Goodness
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]
GOODNESS. —As resignation is the ideal of the Buddhist, and valour of the Mohammedan, so the essence of Christianity is goodness. Its Founder was the absolute personification of this characteristic quality. Nothing short of this could have so inspired the Apostles and Evangelists. Veiled within the few imperishable pages of the Gospels, and perhaps seen only by the meditating mind, is the figure of a perfect goodness once realized upon earth. It is not the novelty of His teaching that has attracted men, nor His deep sympathy with humanity, nor any spiritual utterances to the Father (which are all too rarely recorded). Behind the words and deeds of the four biographies stands a shining personality, a living type of goodness—One of whom they could speak as being ‘without sin.’ The Evangelists knew nothing of the dogmatic spirit, and could probably have given no clear definition and explanation of the sinlessness of Christ. To them He was the human expression of the Divine Goodness, and it mattered little whether a man should say that the Goodness was from eternity, so that by its nature sin had never been a moment’s possibility, or that at birth Christ had been uniquely endowed with a passion for goodness that turned naturally from everything selfish, injurious to others, or sinful either to God or man; or that at His baptism He had been set aside to that brief ministry (which is nearly all men know of His earthly life), when the voice from heaven was heard saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’ ( Matthew 3:17). However its genesis might be spoken of, the ‘sinlessness’ of Christ is the utterance of the measure of His goodness as it affected the disciples. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount they would hear that note of human tenderness blended with unhesitating virtue which constitutes goodness. This alone could be the source of that merciful utterance which is perhaps His only new doctrine—‘Love your enemies.’
In His message of the Divine Fatherhood they would behold that goodness sending ‘rain upon the just and the unjust’ ( Matthew 5:45), forgiving the penitent as the father forgives the prodigal son ( Luke 15:11 ff.), and even forgiving those whose repentance is yet to come ( Luke 23:34). Such conceptions would be born of the goodness within Himself, that breathed out in the intense sympathy of the story of the woman taken in sin ( John 7:53 to John 8:11), or the defence of Mary Magdalene in the house of Simon the Pharisee ( Luke 7:36 ff.), or in the parable of the Good Samaritan ( Luke 10:25 ff.). The same spirit marks the greater number of the miracles. None could be considered as entirely separated from human interest and influence, and the great majority (thirty-one out of thirty-seven recorded) were wrought openly and intentionally for the good of others. The blind, the deaf, the palsied, the lame, the lepers, the lunatic, the hungry crowd, the timid fishermen, the mourners for the dead,—all shared in the effective power of the innate goodness of our Lord. It was as though, in His purity and sinlessness, the very forces of nature became obedient to His transparent will,—the one will that sin has never overcome, the one luminous purity in which sin has found no vitalizing atmosphere. He had been tried at the beginning of His mission, but the temptations of the desert had ended in triumph. The goodness that was the breath of His being rose instinctively above the low promptings of a selfish wonder-working, or the presumption of pride, or the vanity of power, even though over ‘all the kingdoms of the earth’ ( Matthew 4:1 || Luke 4:1, Mark 1:12). He spoke harshly to the Tempter, for goodness does not always win by mild passivity against evil. He who knows that God is the beginning and the end of all goodness will waste little time in diplomatic parley with the powers of darkness. Victory will often lie in swift attack. So the goodness of Christ is not lessened by His fierce handling of the money-changers and traders within the Temple ( Matthew 21:12 ff., John 2:13 ff.), for He knows that lower ideas of God and goodness will unconsciously prevail if the house of God becomes a place for barter and bargain. It is part of the same zeal that had kept Him about His ‘Father’s business’ in the days of His boyhood ( Luke 2:49), though it takes the more vigorous form we might expect in manhood. The inward knowledge of the simplicity and holiness of His motives makes fear not only impossible, but non-existent; and this is the spirit that inspires every true missionary. He also, as his Master, would show the winning charm of the visibly good—the goodness embodied in a life rather than in doctrines only—that which in Christ could say to the world, ‘I am the bread of life’ ( John 6:35; John 6:48), ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ ( John 14:6), and ‘I am the light of the world’ ( John 8:12, John 9:5), the witness of which is described by St. Paul, when he says that the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth’ ( Ephesians 5:9).
The goodness of Christ brought a new force into Jewish religion, one that changed the nature of it. Judaism was formal, ceremonial, mainly an external worship. Its prophets had striven to kindle it into a moral and spiritual faith. But prophet and priest had stood apart. In Christ the middle wall was broken down, and into the old religion was poured the new spirit. Henceforth religion could not be separate from the moral life. A man could not be unrighteous, an evil-doer, and yet be religious. Goodness became a synonym for true and undefiled religion. For man, having once seen the perfect manhood of the Christ, and felt His power to overcome sin and death, had gained a vision of religion that might perpetuate such a type, and the vision would not lightly fade. Through failures from within and tyrannies from without the Christian would bear witness to his Lord and to his faith, by a life of goodness modelled on that of his Master. This was the highest evidence he could offer of the Divine Incarnation.
Edgar Daplyn.
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary [2]
People have always had difficult defining goodness. But whereas philosophers may struggle to define the abstract, the Bible talks about the concrete. It helps people understand goodness not by discussing the concept of goodness, but by pointing to people or things that are good.
When a young man questioned Jesus about moral goodness, Jesus replied by referring him not to a concept, but to a person – God. The way to understand goodness is through the person who is good and whose works are good ( Matthew 19:17). God’s character reveals his goodness. It is a character that combines love, mercy, patience, faithfulness, justice, holiness and wrath in perfect balance ( Exodus 33:19; Exodus 34:5-7; Psalms 86:5; Romans 11:22).
The biblical words translated ‘good’ contained a range of meanings, such as pleasant, beneficial, fitting, beautiful and honourable ( Genesis 1:4; Deuteronomy 6:18; Job 2:10; Ephesians 5:9). The added meaning that the words acquire in the Bible is largely because of their association with God. The goodness that the Bible teaches is the goodness that exists perfectly in God ( Psalms 100:5). This goodness was demonstrated in the life and ministry of Jesus ( Acts 10:38), and the Holy Spirit wants to reproduce it in the lives of Christians ( Galatians 5:22).
All that God does is good ( Psalms 119:68; Psalms 136:1; Acts 14:17; 1 Timothy 4:4). His people should recognize this, even when they meet hardships and difficulties ( Job 2:10; Matthew 7:11; Romans 8:28; Hebrews 12:10; James 1:17; see also Chastisement ).
God desires the welfare of all, and therefore he wants people to do good ( Isaiah 1:17; Isaiah 5:20; Galatians 6:10). Though good works will not earn them salvation (for salvation is the gift of God and is received by faith), once they have received salvation they have an obligation to produce good works ( Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:14; see Good Works ).
Likewise, although the law of God is good ( Psalms 119:39; Romans 7:12; Romans 7:16), obedience to the law will never produce a satisfactory standard of goodness ( Romans 7:18-19). The reason for this is the sin that still infects human nature ( Romans 7:13-14; see Flesh ). But the believer can produce goodness through the power of the indwelling Spirit ( Galatians 5:22).
King James Dictionary [3]
GOOD'NESS, n. The state of being good the physical qualities which constitute value, excellence or perfection as the goodness of timber the goodness of a soil.
1. The moral qualities which constitute christian excellence moral virtue religion.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Galatians 5
2. Kindness benevolence benignity of heart but more generally, acts of kindness charity humanity exercised. I shall remember his goodness to me with gratitude. 3. Kindness benevolence of nature mercy.
The Lord God--abundant in goodness and truth. Exodus 34
4. Kindness favor shown acts of benevolence, compassion or mercy.
Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which Jehovah
had done to Israel. Exodus 18
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [4]
The fitness of a thing to produce any particular end. Perfection, kindness, benevolence.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [5]
good´nes : This word in the Old Testament is the translation of ṭōbh ( Exodus 18:9; Psalm 16:2 , the Revised Version (British and American) "good"; Psalm 23:6 ), etc.; of ṭūbh ( Exodus 33:19; Psalm 31:19; Jeremiah 31:14; Hosea 3:5 ), etc.; of ḥeṣedh ( Exodus 34:6 ), "abundant in goodness," the English Revised Version "plenteous in mercy," the American Standard Revised Version "abundant in loving kindness"; "The goodness of God endureth continually," the Revised Version (British and American) "mercy," the American Standard Revised Version "loving kindness" ( Psalm 52:1 ), etc.
In the New Testament it is the translation of cḥrēstótēs ("usefulness," benignity); "the riches of his goodness" ( Romans 2:4; Romans 11:22 , thrice); of cḥrēstós ("useful," "benign," "kind," in Luke 6:35 ); "The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance" ( Romans 2:4 ); of agathōsúnē (found only in the New Testament and Septuagint and writings based thereon), "full of goodness." ( Romans 15:14 ); "gentleness, goodness, faith" ( Galatians 5:22 ); "in all goodness and righteousness and truth" ( Ephesians 5:9 ); "all the good pleasure of his goodness," the Revised Version (British and American) "every desire of goodness." ( 2 Thessalonians 1:11 ).
The thought of God as good and the prominence given to "good" and "goodness" are distinctive features of the Bible. In the passage quoted above from Galatians 5:22 , "goodness" is one of the fruits of the indwelling Spirit of God, and in that from Ephesians 5:9 it is described as being, along with righteousness and truth, "the fruit of the light" which Christians had been "made" in Christ. Here, as elsewhere, we are reminded that the Christian life in its truth is likeness to God, the source and perfection of all good. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 regards God Himself as expressing His goodness in and through us. See Good; Good , Chief .
