The Goodness of God

 For God’s goodness, the definition we will use is from Thomas Manton,

“He (God) is originally good, good of Himself, which nothing else is; for all creatures are good only by participation and communion from God. He is essentially good; not only good but goodness itself; the creature’s good is a superadded quality. In God, it is His essence. He is infinitely good; the creature's good is but a drop, but in God, there is an infinite ocean or gathering together of good. He is eternally and immutably good, for He cannot be less good than He is, as there can be no addition made to Him, so no subtraction from Him.”

Dictionary definition; noun

1.      1.

That which is morally right; righteousness.

Similar

Virtue, righteousness, virtuousness, goodness, morality, ethicalness, uprightness, upstandingness,

Integrity, principle, dignity, rectitude, rightness, honesty, truth, truthfulness, honor, incorruptibility, probity,

Propriety, worthiness, worth, merit, irreproachableness, blamelessness, purity, pureness, lack of corruption, justice, justness, fairness

Opposite:

wickedness

When describing God as good, good is a noun. The dictionary gives a list of words that are encompassed in the noun good. Righteousness and Justness are attributes we will discuss down the road.

The goodness of God refers to His nature: “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5.)

I want to point out that I italicized No, and at all. That is because God is not evil, and you will find no darkness in Him. God is not just the greatest, He is the best, and He has been this way from all eternity. All that comes from God is good, all the attributes we have spoken of, and we will talk of are good because they come from God. His first manifestation of good was in the act of creation when He gave being to all of His creatures. His decrees are good, His law is good, His creation is good, His providence is good, “And God saw everything He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:3).

All that God does and is good and worthy of approval. Let me give you an example of the goodness of God, in which all of God’s attributes are on full display. Look at the cross, and you will see God’s GOOD and perfect love, His GOOD, and perfect wrath, His GOOD, and perfect Justice, His GOOD and perfect mercy, and all the other attributes. What happened on the cross? Yes, Christ was beaten, spat upon, scourged, and humiliated, and these things are important. These are the things we can see, and they tear at our hearts if we are believers. But this is not all that happened on the cross.

Imagine with me, a sinner facing 10,000’s X 10,000’s of years of eternal separation from God, where all you will ever know is His wrath, torturous wrath. We are only speaking of one individual at this point. Now imagine on the cross the perfect and holy God-man, took that punishment for you. That’s right God poured His wrath out on the undeserving Son of God for your sake.  “For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Now multiply what we just imagined by the number of stars in the sky and you might be able to comprehend what Christ and the Father decreed in eternity passed and carried out on the cross. If you’re a believer, this should bring you to your knees, if not, you need to meditate on it and try to understand the fullness of what happened on the cross. If you are an unbeliever, you should be terrified. Look and see that God did not spare His own son. Make no mistake; the wrath of God is eternal. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).  You are slaves to sin, “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.  “So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34-36).

 Seek the Son while He may be found!