“The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made”
Ps 145:9
Another moral attribute of God, which we can possess as well, is goodness. Goodness defines right from wrong. Without goodness, right could be wrong and wrong could be right. Goodness makes moral judgments about the application truth. To define Goodness is like trying to see the wind. You cannot. At best you see only the affects of the wind and not the wind itself. Merriam-Webster defines goodness as: decent, ethical, honest, honorable, just, moral, right, righteous, right-minded, straight, upright, and virtuous. They define the opposite of Good as: bad, black, dishonest, dishonorable, evil, evil-minded, immoral, indecent, sinful, unethical, unrighteous, wicked, and wrong.1
To describe someone as good is usually a judgment on their behavior. Their behavior is seen as honest, moral, right, and virtuous. We cannot fully know someone else and therefore the best judgments we can make about the person’s character are those we make because of their actions. The same is true of God. By His actions we can proclaim Him good, but with God it goes deeper than that. His very nature is good. And since it is part of His nature we know a few things about His goodness. It is infinite, perfect, unchanging (never growing more or less good), dependable, and eternal. Here is great comfort. The goodness of God never changes, it is dependable and infinite.
God is good to us because it is part of His nature, not because of some merit on our part or some compensation we deserve. Salvation is a free gift because the good nature of God caused Him to provide it to all men at a tremendous personal cost to Himself. It is available to all because He is good to all. He blesses and causes blessing upon people because He is good. He can only create good things. He can only give good things. “Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17. He does not have bad things to give and He does not create bad things. Last month we learned of the faithfulness of God as Psalm 145:13 says, “The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.” So the point is not only is He faithful, but He is faithfully good. We can take great comfort in the fact that He is always good. We can expect Him to always act good towards us. “He is the same yesterday, today and forever” Heb 13:8.
Since He is the truth, all things can be judged good or bad in their relationship to Him. All things that are against the nature of God are bad or evil. All things that agree with the nature of God are good. Without goodness being an immovable, unshakeable attribute of God, we would have no basis to judge right from wrong. Notions of right and wrong, good and evil, immoral and moral, just and unjust, ethical and unethical, indeed, every moral judgment has its roots in the goodness of God. Without goodness being an immovable, unshakeable attribute of God, we would have no basis to expect good things from Him. He has given us Himself and all He has as our inheritance (see John 16:13-15, 2 Pet 1:3-8; Eph 1:3; Rom 8:17, 32). He has made all good things available to us.
Now remember that His goodness is in perfect harmony with His judgments and wrath. When He pours out His wrath, He is still acting out of His goodness. His compassion and grace flow out of His goodness and His judgments are mandated out of His goodness. He cannot be good if He is not just. Justice and goodness walk hand in hand. When He spares the evil, it is because of His goodness and mercy and when He disciplines the evil it is because of His holiness, justice, and righteousness. So whatever He does, it is always good.
“For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” Ps 100:5
“Give thanks to the Lord, for his is good; His love endures forever.” 1 Ch 16:34
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” Ps 34:8
“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for them who trust in Him.” Nah 1:7
Footnotes
1 "Goodness-Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dicitionary." Merriam-Webster. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2008. <www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/goodness >.
References
All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.
Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. Print.
The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible New International Version The Old Testament and The New Testament Thompson's original and complete system of Bible study A complete numerical system of chain references, analyses of books, outline studies of characters and unique charts, with pictorial maps and archaeological discoveries. Ed. Frank Charles Thompson, et al. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1983. Print.
