Our Triune God
God is good all the time!
All the time God is good!
These words are spoken in many church services and Christian gatherings. They are words of praise of our God and a strong reminder and encouragement of God’s goodness. The mindset of this quote is the heart of God’s attribute of omnibenevolence. This $10 word means that God is all-good. “God is absolutely good and that no action or motive or thought or feeling or anything else about Him is not purely good.” (Got Questions )
Sometimes this gets misunderstood to mean God is good to the exclusion of other attributes such as just, holy, and righteous. As if somehow those attributes are not also good. Omnibenevolence actually covers a number of attributes. Below I will list some of them with a very brief description of each; but keep in mind this is not an exhaustive list.
Good and Goodness: There are a number of ideas that connect to goodness. First is the idea of having the qualities or skill for something, such as “good at math.” We think of being good as being moral, doing what is right, as in “the kids were very good today.” This is very similar to what we mean when we say God is holy or righteous. The third is being of a benefit to others, as in “using one’s talent for the good of others.”
When thinking of God in these three areas, we see that God is good at all He does. At the end of His creating, He says it is “very good” (Gen 1:31). While at times it takes faith to see, everything about God is good, it is holy and righteous. Finally, His desire is to be of benefit to His children (Mat 7:11). The truth is in this fallen world only God is good as Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Mk 10:18).
“Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!” (Ps 31:19)
“Oh, taste and see that the Lordis good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Ps 34:8)
“For the Lordis good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Ps 100:5)
“Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Ps 106:1)
“You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.” (Ps 119:68)
“Praise the Lord, for the Lordis good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant!” (Ps 135:3)
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:11)
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (Jas 1:17)
Kind and Kindness: This is the quality of being generous, helpful, and considerate. One is kind when they act out of care and concern for the needs of others. Acts of kindness are as simple as opening a door for someone, helping them with directions or as involved as fixing them a meal, cutting their grass, or helping them with a project.
While goodness and kindness are closely connected, there is a difference between them. Good is the moral acts and righteous deeds while kindness is exemplified in the generous, considerate, and helping acts that generally go beyond the requirement of morality. This is what we mean when we speak of the kindness of God. He goes beyond righteous acts to truly helping and caring for us in our time of need.
“The Lordis righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.” (Psm 145:17)
“In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lordyour Redeemer.” (Is 54:8, NASB2020)
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4–7)
Love and Loving: Love is an intense feeling of deep affection, as in “I love my children.” It can also be used of great interest and pleasure in something, as in “I love reading or woodworking.” I could say “I love the Dallas Cowboys”, but that has been hard to do for many years. Love, in English, carries many meanings: sexual love, romantic love, brotherly love or great devotion to something or someone.
This is the attribute which needs to be seen as a verb. Love is active not a mere warm fuzzy. God does not just love in feeling but displays His love in all He does. He does have great affection and interest in our well-being, but it goes beyond emotions to actions.
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.” (Ex 15:13)
“but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Ex 20:6)
“The Lordpassed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,” (Ex 34:6)
“It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,” (Deut 7:7–9)
“and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud,” (2 Chron 5:13)
“You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.” (Job 10:12)
“For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.” (Ps 21:7)
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” (1 Jn 4:8–9)
Compassion and Compassionate: acting to alleviate the suffering of others, feeling empathy for those in need. This attribute hits the nail on head of Christ substitutionary death for us.
“Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love; according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.” (Ps 51:1, CSB)
“but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;” (Lam 3:32)
“Therefore the Lordis waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lordis a just God. All who wait patiently for him are happy.” (Is 30:18, CSB)
“I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lordhas granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.” (Is 63:7)
Mercy and Merciful: Not giving to others what they do deserve or have earned. One may deserve a punishment for something done wrong, but mercy means not giving the full consequence or lessening the penalty.
“Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.” (Ps 25:6)
“The Lordis good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” (Ps 145:9)
“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:36)
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:16)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Pet 1:3)
Grace and Gracious: Giving to others what they do not deserve or have not earned, unmerited favor. A lender may give grace by giving a debtor more time to pay even though the debtor did nothing to warrant the extension.
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Gen 6:8)
“The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”” (Ex 34:6–7) (see Num 14:18)
“The Lordis merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Ps 103:8)
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9)
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Cor 12:9)
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,” (Titus 2:11)
There are some points we need to keep in mind about these attributes. First, while we do have these attributes too, we do not hold them in the perfection of God. Especially in our sinful nature, we fall far short of God’s standard. Many times we lack the desire to be holy in our application of the qualities. We also lack the omnipotence and omniscience to come close to perfect even when we want to do well.
Second, God is simple. By this we mean that He is whole, not a composite or made of parts. God is not part love and part holy. He is not part good and part just. Did you notice 1 John 4:8 said, “God is love.” It did not say he was loving or had love. He is fully love. There is no conflict within God. His love and justice never knock heads. He is never at conflict with His love for us and His holiness. We need to see God is His attributes more than having these attributes. He is fully love, fully just, fully gracious, completely merciful, and entirely holy. They do not conflict with each other but are Him in complete harmony. God never has to work to keep His attributes in balance.
Third, because of God’s all-powerful, all-knowing nature and all-wise, He is able to be perfectly loving. He has complete knowledge to know how to apply His love; He is powerful enough to express His love. With all His attributes working together in perfect harmony, He is always perfect in all He does.
Finally, a mistake is often made in thinking these benevolent attributes are just Jesus’ or are the God of the New Testament’s. It cannot be overstated how wrong that view is. We have endeavored in this series on the Triune God to emphasize the unity of the three persons of the Godhead. One God in nature who is three in person. We can never get away from this seeking to divide God into the heresy of tritheism: three gods. The Father is just as loving as the Son. Notice all the Old Testament references above. The omnibenevolent God is the same God we find in the Old Testament as the one we see in the New Testament. We lose so much when we reject the God of Israel because we mistakenly believe He is less loving than the God we see in the New Testament.
So, once again we must ask ourselves, how does this enlarge our view of God? Think about God. Think about who He is. Think about the ways these benevolent characteristics broaden what you now think God is like. Maybe you have had a view of God who was more Zeus like. A God looking down from heaven waiting for you to make one more mistake, make one more wrong move, then ZAP! Throwing down a lightning bolt of wrath into your life. Does seeing God as a fully loving, merciful, gracious, kind, and compassionate Lord change things? He is a great big God so let’s think some great big thoughts about Him.
Until the next time we see you here at CultivatingFaith.org, God Bless! #CultivatingFaithOrg