Goodness by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 28, 1897

Goodness

By Editor

Editorial

Goodness.—The sixth-named fruit of the Spirit of God is “goodness.” It must be studied in connection with the fruits named before. Like all the wondrous things of God, they are interlaced, interlocked, and all pervaded by that One Life, the life of God.

Goodness is the divine attribute or quality of being good; excellence, virtue, kindness, benevolence. It is that which has led the Great Father to pour out of himself upon his creatures, and especially upon lost and sinful men. In fact, God could not give of himself without bestowing upon man his goodness; for goodness in all its perfection is an essential attribute of God. He could not be else than good; he could not minister to men without ministering his goodness.

Goodness His Name.—When the Lord passed before Moses in response to the request of the man of God, he declared unto his servants for all coming time his name. Read its wonderful meaning: “Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” This is the meaning of the wonderful name. Whether the roots of “God” and “good” are the same or not, as some affirm, we know that our God is goodness. He has not only declared it in his name, but he has written it in glorious perfection of beauty on all creation unmarred by sin; and even in that which bears sin’s brand we may see much that is good and glorious. In the earth fitted for man’s home, in the revelation of God the Creator, in the companionship and ministration of holy angels, in the Infinite and Eternal Gift of his only-beloved Son, in all the purchased blessings of God, bought by the sacrifice of his Son, God has revealed his goodness to the children of men. Nay, he has not only revealed it to them but in them; for for every breath which the wicked draw are they indebted to God, and every good thing which they enjoy or pervert is a gift of God’s goodness to them in order that the goodness of God may lead to repentance. Rom. 2:4.

Exhaustless Goodness.—God’s goodness is exhaustless; for, even as of life, with him is the fountain of goodness. Men despise his goodness, yet he bestows it. They trample on his laws, yet he beseeches them in mercy to return. They use the breath of life given of him to profane his name and pervert his truth. They open that which he designed to be an earthly temple for his holiness—this wonderful human body—to a troop of unholy and selfish lusts and passions. Men have been made in God’s image and are the special objects of his love, yet are they cursed, reviled, persecuted, destroyed by other men made in the same image. Yet God’s goodness fails not. It can not fail. Even when the end of the wicked forever comes, it will be the best boon that the Eternal Goodness could bestow upon them. God is good; God only is good. All other goodness is given or borrowed from the great Source.

God’s Goodness His Glory.—The glory of some men is their knowledge, of others their riches, of others fame in letters and art, of others science and rulership; but God’s glory is his goodness. When the children of Israel loved sin, they besought that God would not speak to them any more; but Moses, who had renounced sin, plead with the boldness of the sense of a great need, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.” The answer of Jehovah was, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee.” Ex. 33:18, 19. This is the glory, the character, of which all sinners have “come short” (Rom. 3:23); and because we have come short, God in his great love comes down to us, places his glory on humanity in Jesus Christ, and bids all to partake. It matters not tho we have sinned; we may plead, “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy.” In giving his Son God gave all. In Jesus Christ dwells “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” He is a pledge that “no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” It is God’s goodness now, goodness all the way, goodness to all eternity, which God has for his people. “Thou hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.” “He filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” “O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!” “The goodness of the Lord endureth continually.”

The Lesson.—The lesson for us, each and all, dear readers, is that God’s goodness should lead us to repentance, should empty our hearts of selfishness, should let in God’s Spirit of Life and Light and Glory, that his goodness may not only be wrought for us but in us; for the “fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” Letting Christ’s life rule in us, letting God’s Spirit of goodness abide with us, then indeed will it be true that God will “fulfil all the good-pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power” in us, and “the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” will “be glorified.” 2 Thess. 1:11. Then indeed may we say with the psalmist, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Our lives will be blessings to others. The Lord will go before us and be our rearward. As we have received, so will we give. Goodness is the fruit of the Spirit of Christ; “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

“Heaven and earth are witnesses. That Thy glory goodness is.”