“… one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Mat.19:16-17, Mrk.10:18, Lu.18:19).
Some time ago, one of our adversaries cited this verse as an alleged contradiction in the inspired record. The Bible does describe other people as being “good,” so how is it that the Master states that “there is none good, but one, that is, God”? And if others can be good, how is it that Messiah himself is not good? We are thankful to our correspondent for raising the issue, as it opens to us a profitable line of enquiry, which can only enhance our appreciation of the Goodness of God.
Firstly, we need to consider how that the Bible does state some people to be “good”:
Of Joseph of Aramathea it is said that “he was a good man and a just” (Lu. 23:50). Of Barnabas it is said that “he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24). And of Dorcas, it is written that she was “full of good works and almsdeeds which she did” (Acts 9:36). At a more general level, Jesus taught that God “maketh his sun to arise on the evil and on the good …” (Mat. 5:45). Matthew 7 records the Master’s metaphorical use of trees to represent men: “a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit” (Mat. 7:18). Again, he speaks of how “a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things” (Mat. 12:35, Lu. 6:45), and the class of the faithful are commended “well done thou good and faithful servant” (Mat. 25:21, 23). The parable of the Sower speaks of how the seed of the Word is sown in “an honest and good heart” (Lu. 8:8, 15), and those who are granted a better resurrection are “they that have done good” (Jno. 5:29).
As well as people, the Scriptures speak of certain works as being “good”. The following is not an exhaustive list, but serves to illustrate the point:
“… to them who by patient continuance in well (same word), doing, seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life” (Rom. 2:7).
“ … glory, honour and peace to every man that worketh good …” (Rom. 2:10).
“ … let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith (Gal. 6:10).
“ … being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10)
Here then is the crux of the issue, the apparent paradox: how can it be said that certain people and their works are “good” whilst Jesus taught that there is “none good” except the Creator Himself? To address this question we need to examine what Goodness actually is, and where it originates from.
The first reference to Goodness in Scripture, is in the Genesis account of Creation:
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. and God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness” (Gen. 1:3-4).
There are a number of points to note here about Goodness:
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- It was a consequence of the Word of God being sent forth
- The goodness was created by God
- That goodness in the first instance, was light
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So it is that the quality of Goodness was brought into existence by God, particularly in His Creative Activities. Even the first human pair were part of this goodness, being created morally upright (Eccl. 7:29). Sin had not yet sullied the Divine view, and all things were as God created: good – indeed, “very good” (Gen. 1:31).
But the narrative proceeds to describe how that the serpent tempted Eve to disobey her Creator, and convinced her to eat of the forbidden tree – and she in turn gave to her husband, and he ate of it also. So it was by this means that; through the subsequent curse (Gen. 3:19), the Law of Sin and Death (Ro. 8:2) entered physically into world society: thus “death passed upon all men …” (Rom. 5:12). A consequence of sin entering into the world, was that the goodness of God was denied. Whereas man was originally part of a “very good” creation, once that he had fallen from Grace, (cp. Gal. 5:4), that goodness no longer existed within him. Hence Jeremiah wrote: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). Paul knew it, and was therefore able to say: “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18).
This is a fundamental point: human nature is inherently evil, and is not “very good”. Hence, left to its own devices, it can only produce trespasses, transgressions, sins, and iniquity. As Messiah himself taught: “… for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man: (Mrk. 7:21-23).
From these considerations, we can begin to see the point of the Master’s words: God is Good, and there is “no good thing” existing in man following the Fall. To look into these matters further, we need to consider:
THE GOODNESS OF GOD REVEALED
In Exodus chapter 33, we read of Moses’ petition to Yahweh, and His Response:
“… and he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before thee …” (Ex. 33:18-19).
From these words, we see that the “glory” and “goodness” of God are synonymous. Hence to see the Glory is the same as being shown His Goodness. But what followed was that the glorious goodness of God was expressed in words:
“… Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, Yah, Yahweh God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children unto the third and fourth generation” (Ex. 34:6-7).
Again, in this we see that the glory/goodness of Yahweh consisted of not so much that which was seen, but the attributes that were expressed in words. And we see these principles emerging in the New Testament record concerning the Lord Jesus Christ:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
Again, the record continues:
“… and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth”
And again,
“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (see John 1:1-18).
So it is that whilst Moses asked: “shew my thy glory”, the Apostle writes: “we beheld his glory”. And that glory was seen in those attributes described in Exodus 34, being embodied in a man, the Lord Jesus Christ with power (Acts 10:38) – as John says “the Word was made flesh”.
These considerations weave together the principles we can discern in operation even from the time of Creation: the Word, the Light, and the Goodness of God.
But these words in John 1, refer not to the Genesis creation, but to a new Creation in Christ Jesus. It draws upon principles of the Genesis record to describe the founding principles of a New Creation. Hence, the Apostle Paul – who himself was converted by seeing a great Light and hearing the spoken Word (Acts 9:3-4) – wrote accordingly:
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
Moreover, he continued the association between the Goodness and the Glory, by saying:
“… If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them …” (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
Notice the language used here: the word “Gospel” literally means “good news” – hence we have the glorious “good” news of Christ revealed to man. That good news is able to shine into our hearts, illuminating them with the goodness of God. Christ “is the image of God” – that is, he perfectly displays all of his Father’s glorious and good attributes, and these are the attributes to be revealed by the believer in His Son.
The principles of the New Creation are instigated by God Himself:
“all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ … God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them …” (2 Cor. 5:18-19).
This is a key point in understanding the subject at hand: Man has no intrinsic goodness, but can be filled with the glorious good news of the Word, like light shining in a dark place. God is the One doing the filling: “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). And he does this through the agency of the spoken Word: “… the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thes. 2:13). The recipients of this grace extended to them can say: “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). We shall return to this shortly.
FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON “GOODNESS”
It is written that: “Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?” (Prov. 20:6). The natural man, being unable to receive the things of the Spirit of God, (1 Cor. 2:14), does that which is right in his own eyes – which is very different to that which is right according to God’s Goodness. A related word is “righteousness” – that which is good is righteous, as seen by the following verses:
“the desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath” (Prov 11:23).
“Evil persueth sinners, But to the righteous good shall be repayed” (Prov. 13:21).
“for scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die” (Rom. 5:7).
This is the way of the natural man: “there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12). The carnally minded will put good for evil and evil for good (cp. Isa. 5:20).
This is what the Apostle has to say about the natural Jews of his day:
“they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3).
Here is the point: men desire to establish their own righteous goodness, and not that which comes from God. Paul himself differed from this. His desire was to: “be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9).
Again, this is another key point: goodness and righteousness can only come from God: it cannot be accomplished by works.
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
Returning to our opening quote, we read:
“… one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Mat. 19:16-17, Mr 10:18, Lu. 18:19).
It is sometimes claimed that the Lord was inherently righteous of his own self, and that he earned his way into immortality by his personal goodness. Hence it is claimed:
… He did not need a “sacrifice” as such, in the shadowy, typical sense of the term, and nor do we. We need, as he with us needed, the flesh-cleansing, sincondemning, grave-opening perfect-life-and-shed-blood-death REALITY that God’s holiness and wisdom demanded from one man for the salvation of any of the race.
Starting within the condemned, defiled, Sin-and-Death-cursed race, he – with God’s strengthening – earned his way out of it. That work was his “sacrifice”.
… Christ’s actual Sin-destroying accomplishment – his overcoming, his selfperfecting-is the reality and substance of which baptism and breaking of bread, sacrifice and circumcision, are representative rituals.
Someone had to righteously win his way out of the Sin-Constitution, in the way God appointed, with whom God could deal as the race … “
(Redeeming the Race, from The Purifying of the Heavenly, pages 98-99 G Growcott)
Here is the claim presented: Jesus “earned his way out of” the curse. This is repeated in page 96:
“He, by total devotion to God, lifted himself out of this universal Sin-Constitution: cleansed himself from it in the “sacrificial” way and method that God had appointed from the beginning”
Notice, the emphasis here is what Christ is said to have done for himself, cleansing himself: he won his way out of the Sin Constitution by being righteous.
A FLAW
The reason why this is flawed thinking, is that the Scriptures always present the work of Salvation as being that of God, and not of Jesus himself. As we saw earlier:
“All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ … God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Cor. 5:18-19).
Again, we read that the condemnation of sin in the flesh was a work of God:
“What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh …” (Rom. 8:3).
Whilst “Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness” (Prov. 20:6), this was not so with the Lord Jesus Christ. Whilst the Jews went about “to establish their own righteousness,” the Lord Jesus Christ did not. He was rather the means whereby God would establish His Righteousness instead – indeed, this point is vital to our salvation:
“… all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forebearance of God. To declare, I say at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded …” (Rom. 3:23-27),
God is the prime mover in the entire system of salvation: “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:10). Whereas, we have seen, man is naturally void of goodness, the Good Light of the Word of God can illuminate the hearts of those who would receive it. In Christ, His Righteousness was declared, He was “in Christ” to bring about reconciliation. It is all of God, and not of Jesus himself. Jesus did not declare his own righteousness – there is no verse which states this. Rather, God righteously condemned “the law of sin and death” in the flesh of His Son (Rom. 8:2,3).
The situation as presented by the churches, is that Jesus came and died to be punished in our stead, and pacify the wrath of God. But the situation as presented in Scripture, is that God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn [Katakrino = Judge against] sin in the flesh, and establish His Own Righteousness (by righteous judgement) in so doing. This being so, there is a basis of Righteousness exhibited by God through His Son, to be the foundation of our forgiveness.
Mankind (sons of Adam) cannot redeem themselves through personal righteousness: the situation is by Grace, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:9). Not even the Master himself could boast of his own accomplishments: “… the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (Jno. 14:10). The Master did not seek his own glory, but that of God. So he testified: “I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth” (Jno. 8:50). And again, “So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee” (Heb. 5:5).
In Christ then, we do not see one who “earned his way” out of condemnation into life. Rather, he was given, and also displayed his Father’s Righteousness:
“Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son.” (Psa. 72:1).
Again:
“Who shall ascend into the hill of Yahweh? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from Yahweh, and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psa. 24:3-5).
Both of these passages confirm that the Master was given Righteousness: he did not earn it by good works (cp. Rom. 4:4). The entire system of salvation was that the Righteousness and Goodness of God, taken away by Adam, was restored (Psa. 69:4) in Christ, that He would be glorified for His Grace, in the salvation of Adamic men.
SUMMARY
Having considered the principles above, we are now in a position to address the challenge of our adversary. God only is good, there is “none good” apart from Him. But His Goodness can be demonstrated by mortal men. That goodness is not their own, but is a consequence of God’s Word sent forth as a Light to illuminate their darkened hearts. The Goodness of God is seen in His Glorious Array of Attributes, revealed to Moses, and “manifest” (1Tim.3:16) in Jesus, as the “word” “made flesh”.
Even the Master himself did not seek to establish his own righteousness, but gave all glory to the God who performed works through him. And “how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!” (Zech. 9:17). He did not “win” salvation by good works, but obtained it by the Mercy of his Father. He was granted “a golden crown’ (Rev. 14:14), having overcome by the Father working in him. And we can also look forward to the future in the hope of also being given a crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8) that fadeth not away. We can become constituent parts of the New Creation that displays the goodness of God that was denied in Eden. Well might we rejoice with the Apostle: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3).
Christopher Maddocks
