The Goodness of God | His Holiness
- Pastor Mike
- Jul 18, 2018
- 2 min read
"Oh my goodness!"
No...The Goodness of God.
The goodness of God may be discovered in all of his relationships with his creatures. It is demonstrated in his moral attributes of purity, integrity, and the entire complex of characteristics that are identified as His love.
Sometimes these attributes are viewed as conflicting with each other, as in the case of justice and love. When correctly viewed, however, this is not the case. There are many methods for understanding the nature of God. However, the method of drawing interpretations from biblical statementsabout God is the most satisfactory. In other words, God’s own words, in His word (our bible) will tell us what to believe about His goodness.
Let’s begin with God’s moral purity. By moral purity, I am referring to God's absolute freedom from anything wicked or evil. His moral purity includes the dimensions of (1) holiness, (2) righteousness, and (3) justice. We will take these one at a time over several weeks.
God's Holiness
If There are two basic aspects to God's holiness. The first is his uniqueness. He is totally separate from all of creation. The uniqueness of God is affirmed in Exodus 15:11:
"Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?" The other aspect of God's holiness is his absolute purity or goodness. This means that he is untouched and unstained by the evil in the world. He does not in any sense participate in it. Habakkuk 1:13addresses God: "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?" The other aspect of God's holiness is his absolute purity or goodness. This means that he is untouched and unstained by the evil in the world. He does not in any sense participate in it. Habakkuk 1:13addresses God: "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong." James 1:13 says that God cannot be tempted with evil. "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God' for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone." In this respect, God is totally unlike the gods of other religions. Those gods frequently engaged in the same type of sinful acts as did their followers. God, however, is free from such acts. Job 34:12 says, "It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice." Paul stresses the point that those whom God has called to be his people are therefore to separate themselves from unclean things and be perfectly holy (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1). The same idea is found in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 and 4:7. In an obvious reference to the Old Testament requirement of spotlessness and freedom from any blemish, Paul notes that the church is also to be completely holy: "...to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Eph. 5:27). Next week we will look at His righteousness.
Love to all in Christ,
Pastor Mike
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