Good and Doing It

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Gal. 5:22 NKJV). The word “goodness” captures our attention in this article. To properly understand goodness, we must first understand the word “good.”

We know that God is good (Mt. 19:17). So too is His law (Rm. 7:12), His will (Rm. 12:1-2), and everything He does and provides (Jm. 1:17). Therefore, since each of us is made in His image (Gen. 1:26-27), we can be good too! More than that, as Christians, we should desire to be good every day. What does that include (just to name a few)?

• Our conduct toward our enemies (Mt. 5:43-48)
• Our teaching (Mt. 7:15-20)
• Our speech (Mt. 12:31-37)
• Our stewardship (Mt. 25:14-23)
• Our deeds (Eph. 2:10)
• Our obedience (Rm. 2:7-10)
• Our giving (2 Cor. 9:8; Gal. 6:6-10)
• The gospel message (Rm. 10:15-16)

Now that we understand the word “good” we can understand the word “goodness.” The Greek word is found only four times in the Bible (Rm. 15:14; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9; 2 Th. 1:11). In general, it denotes an uprightness of life that conforms to the standard of God’s Word. That makes sense since God’s Word makes us complete for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Therefore, when we follow God’s standard, we too can be full of goodness. In a wicked world (1 Jn. 5:19), let us be those that not only know what good is but do it!

Trent Thrasher