GOD IS THE ONLY GOOD
By A. Gene Veal

“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”  Matthew 19:16-17

When the only thing people hear about God is that “God is Love”, they tend to have no idea about their condition.  As discussed in the earlier articles (God is Righteous, God is Light, and God is Holy), there is a problem that must be recognized BEFORE coming to the love of God.

By nature we seem to feel that, while we are not “perfect”, at least we aren’t as bad as some people.  We have never murdered anyone.  We haven’t actually stolen anything (or at least not like robbing a bank or a convenience store).  We haven’t lied (very much).  We have never committed adultery or fornication (except maybe in our imagination.  We just don’t see our sin as being all that bad.

But the Scriptures clearly tell us, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  How in the world is a person going to “be perfect”?  Isn’t that unreasonable?

There was a rich young ruler that came to Jesus and said, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”  How can a sinner be or do “good”?  This man did not seem to have an understanding of “goodness”.  He had heard that Jesus was a man “who went about doing good”, but that was all he knew. (Like those who have ONLY heard that “GOD IS LOVE”.)  The young man didn’t know he himself was not good, that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” and “There is none righteous, no, not one.”

When the man asked Jesus, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” it seems Jesus ignores his question when Jesus responds with, “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.”  But the truth is that Jesus not only answered the man’s question, He answered the man’s heart.  The man was under the illusion that he was a pretty good person, so Jesus asks about the man’s question so that the man might examine his thinking.

Had the man “ears to hear”, he would have concluded: “If God is the ONLY good, it means I’m NOT good.”  Jesus answered his question with a question: “Why callest thou me good?” Then Jesus makes that all important statement: “There is none good but one, that is, God.”  That statement leaves us all short of being good in our selves.

But, when the man demonstrates the question Jesus asked him went right over his head, Jesus moves to the primary instrument of showing us that we have all sinned: THE LAW.  Paul tells us the purpose of the law: “The law entered, that the offence (sin) might abound” and “I had not known sin, but by the law” and “But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.”  And “sin is not imputed when there is no law.”  “The strength of sin is the law.” And John tells us, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” And “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.”

Jesus moves from the “obvious” conclusion that if “There is none good but one, that is, God” then you are not good, to “Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.”  If the man had “ears to hear” he would have concluded, “I am a sinner and I am NOT GOOD.”

But, instead, the young man said, “Master, all these have I observed from my youth.”  He revealed that he still didn’t get it.  Paul told us that the law had only ONE goal: TO BRING US TO CHRIST.  “For Christ is the end (goal) of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

Then Jesus drives home the first commandment (“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”) saying, “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”

Jesus hit him where it hurts.  He had said that he has kept the law, which revealed he had no understanding of the law’s requirements.  So Jesus started at the beginning and drove home the severity of the first commandment.  “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”

This brings to mind an incident in my life many years ago.  I was in a man’s home, telling him about Jesus and the man’s need of salvation.  The man was very inclined, for whatever reason, to “receive Christ”.  All of a sudden, as if an important thought captured his mind, he backed away saying, “Does this mean I have to give up ____.” (He named something he loved very much)  Now I didn’t care whether he loved that or not.  I wasn’t there to order his life, but I replied, “Why do you ask?”

He began to tell me how much he loved ____.  I told him, “I would never have mentioned it to you, but since you bring it up as your hesitation to turning to Christ, I must tell you that if you consider anything more important to you than Jesus you cannot be His disciple.”  I read to him Jesus own words: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” And “Whosoever will save his life (whatever he counts more precious in his life) shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.” 

This would even include people, even people who may be very precious to us.  To be a disciple of Jesus Christ our devotion to Him must be of such a degree that all other relationships would be as “hate” by comparison. “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”  A. T. Robertson says of this Scripture: Jesus does not here mean that one must hate his father or mother of necessity or as such, for Mt 15:4 proves the opposite. It is only where the element of choice comes in (cf. Mt 6:24) as it sometimes does, when father or mother opposes Christ. Then one must not hesitate. In another place Jesus said, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

So, in conclusion, GOD IS THE ONLY GOOD.  Since God is Righteous, Holy, Light, and Good, we are driven to recognize our need.  We become “poor in spirit” and we “hunger and thirst for righteousness”.  We cannot attain to the standard God requires.  We have all “sinned and come short of His glory.”

Knowing a little more of Who God is, we are brought to the end of our selves.  We are hopelessly lost and unable to save our selves.  We now know we must be “righteous” to be accepted by God.  We must be “perfect.”

Now we are ready to hear His invitation.  Now we are ready to be “drawn by His Spirit”.  Now we can call on Him knowing His provision for us “in Christ”, for “salvation is of the Lord” and not of our doing.  “Now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested … even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe”.  “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Now, as a Christian, you will fully appreciate the magnificent LOVE OF GOD.  Now, as a Christian, you will know “God is Love” and that “Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” as Christians.

Now, as a Christian, “if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us: hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit”, “because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us” as Christians.

 Now we are ready for our next article: “GOD IS LOVE”.

Click here to read WHO IS GOD?

Click here to read SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: GOD

Click here to read WHO ARE THE RIGHTEOUS?