Goodness

For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. –– Ephesians 5:9 (NAS)

Goodness, like love, is hard to define. It has been described as “love in action.” In the New Testament, “goodness” is a translation of two different Greek words, chrestotes, meaning moral excellence or usefulness, and agathosune, conveying the thought of uprightness of heart. In this respect, goodness is the sum of all the other graces.

Bishop Trench distinguishes between chrestotes and agathosune in that the former describes the kindlier aspects of “goodness,” the latter also includes the sterner qualities by which doing “good” to others is not necessarily by gentle means. This type of goodness is not a passive, but an active grace.

It was thus that the Apostle Peter described Jesus as one who “went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:38).

The Unobtainable Grace 

When a rich ruler approached Jesus, calling him “Good Master,” Jesus answered, “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.” It is unclear whether Jesus was here denying his own essential goodness or challenging the ruler to realize that if he used that epithet for Jesus, he must also recognize him as the Messiah. In either case, it is obvious that to be completely objectively good is above the capabilities of mortal man.

In the first chapter of Genesis the word “good” is used six times to describe God’s evaluation of each progressive creative day. Here the sense of the word is “perfect.” Thus “goodness” and “perfection” are closely related concepts. That which qualifies a work as perfect is revealed in Deuteronomy 32:4, “His work is perfect, for all his ways are just” (NAS).

Our goodness is only a reflection of God’s goodness. This is borne out in 2 Thessalonians 1:11, “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power.”

Goodness and Mercy

 It is reported that a child, returning from Sunday School class, told his mother that they studied the psalm about the sheepdogs. His mother queried which psalm that was. He replied that it was the twenty-third, Psalm. His mother asked where the sheepdogs were. He replied that all shepherds have sheepdogs and the two of this shepherd were named Goodness and Mercy. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” (Psalm 23:6) These are companion attributes and, as good sheepdogs, companions of the great shepherd.

An equally close link can be found between “perfection” and “mercy” by comparing Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” with its equivalent text in Luke 6:36, “Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”

Which word did Jesus in fact use — perfect or merciful? Probably he used both — “be ye perfect, or mature, in your mercy as God is perfect in his mercy.” The immediately preceding context in both passages is an exhortation to have love and mercy toward our enemies. Goodness, or perfection, then is particularly encouraged in the area of mercy toward others.

The Bond of Perfectness 

In Colossians 3:14, love is called “the bond of perfectness.” Love is not, in itself, perfection; but it is the bond which binds together all of the other graces to produce full maturity in Christ. Whether goodness or perfection calls for a loving pat on the back or a harder slap a little lower, it will always be controlled by the spirit of love. The rebukes of goodness are always corrective, never punitive. The encouragements of goodness are always given with joy and never begrudgingly.

Love not only ties all the graces together into their sum of goodness, but it also ties together all who seek to attain this grace. In the words of the oft-quoted description of Messiah’s kingdom, “love, welling up from every heart, meets a kindred response in every other heart.”

The Stern Face of Goodness 

“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off ” (Romans 11:22).

Goodness is not only merciful, but it also hews to the line of justice. When Jesus cleansed the temple of the money changers, it was a good act, an exhibition of goodness. Yet it was not a gentle act. Goodness seeks the highest good, that which is beneficial to all and not focused on any single class or vested interest.

Goodness may manifest itself in admonitions to others. Notice the testimony of Romans 15:14, “And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” However, the goodness which admonishes must be accompanied by “all knowledge,” and not based on speculation or hearsay testimony.

An example of this type of goodness in action can be seen in the words of the young man Elihu to the patriarch Job: “My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know” (Job 33:3, NIV). This same thought is emphasized in our theme text from Ephesians 5:9 where goodness is joined with righteousness and truth.

Goodness, by definition, must be just and upright. Since man, under sin, is considerably degraded, there are many times when goodness must act harshly in man’s correction.

Summarizing the Bible’s statements on goodness, therefore, we might describe it as that attribute which, under all conditions and in all circumstances, seeks to uphold the standards of God as the highest exemplification of that which is objectively good.

Achieving Goodness

Noting the premier quality of this fruit, how do we go about attaining it? One hint is given in Romans 12:10, “In honor preferring one another.” It is natural in the human creature, due to its innate insecurities, to seek to find faults in others. Thus, it seeks to make itself look good by comparison. Goodness will do the opposite. It will seek to find the virtues in another so that it may elevate the position of its fellow. Paul’s counsel is, “in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Philippians 2:3). Finding these virtues, goodness will cultivate association with the other, both to render the other service and to emulate the graces that surpass one’s own.

Another approach is copying the character of God, the very epitome of goodness. In the sermon on the mount, leading up to the climax of encouraging the Christian to be “perfect” as is the Father, Jesus demonstrates the character of God by a simple illustration: “he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

God knows no discrimination. The selfsame actions which bless the godly for their faithfulness, shame the ungodly, encouraging them to show their appreciation also. Perhaps this is well illustrated in a simple account in Genesis 4:7. After Cain and Abel had made their respective offerings, God said: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” The words translated “sin” and “sin offering” are identical in the Hebrew. Thus, the latter half of this text could with propriety read, “if thou doest not well, a sin-offering lies at the door, and it will come to you so that you may rule over it.” The thought is suggested that Cain could well have, by observing God’s goodness in accepting Abel’s sacrifice, copied his brother and been likewise accepted.

We must develop an active concern for all the human race. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). While attention is drawn especially toward those of the household of faith, the admonition is to serve all humanity. This, after all, will be the kingdom work of the faithful. This is the example of our Lord, who died for us “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8).

While it is true that the Christian must avoid being drawn aside into present social uplift projects, neither can he ignore those who have deep problems with whom he comes in contact. This seems to be one of the strong lessons of the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). In this parable we are given a specific location and direction of travel, “a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” Since the parable mentions specifically that the priest and Levite passed by “on the other side,” they were perhaps going the opposite direction — from Jericho to Jerusalem. Since Jericho was near to one of the Levitical cities, Bezer (Joshua 20:8), the priest and Levite may have been going up to their assigned services in the temple in Jerusalem. As such, they had a logical reason for declining aid since a priest who touched a dead man was unclean and unfit for temple service for a period of time. This furnishes a forceful lesson that even spiritual claims on our time do not excuse us from the simple performance of acts of goodness to the helpless we may meet on the road of life.

While concentrating on the laws of righteousness, we should not be forgetful of the effects of sin and ignorance as mitigating circumstances for the decadent. Jesus spent much of his ministry in the homes of publicans and sinners, even befriending prostitutes. When the Pharisees berated him for what seemed to them as unseemly conduct, his reply was simple and to the point: “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick” (Matthew 9:12). On the other hand, in today’s permissive society, there is a trend to excuse all sin as sickness. Here the severity of goodness must boldly call sin “sin,” while at the same time being merciful and gentle toward the sinner.

This clear distinction between the wrongness of sin and the weakness of the sinner is noted by Elihu when, in chiding, he does not accuse Job of being unrighteous, but is content to make a specific statement against the sin: “Behold, in this thou art not just” (Job 33:12).

A mountain climber may climb the tallest mountain simply because it is there, so goodness will provoke the Christian to acts of justice and kindness simply because the opportunities are there. Yea, it will do more, it will seek to make the opportunities available. It will never seek its own good, but always the greater good of the whole.

Such is the challenge we all face. So let us cultivate this grace and be active in it “for goodness’ sake.”

–– The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom
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