church through their servant leadership. We have clear expectations of good deeds as regenerant believers.
This isn’t perfect in our lives, however. We fail every day. Think about your thoughts and actions today. Think about yesterday. Think about your last week. Even as reborn believers, we still succumb to sin, to failure, and to the desires of the flesh. But, as Ephesians 1:7 so graciously reminds us, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
Isn’t it great that God is good?