The Wonder of Goodness (Romans 15:14)

Paul describes his readers as being full of goodness. Obviously, he regards them as very different from those he describes earlier in his letter and says that none of them did good. So how could there be such a difference between people? We can also observe that not only is he saying that there is a difference, he is also saying that there is a great difference between them. This must be the case if they are full of goodness. This goodness he indicates is internal. This surely begs two questions: who decides what goodness is and what are the features that qualify something to be regarded as good?

The prerequisite

What is the big difference between the two types of people just mentioned, those that are described as not doing good and that those described as full of goodness. The difference is that the second group are converted whereas the first group are not, even although they were religious. As we think about this difference, we can see that it is stark. Whatever else can be said, that is an obvious difference. If a person does not realise that, they cannot really appreciate what Paul is saying.

Someone could respond to this message and say, ‘how do I get converted?’ There are two ways that we can respond to this question. We can respond with human complication or we can respond with divine simplicity. Human complications can occur when we try to add to biblical descriptions of conversion. In contrast, the divine simplicity of the gospel message is straightforward. A person hears the gospel invitation based on what Jesus did on the cross. God through the gospel tells him to repent of his sins and to trust, depend on Jesus. That is it. Until a person does that, he cannot do any spiritual good in the sense that satisfies God, and after he has done it, he will produce spiritual fruit that satisfies God.

The provision

What happens when a person believes in Jesus and is converted? He receives the Holy Spirit as his enabler. This is not the same as the Holy Spirit being his regenerator, although they are connected. At regeneration, the Holy Spirit makes a spiritually-dead person alive. That is the act of a moment. It has ongoing consequences in which are lifelong, and those consequences are brought about by the Holy Spirit who, to use the terminology of Jesus, indwells that newborn sinner. He is a new creation, but not yet a sinless creature. Nevertheless, he is a changed person, made alive by the Holy Spirit and enabled by the Holy Spirit to live a changed life. It is inevitable that other people will see a huge difference in that sinner’s life.

The pattern

What is the pattern of this new life? Does the Bible indicate what it is? We are told that those who become believers in Jesus have new minds and hearts. What does that mean? One way that the Bible describes it is to say that when a sinner trusts in Jesus he becomes a member of the new covenant community. God does something to every member of this community — he says, ‘I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’ (Heb. 8:10). This is an allusion to what happened originally at Mount Sinai when God gave the Ten Commandments to his people. The renewal that he produces in sinners who believe the gospel is that they will think about his law in their minds and that they will love his law with their hearts. When that happens, they will be recognised as God’s people.’

What has this to do with divine goodness, we may ask? The answer is that God’s law defines what goodness is. Obedience to it is the expression of goodness, the living out of goodness. This is how Paul’s readers could be described as being full of goodness. Their hearts had been changed, they now wanted to live a good life in the sight of God.

The problems

Yet the fact that God has done this in their lives does not mean that they no longer have difficulties. Because they are still sinners, they have inner opposition to living good lives. The apostle Paul complained about himself that often when he wanted to do good, he discovered that evil was present with him, spoiling what he was aiming to do for God. Paul sometimes describes this inner opposition as the flesh.

Not only do they have an inner hindrance to living good lives, they also have outer enemies that the Bible calls the world and the devil. By world, he does not mean the physical world. Rather be means the ideas and practices of the sinful inhabitants of the world, and among them there is a wide range. The devil, as we know, is the first rebel against God and the most powerful rebel against him, and one way by which he fights against God is to tempt believers in Jesus to cease being good and doing good.

The practice

What therefore are we to do, if we are believers, to be marked by goodness? Another way of asking this question is to ask, what will the Holy Spirit want us to do in order to be able to live in such a way, even if we cannot be perfect? This is an important question, the answers to which are found in the Bible. 

A response that God expects from his people is prayer. In Luke 11, Jesus teaches his disciples about prayer, and he tells them that they should pray to God that he will give them the Holy Spirit to enable them to live as his followers. Prayer is an obvious requirement for living a good life. Inevitably, this means that we must challenge ourselves about the intensity and the frequency of our prayer lives. I have the feeling that it is not what it should be. You may ask how one can know that. The answer is straightforward — where are the signs of the Spirit’s presence?

Since the Ten Commandments are the summary of what it means to live in a good way from God’s point of view, it means that it is not difficult to work out what a good life is. The commandments themselves divide into two sections, those primarily connected to God and those connected to our neighbours. A good person pays attention to those actions that are focused on God and those that are focussed on fellow humans. 

So we can consider briefly what those commandments say, and that will help us discover if we are marked by goodness or even approaching full of goodness. The first commandment instructs us that we should not have other gods before the Lord. God is not using the word ‘before’ in the sense of levels, as if it was all right to have gods as long as we kept them lower down. Rather he is saying that when we are in his presence, before him, we should not bring other gods with us. A good person only worships the true God.

The second commandment says that a good person will not engage in idolatry of any kind. While it is unlikely that someone will worship idols of wood or stone or metal today, there are plenty other idols available. But someone full of goodness has no place in his heart for them. The third commandment indicates that a good person will speak about God in a respectful way. He will never be flippant.

The fourth commandment indicates that a good person will delight in worshipping God and on his day will not do anything that prevents him from doing so. He recognises God’s authority in the manner because the Lord has told him that he should do so. In New Testament times, that day is the first day of the week, which is specifically called the Lord’s Day, which means that primarily it is about him. 

The law written on the heart by God now focuses on inter-human relationships. It includes instruction to children, which is a reminder that children can know the Lord and be marked by goodness. Obedience to this commandment has a specific  reward from the Lord.

The remaining commandments are expressed negatively, which is a very effective way of conveying truth. A good person will preserve life and not destroy it; a good person will honour purity and live in that way; a good person will give to others and not take illegally from them; a good person will tell the truth about other people even in a difficult situation marked by pressure; and a good person will control his heart when he sees the possessions of another person.

The pertinence

Of course, some may wonder why we should focus on the Ten Commandments when thinking about goodness. What can be said in response to that question? One answer is that it is the explanation and application that Jesus gave when he spoke to the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-23). The problem with that ruler was twofold: first, he had not shown neighbourly love as he could have done; second, and more seriously, he did not have a heart desire to follow Jesus. God’s law was not written on that ruler’s heart.