What is Good?
Genesis 1:3-4, “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good:
We all have seen a good movie or eaten a good meal or listened to a good song, but surprisingly what we consider as good someone else may not. In our English language what we enjoy and prefer, despite others objections, is what we call good. But is that how God uses the word “Good”?
טוֹב towb translated “good”
The Hebrew word towb is first used in Genesis 1:3,4.
The Word of God interprets itself in the verse, in context and where it is used before.
Here in it’s first usage is the formula for God’s definition of what is good:
1. Spoken by God
2. The Word of God comes to pass.
3. God examines the results and compares them with his expectations and declares them the same ”good”.
Now lets examine other verses using this formula.
Isaiah 46:10, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” Romans 4:17b, “…. even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” Hebrews 11:3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”2 Peter 3:5, “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:”
What is truely amazing working in other languages is that what may be neuter in one language may carry a gender in another. So it is with the Hebrew word towb, it is a masculine noun therefore it’s pronoun is “him”. Lets examine John 1:1-4, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
The Word coming to pass as God declared it, is God’s greatest priority! It is that what is GOOD.
Remember Jesus’s prayer to God the Father? Matthew 6:10, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Understanding what is “good”, that is bringing the Word of God, His will (not ours) to pass, helps us understand the importance of the Word.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
Here is another perplexing verse but now is easy to understand. Matthew 19:17, “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
The question is how come Jesus can not be good? Because he could be tempted with evil, and only God can not!
James 1:13-14, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” and in Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
How about the Apostle Paul, was he good? Romans 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”
There is only one that cannot be tempted, God.
GOD is Good!
Read any GOOD books lately?
R. Frank Tulak, S.R.E.