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Podcast
God Good All The Time
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I'd like to talk about the goodness of God.
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The question of the goodness of God is refuted by atheists and questioned by people who encounter
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significant and prolonged suffering.
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Would a good God destroy millions of people in a global flood, or tell Joshua to kill
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thousands of Canaanites, or send most of the global population to hell?
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How do we know God is good all the time?
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That's what I'd like to talk about for a few minutes today.
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So here's my definition, rather than take you through all of the dictionary lexicon
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stuff that I looked at, I'll give you just my conclusion.
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Good is value which pertains to actions, characters, or concepts which are ultimately beneficial,
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or more simply, good is that which is ultimately beneficial.
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So the key phrase is ultimately beneficial for definition, a key operative word is beneficial.
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So good is what's not immediate, but ultimately beneficial.
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Therefore, God's good character maintained in his thoughts and actions is ultimately
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beneficial for himself and anyone who participates in those thoughts and actions.
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God is good all the time, logically.
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We can put it simply as a logical statement.
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Premise one, God is good.
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Premise two, God does not change.
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Conclusion, therefore God's good all the time.
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In Psalm 100, verses four and five, David wrote this, enter his house with thanksgiving
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and his courts with praise.
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Give thanks to him, bless his name for the Lord is good.
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His lovingkindness is everlasting and his faithfulness to all generations.
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God is good all the time, practically.
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Good is a reality that God has created into the universe so that when things are done
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that way, they provide an ultimate benefit.
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I'll repeat an example that I've used before.
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I could use my reading glasses to stir my coffee.
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It would work at least to some extent for a while, but it would not be good, ultimately
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beneficial for my reading glasses or me because that's not why my glasses were made.
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It's not what they're for.
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But there's something that they are made for, reading.
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If I use them for that, it'll be good, ultimately beneficial for them and me.
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To do good things is to do things that are the way they're designed to be done.
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It's good, ultimately beneficial for me to live as God has created me to live.
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Good is an attribute of God.
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Psalm 16, 2, I said to the Lord, you are my Lord.
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I have no good beside you.
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Mark 10, 18, Jesus said to him, why do you call me good?
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No one is good except God alone.
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Goodness is not some separate standard apart from God, which God is able to keep.
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Otherwise, the author of that separated from God standard would be God.
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No, God himself is a standard, but good actually is something.
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And because God does not change, what is good does not change.
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The applications of good change with different ages.
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For example, what's good for a farmer to do in the spring is not good for a farmer to
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do in the fall.
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And with different dispensations as with keeping special days and certain food regulations.
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But the good itself, the attribute of God, which these applications come from, remain
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the same.
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This is why when we read the Bible, the character of God never changes.
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The God who spoke to Noah, Abraham, and Moses is exactly the same God who spoke through
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Christ and the apostles.
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The same God who sent Israel into captivity because they were not good will judge the
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world by the same standard of good and the second coming of Christ.
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We also need to understand that good is absolute, not relative.
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When we say something is good, we're assuming it's an absolute standard.
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Any secondary standard, which is both good and less than absolute, would have to be pointing
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to another standard, which is absolute.
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So suppose we say, this is for your own good, or this charity is working for the good of
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mankind, or my party is pursuing the good of the country.
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We are then assuming there is an absolute beneficial standard for you to be, or for
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mankind to work toward, or my country to pursue.
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When we say something is good as an adjective, we are also assuming it points to some absolute
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standard.
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When we say, this is a good car, or he's a good teacher, I'm assuming the standard,
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an absolute standard, which is in some limited way, or to some extent, revealed in this car
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or in his teaching.
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Of course, we can use the adjective personally saying, I think this is a good car, or I think
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he's a good teacher, in which case we're not assuming an absolute standard.
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We sometimes do that, but we don't always do that.
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We often use the word good, understanding we're making a comparison to a standard somewhere
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out there, which doesn't change.
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I would be more inclined to put the label good car on a shiny new Mercedes than a rusty
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old Ford.
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When I do that, I assume there's something actually more beneficial about a new Mercedes
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than a rusty old Ford.
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Next, we need to understand good as a standard that judges evil.
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Progressives and pantheists understand good as that which is morally right, which in turn
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is a mysterious balance of good and evil.
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For the pantheists, everything has two sides, a yin and a yang or something.
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That concept displayed with the idea of tolerance of everything the world produces from films
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and novels, public education, news media, but it doesn't fit reality.
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Mixing good and evil is never a good thing.
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Moral excellence is critical of evil.
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It does not balance good and evil.
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Therefore, since God is the standard of good, excellence is only achieved when God judges evil.
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In other words, it's ultimately beneficial for God to judge evil.
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In Ezekiel 18, 25, God said,
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Yet you say, the way of the Lord is not right.
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Hear now, house of Israel, is my way not right?
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Is it not your ways that are not right?
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So good is the same everywhere.
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Good is the same in every culture, in every situation, regardless of what people do or believe.
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Good is ultimately beneficial and evil is ultimately detrimental everywhere.
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Good is just the same in a Muslim culture as in a Christian culture.
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Good is just the same in a drug culture as in a Bible-believing church.
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It's just that some cultures have more of it and some have less of it.
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Just because there are less good people and more evil is being done in some cultures does
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not mean that what's ultimately beneficial, in other words, good, has changed.
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It's just that the evil cultures are not repeating the ultimate benefit of goodness.
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We don't have to find good in everything.
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If your loved ones were murdered by a terrorist or raped by a gang, where's the good in that?
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Well, there isn't any.
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There's just evil.
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Nonetheless, good, the ultimate benefit, is the same even if it's absent.
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Good cannot be created or improved.
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It can only be limited.
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It's good, ultimately beneficial, to be healthy, loving, happy, peaceful, just, kind, knowledgeable,
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and wise.
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Good is not only good absolutely and universally, it's good ultimately.
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Whatever is good cannot be improved.
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Anything less than good is in need of improvement.
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You can be less than good, but you cannot be more than good.
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For example, clean is good, dirty is bad, absolutely and universally, but clean is also
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good ultimately.
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I take a shower to get clean because dirty is bad, but I cannot improve on clean.
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I've often wondered why I can't just get a cleaner than clean so I can wait longer before
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I take another shower.
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But no, I can only get clean, and then I get dirty again, so I have to get clean again.
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Clean is good, but it can only be duplicated, cannot be improved on.
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It's impossible to create something better than anything that's good.
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Good is a ceiling.
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I can continually get more bad, but the best I can do is maintain good.
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When our progressives try to create something morally better than good, it always ends up worse.
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If I try to get beyond moving the dirt from my skin, I'll just damage my skin.
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Something not usually considered in this discussion is that the goodness of God is connected to
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the pleasure of God.
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God, who is good, devised a plan which is good according to his own pleasure, which
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is also good.
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Isaiah 46, 10, I will accomplish all my good pleasure.
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Philemon 2, 13, for it is God who is at work both in you, both to will and to work for
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his good pleasure.
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Even the suffering of Jesus was planned from ancient times as part of the good pleasure
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of God, but Jesus did not end in suffering.
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His end is the ultimately beneficial prosperity of the fulfillment of God dwelling in him.
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Isaiah 53, 10, but the Lord was pleased to crush him and put him to grief if he would
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render himself as a guilt offering.
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And that's good, ultimately beneficial, because Colossians 1, 19, for it was the Father's
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good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him.
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The goodness of God is connected to the sovereignty of God.
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If by sovereignty we mean God is the ultimate cause of everything or that everything is
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in his plan, then tsunamis, floods of disease, disasters, which have killed millions and
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caused untold suffering all over the centuries must also be included in the goodness of God.
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Otherwise, we must conclude either God is not sovereign or he's not good all the time.
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Since justice is good, God's judgment against justice is good.
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The earth was created without disease, disasters, and death.
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Mankind and the animals ate fruits and vegetables, and the garden did not grow weeds.
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The earth was under a water canopy that provided a mild climate without severe weather.
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But when Adam and Eve sinned, the command of God was violated, and justice, in order
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to remain good, required judgment.
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So God cursed the earth and everything on it.
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Work was hard, birth was painful, and everything died.
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But people still lived 900 years in a mild climate.
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Then people became so corrupt that every intent of the thought of their heart was only evil
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continually, Genesis 6, 5.
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Again, they violated the holy character of God so that his justice, in order to remain
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good, required judgment.
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The flood that followed not only destroyed all but eight people and a selection of animals,
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but it caused severe weather, lowering life expectancy from 900 to 80 years, according
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to Psalm 90, verse 10.
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Since justice is good, we live in a world of suffering, severe weather, and death.
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God is not obligated to tell us what he's doing.
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Never get the idea God owes us an explanation or that we can figure out what he's doing
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unless he specifically told us in his word.
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The only thing we know that God is doing in our lives, that is, as believers, is conforming
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us to the image of his son, Jesus Christ.
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But God is not obligated to explain himself to his creation.
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Job wanted to know why he was suffering, and God gave him a science exam, never telling
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Job why he was suffering.
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God said, will you condemn me that you may be justified?
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In the parable of the landowner who represents God, Jesus concludes with him saying, is it
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not lawful for me to do what I will with my own?
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Is I evil because I'm good?
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The goodness of God looks to the future.
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Good is not always immediately beneficial.
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It's always ultimately beneficial.
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Paul said, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those
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who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
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He did not say all things are immediately beneficial, but that all things work together
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to bring about what is ultimately beneficial.
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When Joseph's brothers appealed to him for kindness after their father Jacob died, Joseph
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told them, as for you, you meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good in order
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to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive, Genesis 50, 20.
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Joseph suffered slavery and prison for years because God meant it for good.
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The slavery and prison were not in themselves beneficial, but they worked together for what
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was ultimately beneficial.
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Psalm 119, 71, It's good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.
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Lamentation 325, The Lord is good, and those who wait for him.
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Hebrews 9, 11, Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things to come.
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And in 10, 1, the law is only a shadow of the good things to come.
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Philemon 1, 6, He who began a good work and you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
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So as a conclusion, yes, God is good all the time.
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God is good logically, practically, absolutely, universally.
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God has an attribute of goodness, which when imitated is ultimately beneficial all the time.
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John 10, 14, I am the good shepherd.
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Well thank you for listening.
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If you're interested in a longer paper on this subject with more references, check it
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out on our website relationalconcepts.org.
