Part 12 | The Only True God – God is Good

Regan King | April 11, 2010 | 0 Comments

By Regan King

Friday 9th April 2010

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. (Luke 18:18-30)

Throughout the centuries of the world man has asked, at least in his heart, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Religion provides answers through the practicing of rites and rituals and doing whatever is classified as ‘good’ in that belief system. From keeping the five pillars of Islam to practicing Zen wisdom to attending Mass and the confessional, religion has laid down a salvation based on our own good works rather than on God’s goodness. Knowing the God of the Bible involves a Biblical understanding of goodness- both God’s and ours.

God is good in His being

“And a ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’” If no one except God is good, then that means that we are speaking of a complete and total goodness- found in no other being. God’s goodness in unlike any perceived goodness with in human beings or any other thing; it is completely separate. Notice that Jesus says ‘…except God alone.’ To overlook these words, emphasizing the totality of God’s goodness is to overlook a fundamental part of this attribute. God’s being is unlike any other and the totality of His goodness in being is shared by no other.

It is all fine and well to speak of the totality of God’s goodness I being, but how is this actually shown? Following his statement that no one is good except God alone, Jesus says, “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” This leads us to our next two observations.

God is good in His Word

Why would Jesus say that no man is good except God alone and then speak of the law? If God alone is good in totality then man must not be good in totality. But how do we see that God alone is good and that we are lacking? It is the Word that reveals the goodness of God, written and incarnate.

The Written and Incarnate Word

Many commentators have said that the goodness of God could also be included in the attribute of His holiness. It is in God’s written Word, the Bible that we see just how holy God is. Leviticus continually says, ‘You shall be holy as I the Lord your God am holy.’ The written Word accounts for us just how holy God is and gives instruction as to what we must do to be holy as God is holy. Notice that Jesus does not mention any other word or law to the rich man which he must obey other than God’s Word- no rabbinic wisdom, no philosophical thoughts, no pharisaical opinions, just God’s Word in all its purity and goodness. Psalm 119:89 says that God’s Word is forever fixed in the heavens. His Word is unchanging- able to create as well as destroy, to save and to condemn. The consequences of disobeying God’s Word are great. In the law, a great number of offences call for the death penalty. The wages of sin is death and we are fully deserving of death. Man was given one commandment in the beginning and he broke that law leading to sin and death in the world. But God in His goodness and grace has given us His law showing us just how holy He is and How Wicked we are. How does the law show God’s goodness and grace? It keeps us from being as wicked as we could be and always shows us our complete incapability of reaching God’s supreme goodness. Nevertheless, despite the fact that we know the commandments we resist the fact that we cannot keep the law well enough to achieve salvation and are disturbed by our conscience thus causing us to try to seek out what we can do. The question the ruler asks is ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ and yet he says in regard to the commandments ‘All these I have kept from my youth’. Jesus replies, ‘One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.’ Jesus has revealed the key to inheriting eternal life and the rich man turns his back and walks away with sadness because he was rich and could not forsake the idol of His heart. Why would Jesus say ‘come and follow me’ in the first place?

This passage begins with a rich ruler coming to Jesus with a question and the address ‘Good Teacher’. Some would say that Jesus denies that he is good and may even twist his words to say ‘No one is good but the father’, but he said ‘Why do you call me good?’ No one is good but God.’ If no one is good but God, and Jesus is not God, he should have reprimanded the ruler and commanded him not to call him good. The very reason that Jesus did not do this is because he, himself, is God the Son equal and one with the father. He is good in totality, morally spotless- the Word incarnate.

God is good in his actions toward man

How can we say this? This year we have seen countless earthquakes that have taken the lives of many people. ‘World Class’ cities are filled with crime. We see parents killing their children and children killing their parents- where is God’s goodness in these harsh times? Everything that goes wrong in the world and is not good in the world is a result of the fall and our own sin. While man was created to be good in his being, created in the image of God, his being was marred and his nature fell. He is by nature sinful. He is by nature not good in word or deed. Man is dead in his trespasses and sins and his righteousness is like filthy rags- it is not sufficient to cover the shame of our sin and the shadow of death that hovers over us. We are by nature children of wrath. There is no room for us to question the goodness of God in this World; the very fact that this world is still in existence is testimony to God’s goodness and grace in his actions to all men. However, there is more. Jesus does answer the rich man’s question, bringing relinquishing his riches into the picture that he might follow Jesus. God in His goodness has provided an answer to man, if only he will hear and obey. But how can unbelievers hear and obey and how have believers heard and obeyed? Upon seeing the sadness of the rich man Jesus says, ‘How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ His disciples see that if this is the case with a rich man it will not be that much different with other people and ask ‘Then who can be saved?’ You can almost hear their voices of despair in the words of Jesus’ disciples. Where is the hope for man when he cannot climb out of the chasm into which he has fallen? ‘What is impossible with men is possible with God.” It is only in the goodness of God that he has acted in such a way as to reveal the way of salvation to man in the words ‘come and follow me’. As we go along in our Christian journey, there will be times when we doubt and the devil will remind us of our sin and try to make us believe that we cannot possibly be saved. It is in those times that the goodness of God in His being, His Word, and His actions toward man will shine brighter and forsaking all to follow Jesus we will receive a reward greater than anything the wealth of this world has to offer.