The Goodness of God

How should goodness be measured?  God is the measure of goodness.

When thinking of God, there are many angles that this can be looked at.

God is perfectly holy.  He is not like any of His creatures.  He is good.

Jesus says, why do you call Me good.  There is only One who is good, and that is God.  Jesus is speaking about God's righteousness (context: the person asking wants to know how to get to heaven).  God is good.

God does not give sinners what they deserve, but is patient and kind to lead sinners to repentance.  God is good.

This is not an exhaustive list.  There are many other aspects of God's goodness.  But, all three of these are related to the gospel and to each other.  Let us consider this briefly.

God is perfectly holy, which is different than righteous.  Holy means separate, specifically, separate to God and His glory.  When God made a people holy, He brought them apart for His glory and name.  The reason He finally gave them over to captivity again, was because they were not set apart for His glory and name.

God is perfectly righteous.  The law is a description of the righteousness of God.  The law is not external to God, but is the very heart of God.  The spirit of the law eminates (comes from) the heart of God.  To love God is to honour & worship Him.  It is the right thing to do, because of who He is.  To love and respect other people, is to respect and honour the Creator, who made other people.  Ultimately, the law is about love as Jesus loved, which was and is perfect righteousness.

This identifies our need of the third aspect of God's goodness: His mercy and grace.  There is no one who is set apart to God.  If He were to look at our day today, He would find us often set apart for our glory and name still, even if we are Christians.  He could rightly give us over to captivity, to justice, and He would still be good.

There is no one who keeps the perfect righteousness of the law.  Have you ever loved God perfectly and loved your neighbour as Jesus loved?  No, there is none that has, nor ever will in this world.  That doesn't excuse us, and it doesn't mean we ought to lower the target.  God's standard of perfection doesn't change.

No, we are in need of mercy and grace, and that is where God's goodness through the cross comes in.  Are you not amazed that God hasn't given you what you deserve today?  Why hasn't He?  Because this is the time of patience and kindness to sinners that we have the opportunity to confess our unholiness and unrighteousness and turn to God and seek His forgiveness through Jesus Christ His Son.  God's goodness is demonstrated in not giving you what you deserve, and in giving His Only Son, what you don't deserve, that you might be reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ, which is given to make atonement for sin.

What a Good God!  What a Kind God!  What a God, worthy of worship for who He is, and for His goodness in His grace and mercy.

Praise the LORD!