Brothers and sisters,

The Bible consistently describes God as good. When God revealed Himself to Moses and the nation of Israel, it was in these terms:

Exodus 34:6-7

“And Jehovah passed by before him and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons and upon the sons' sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.”

The Bible also says this about the eternal, Creator God:

James 1:17

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

If a gift is “good,” it ultimately comes from God—the unchanging God (Malachi 3:6). “Good” is the consistent scriptural description of the nature and actions of God. In the Bible’s earliest revelation about God and His creative acts, the word “good” is used repeatedly. God described as “good” the things He made on the various days of creation, and the overall work of creation was summarized as “very good” (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31).

Speaking about the Lord our God, the Psalmist said,

Psalm 119:68

“You are good and do good. Teach me your statutes.”

According to the Bible, God is good.

QUESTION:

What is the definition, and the standard, of “good”? What does “GOOD” mean exactly? In a world of evil, pain and suffering, some question whether God really is all good.

Who defines “good”? Why do people differ in how they define “good”?

Yours in Christ,
Kevin