What does it mean that God is good?
God's goodness is not one of His moods or a summary of His better days; the Bible speaks of it as what He is, before it speaks of what He does. That raises hard questions: if He is good, why is life so often painful, why does He judge, and how would anyone come to know His goodness personally?
Goodness Belongs to His Nature
Psalm 136 opens by giving thanks to the Lord because He is good — and one writer points out that the order matters, since who He is comes before anything He does.
L. M. GrantOf first importance is the fact of who He is, which always precedes what He has done. To begin with, He is good, in contrast to all others, for "no one does good, not even one" (Rom. 3:12). Because it is God's very nature to be good, therefore everything He does is good, even though it may mean dreadful judgment for the ungodly.
God Alone Is the Measure
When a young ruler called Jesus "Good Teacher," the reply was that no one is good except God alone. That answer strips goodness away from human beings entirely — and puts a question to anyone who calls Jesus good.
William KellyThen we have the ruler, to whom our Lord shows that everything is wrong where a soul has not been brought to know that none is good but God. Had he really known how good God is, he would soon have seen God in Jesus. He saw nothing of the sort. He knew neither God nor good. He looked on the Lord as merely good in a human way. If He was only a man, there was no goodness in Him; goodness is only in God: God alone is good. If Jesus were not God, He was not good.
Suffering Is Not From His Hand
If God is good by nature, then trouble cannot be traced to Him as its source. One writer holds both facts together — real sorrow in the way, and a God from whom only good can flow.
The Christian's FriendWe feel the trials of the way — sorrow, suffering, pressure, need; but the soul that knows God, that is acquainted with Him, knows well that He is only the origin and source of these things because it is His joy to bless and His nature to do good; so only what is good, and therefore worthy of Himself, can ever flow from the heart of the blessed God... And as we look at the ruin and the desolation, and feel its sad effects, whether in us or around us, we can only say, "An enemy has done this."
Even correction is read the same way. Commenting on the psalmist's confession that God is good and does good, one writer sees the discipline itself as goodness at work:
Hamilton SmithHe recognises that behind all God's dealings in chastening there is the goodness of God, so that he can say, "You are good and do good." Since God is good, he wants to be taught by God.
Goodness That Changes People
Romans 2 says God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. That reverses the way many people assume the relationship works.
C. StanleyIt is as we know and believe the goodness of God in sending His beloved Son to die for our sins that this leads us to — produces in us — repentance. Indeed, we can only know the depths of our sin and guilt by knowing the depths into which He had to descend to save us... So the difference between truth and error is this: it is not our repentance that leads to, or causes, the goodness of God toward us, but it is the goodness of God that leads to, and causes, repentance in us.
Goodness Is Not Indulgence
Scripture places God's goodness beside His severity. Writing on the cities set aside to shelter a man who had killed someone by accident, one commentator sets that provision next to the judgment on Canaan.
C. H. MackintoshThe government and the goodness of God are, we need hardly say, both divinely perfect. There are cases in which goodness would be nothing but tolerating sheer wickedness and open rebellion, which is utterly impossible under the government of God. If men imagine that, because God is good, they may go on sinning defiantly, they will sooner or later find out their sad mistake.
Known by Tasting
The claim is not left as theory. Psalm 34 invites people to test it, and a writer applies that invitation to the believer's growth.
William KellyVerse 3 gives a weighty condition: "if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." It clearly refers to Psalm 34:8, where the inspired writer gives a most touching call for others to share his joy in the Lord... To have proved it for ourselves, deep in the soul, is the condition of growth in the word; and it is a condition that is certainly true of all who believe on Him.
Summary
- Nature. God is good in Himself first; because His nature is good, everything He does is good.
- Source. Since goodness is His nature, blessing flows from Him and ruin is traced to an enemy — even His chastening is goodness teaching us.
- Standard. No one is good but God, so calling Jesus good is either a mistake or a confession that He is God.
- Effect. Goodness is what produces repentance; repentance never produces goodness in God toward us.
- Proof. Goodness and severity stand together — it is not permission to sin, and it is finally known not by argument but by tasting it.