You are good and only do good
The Psalmist declares, “You are good and do only good” (Ps 119:68a).
Now, in his context, God doing good was probably measured by things like securing him victory in battle or protecting him against his enemies, but nevertheless he interpreted all of God’s actions as good. Even God’s discipline was received as good, leading to repentance and increased faithfulness (Ps 119:67).
That God is good and does only good was eventually confirmed by Jesus’ disciples. This, John says, is what Jesus taught them about God; “This is the message we heard from Jesus ad now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all” (1 Jn 1:5).
God is light, in him there is no darkness at all. God is good and does only good. Jesus confirmed it. THIS is what Jesus taught his disciples about God.
And yet, there are Christians who hold theological views that unavoidably ascribe evil to God. You cannot claim, for instance, that before the beginning of time God decided that some people would spend all of eternity in conscious torment and then argue that such a thing is the byproduct of God’s goodness.
Don’t get me wrong, people do make this argument, but it’s self-evidently silly. All people should have a radar for detecting when a claim must be false. The other day I was talking with my daughter and the topic of the recent Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bad Bunny came up. She said something like, “Bad Bunny surpassed Taylor Swift as the most listened to artist of all time.” I immediately knew that claim was false. I asked a few questions, we did a little googling together, and the accurate stat was that Bad Bunny became the most listened to artist in North America…this month.
I heard a thing and just knew that it could not be true.[1]
People should be able to do the same with claims about God. A filter that Jesus often used, though in reverse, was to compare what we do to what God does. Jesus might say, “If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will God give good things to those who ask” (Mt 7:11)? If evil people are capable of doing good, God must be infinitely moreso.
The same should be true in reverse. If a powerful person arbitrarily chose to destroy countless lives we would never make the argument that doing so was either an expression of his goodness or somehow magnified his holiness. We would call that person a tyrant and monster. So, why in the world would we accept that God does something similar and then excuse it as God expressing God’s goodness or holiness?
We shouldn’t.
If God were to do such a thing God would no longer be good or one who does only good. God would be evil, full of darkness.
The prophet Isaiah anticipated the day when people of faith would not be able to tell the difference, as easy as it ought to be. He wrote, “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter” (Is 5:20).
People did so in Isaiah’s day and continue to do so today.
Despite Jesus’ warning. Jesus told his disciples, referring to how they see things, “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your whole body…Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness” (Lk 11:34-35).
Many Christians believe that the way they understand God and faith represents light—the right and faithful way to see things—and yet they unavoidably ascribe evil to God. They avoid applying simple filters, including the ones Jesus himself gave us, that could easily falsify their claims, and the consequence is that they call evil good and good evil. The light they think they have is actually darkness.
I reference AW Tozer all the time; “What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.”[2] When the Psalmist thought about God he thought, “God is good and does only good. Even when I am being disciplined it is because God seeks my good.” When Jesus thought about the father he thought, “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.”
But when many Christians think about God, they call God good while ascribing to him evil. This should not be. The most dangerous heresies are the ones that try and pass themselves off as orthodoxy. It is not orthodox to believe that God predetermined most people who have ever lived will suffer eternal conscious torment. It is not orthodox to believe that God condemns to hell unbaptized babies or people born into a time and place where they never had the chance to hear about Jesus.
It IS orthodox to believe that God is good and does only good, even if you’re not sure how that works or what it will look like. The hope of the person who knows God in Christ is that God is working all things for good.
Because God is good and does only good.
[1] For the record, while I did not understand any of Bad Bunny’s lyrics and I can always do without scantily clad dancing girls, I thought his halftime show was highly entertaining. I felt like I was being thoughtfully invited into another world, which I suspect is the trademark of Latin American culture he was trying to elevate.
[2] From The Knowledge of the Holy
Now, in his context, God doing good was probably measured by things like securing him victory in battle or protecting him against his enemies, but nevertheless he interpreted all of God’s actions as good. Even God’s discipline was received as good, leading to repentance and increased faithfulness (Ps 119:67).
That God is good and does only good was eventually confirmed by Jesus’ disciples. This, John says, is what Jesus taught them about God; “This is the message we heard from Jesus ad now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all” (1 Jn 1:5).
God is light, in him there is no darkness at all. God is good and does only good. Jesus confirmed it. THIS is what Jesus taught his disciples about God.
And yet, there are Christians who hold theological views that unavoidably ascribe evil to God. You cannot claim, for instance, that before the beginning of time God decided that some people would spend all of eternity in conscious torment and then argue that such a thing is the byproduct of God’s goodness.
Don’t get me wrong, people do make this argument, but it’s self-evidently silly. All people should have a radar for detecting when a claim must be false. The other day I was talking with my daughter and the topic of the recent Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bad Bunny came up. She said something like, “Bad Bunny surpassed Taylor Swift as the most listened to artist of all time.” I immediately knew that claim was false. I asked a few questions, we did a little googling together, and the accurate stat was that Bad Bunny became the most listened to artist in North America…this month.
I heard a thing and just knew that it could not be true.[1]
People should be able to do the same with claims about God. A filter that Jesus often used, though in reverse, was to compare what we do to what God does. Jesus might say, “If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will God give good things to those who ask” (Mt 7:11)? If evil people are capable of doing good, God must be infinitely moreso.
The same should be true in reverse. If a powerful person arbitrarily chose to destroy countless lives we would never make the argument that doing so was either an expression of his goodness or somehow magnified his holiness. We would call that person a tyrant and monster. So, why in the world would we accept that God does something similar and then excuse it as God expressing God’s goodness or holiness?
We shouldn’t.
If God were to do such a thing God would no longer be good or one who does only good. God would be evil, full of darkness.
The prophet Isaiah anticipated the day when people of faith would not be able to tell the difference, as easy as it ought to be. He wrote, “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter” (Is 5:20).
People did so in Isaiah’s day and continue to do so today.
Despite Jesus’ warning. Jesus told his disciples, referring to how they see things, “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your whole body…Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness” (Lk 11:34-35).
Many Christians believe that the way they understand God and faith represents light—the right and faithful way to see things—and yet they unavoidably ascribe evil to God. They avoid applying simple filters, including the ones Jesus himself gave us, that could easily falsify their claims, and the consequence is that they call evil good and good evil. The light they think they have is actually darkness.
I reference AW Tozer all the time; “What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.”[2] When the Psalmist thought about God he thought, “God is good and does only good. Even when I am being disciplined it is because God seeks my good.” When Jesus thought about the father he thought, “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.”
But when many Christians think about God, they call God good while ascribing to him evil. This should not be. The most dangerous heresies are the ones that try and pass themselves off as orthodoxy. It is not orthodox to believe that God predetermined most people who have ever lived will suffer eternal conscious torment. It is not orthodox to believe that God condemns to hell unbaptized babies or people born into a time and place where they never had the chance to hear about Jesus.
It IS orthodox to believe that God is good and does only good, even if you’re not sure how that works or what it will look like. The hope of the person who knows God in Christ is that God is working all things for good.
Because God is good and does only good.
[1] For the record, while I did not understand any of Bad Bunny’s lyrics and I can always do without scantily clad dancing girls, I thought his halftime show was highly entertaining. I felt like I was being thoughtfully invited into another world, which I suspect is the trademark of Latin American culture he was trying to elevate.
[2] From The Knowledge of the Holy
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