The School of the Foundations of the Christian Faith “The Creator and His Creation.” Lesson 3. God’s Goodness. The school consists of 22 lessons. The school was founded by the Christian Bible Institute.
Like all of God’s attributes, God’s goodness (or, as the Bible calls it, His goodness) is so great that it is impossible for people to fully understand it. We do not have the ability to comprehend the absolute goodness of God’s nature. At the same time, the Bible explains everything we are capable of understanding. The Bible describes God’s goodness from several perspectives:
1. There Is No Evil in God
God’s perfect goodness means that there is absolutely no evil, nor can there be any evil, in His character or nature. His purity, holiness, and perfection make the presence of evil in His character impossible.
God is good! His essence, His nature, His character, His being are the greatest good!
Speaking about God’s holiness, we have already noted that His character is an expression of perfect peace, perfect joy, perfect harmony, and perfect agreement. The atmosphere of God’s character has nothing in common with any form of evil.
John describes the inseparability of God’s holiness, sovereignty, and goodness in this way. Speaking about the future, God revealed to John, in part, what would happen before God’s throne at that time.
Rev. 4:8–11 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around; day and night they never ceased saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne, saying: 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
It is difficult for us as human beings to understand God’s absolute goodness because we live in a world filled with evil. We often think that God is either not entirely good, since He allows evil to exist, or not entirely omnipotent, since He cannot destroy evil.
In reality, here we encounter one example of the limitations of our ability to understand the world and what happens in it. Since God is many times greater, more complex, and wiser than we are, many questions simply cannot be explained to us.
Because this cannot be understood, the Bible, without explaining many details, tells us only that the reason God allows evil to exist on earth is rooted in His goodness.
Here is what this means:
– After man sinned—that is, rebelled against God—the holy God should have cast him into a state of eternal death. But because God is good, He did not immediately send people to hell forever; instead, He allowed humanity to exist for a time in its imperfect state, infected by sin and evil. God did this so that during that time He could save at least some people.
Even when God manifests His wrath, He does not cease to be absolutely good. God’s wrath is an objective response that protects His absolute holiness. It has nothing to do with a bad mood. God is the only Person who knows how to be angry without evil!
2. All of God’s works are an unchanging manifestation of absolute goodness
Scripture confirms this from several perspectives:
From the very beginning, in the first chapter of Genesis, the Bible presents God as absolutely good. This is expressed in the fact that everything God does is good. In the first chapter of Genesis, the results of God’s work are described as “good” seven times: Gen. 1:8, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31. This repeated statement points to God’s absolute goodness. Goodness is the essence of everything He does.
In addition, many other passages of the Bible say that God is good.
Ps. 25:8 “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way.”
2 Chron. 5:13 “and they were as one, with the trumpeters and singers making one sound in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord; and when the sound of the trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments rang out, and they praised the Lord, saying, ‘For He is good, for His mercy endures forever,’ then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud,”
1 Pet. 2:3 “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
3. Goodness Is the Essence of God’s Nature
God does not merely do good. His entire being is woven from goodness; He is devoted to the highest possible good. All His plans and intentions are good. We may not always understand some of God’s actions, but we can be absolutely certain of
the fact that absolutely everything God does or allows in the lives of His children leads to the highest good.
Several passages of Scripture testify to this.
God Has Good Plans and Intentions for His Children
Jer. 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.
Everything God does works for the good of His children.
Rom. 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Thus, we have established that there is no evil in God, and that He is perfect goodness in Himself.
In addition to being perfect goodness in Himself, with no evil in Him, God is also the absolute standard of goodness.
4. God Is the Standard of Goodness
A standard is a measure used to determine the accuracy of something. For example, there is a standard meter. In a special laboratory, a meter made of a particular material is kept. It is stored under special conditions, with a constant temperature and consistent air composition maintained, so it practically does not change. All meters, tape measures, rulers, and other instruments used to measure length are made based on the standard meter.
When we say that God is the standard of goodness, this means that only God can determine what is good and what is evil.
People have different ideas about good and evil. It was not always this way. From the beginning, when God created people, they followed God's standard of goodness. They considered good what God considered good, and evil what God considered evil.
But when the devil approached them, he persuaded them to determine for themselves what was good and what was evil.
Gen. 3:4–5 And the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.”
After people sinned, they tried to claim the right to determine for themselves what was good and what was evil. Instead of asking God about it, they decided to demand that God act according to their standards of good and evil.
The problem is that without God, people cannot understand what is good. Goodness comes only from God. Therefore, only He can determine what is good.
By human standards, even the most obvious manifestations of evil can very often be justified as good.
For example, recently many people have considered abortion to be good, despite the fact that abortions are actually the murder of unborn children. The Bible clearly says that this is evil. But having claimed the right to determine what is good and what is evil, people try to assert the opposite.
Here is another example. Children often think that their parents are doing evil when they discipline them. The Bible, however, says that parents are obligated to discipline disobedient children; otherwise, they will grow up to be very bad people, and this will be a great evil both for them and for those who live around them.
Prov. 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him from childhood.
We need to be careful not to argue with God about what is good and what is evil. Many people who call themselves believers often question one or another of God's definitions, saying, “Well, what's wrong with that?” Thus, people—sometimes even believers—continue to argue with God for the right to determine what is good and what is evil.
The Bible clearly teaches that only God is able to truly determine what is good. This is because He is good by nature. When people try to determine for themselves what is good, it always leads to trouble.
Isaiah 5:20–21 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who regard darkness as light and light as darkness, who regard bitter as sweet and sweet as bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!
Atheists and liberal believers desperately try to argue that goodness exists in itself, that is, independently of God.
The Bible clearly says that goodness is only what the Lord requires of us.
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
God does not decide what will be evil and what will be good. As the standard of goodness, He reveals to us the true nature of things, which cannot be changed by anything or anyone—not by God, because God is unchanging, nor by man, because man has neither the ability nor the right to do so.
Goodness is not some value that changes according to culture and circumstances. It is absolutely determined by the nature of God's person. God is the measure of goodness.
Jesus Christ said that God alone is good. God alone produces goodness. People can only reflect God's goodness.
Matthew 19:17 He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except One, that is, God.”
Whatever is good must necessarily come from God. Whatever does not come from God cannot be good! Therefore, even “good” unbelievers will suffer eternal punishment for rejecting God and refusing to acknowledge His absolute authority to determine how a person should live—which is, in reality, the greatest evil.
The devil quite often imitates goodness and virtue. But in essence, no matter how good, beautiful, and attractive the actions he offers may seem, if they do not come from God, they inevitably carry evil and destruction within them.
When the devil offered Eve the fruit forbidden by God, he presented it as something good that would bring her and her husband joy and fulfillment in life.
In reality, the forbidden fruit’s apparent attractiveness proved to be a deadly poison that led humanity to catastrophe.
This means that no one possesses goodness of their own apart from God.
We human beings cannot produce goodness of our own, just as the moon cannot emit its own light. The only thing it can do is reflect the light of the sun.
People’s moral goodness consists in reflecting the goodness of God through their lives.
Likewise, people cannot be good in and of themselves. Their only possibility is to reflect the goodness of God.
God is good in His very essence. All other creation can be good and righteous only through a relationship with God.
Review Questions:
- What is the goodness of God?
- Why does evil exist in the world?
- What is the standard of goodness?
- Why is God the standard of goodness?
- Why do people not possess goodness of their own?
Bible verse to memorize: Psalm 34:8; Psalm 119:68
Source: Christian Bible Institute
