The Goodness of God: A Terrible and Beautiful Truth
How good is the God we adore,
Our faithful, unchangeable Friend!
His love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end.― Joseph Hart
Dr. John Snyder is the Pastor of Christ Church New Albany, director of Media Gratiae, and author of multiple Bible studies, including Behold Your God: The Weight of Majesty.
Behold Your God: The Weight of Majesty is a 12-week multimedia Bible study that walks with the student through the attributes of God to lead to a deeper understanding of who God is and how each of His attributes ought to impact the daily walk of the Christian.
In “Knowing the God Who is Good,” week 10 of Behold Your God: The Weight of Majesty, Dr. Snyder writes,
The goodness of God can be approached both as an attribute and as an umbrella term that contains many attributes. The goodness of God comprises the moral perfections of God. These moral perfections (including everything from holiness and wrath to love, mercy, patience, faithfulness, and zeal) clothe the attributes of God’s greatness with beauty. The greatness of God enlarges these attributes of goodness and brings them into their proper perspective.
…Because of the attributes of God’s greatness, God’s goodness can never:
- be dependent on another person’s actions or any particular circumstances
- be fully comprehended
- be lessened, made greater, or measured
- be limited with regard to action
- be limited with regard to place
- be limited with regard to time
- be mistaken or surprised
- be outmaneuvered, manipulated, or thwarted
- be tainted with any form of sin or compromiseGod’s goodness can only be seen correctly when it is filled with every aspect of God’s greatness.
…When the Christian sees the transcendent majesty of God and then follows it with a serious look at God’s goodness, it is the most pride shattering, temptation-dimming thing he or she can do. It is the goodness of God that makes us love Him. It is the goodness of God that holds us to the course of consecration. It is the goodness of God that makes us repent when we stray. The goodness of God is a terrible and beautiful truth that crushes all forms of sin in the life of any believer that studies it in its biblical context.
…God is morally perfect…Yet there is more. God is good to us in that His good (kind) pleasure is to save all who repent and come to Him through faith in His Son. When referring to our God, goodness is a word that is infinitely full of meaning…God is good by nature in all His actions. He is essentially, perpetually, superlatively, infinitely good.