Words are powerful. What we say affects other people, and
what we hear affects us. There are words that hurt by cutting, while other
words erode confidence by picking, and some construct walls between people by
offending. Words can also have a positive effect to those who hear them. They
can encourage, strengthen, and invite people into relationship. So much of this
happens unwittingly in casual conversations. The truth is, we hardly think
about the power of words, except in terms of their instructional value.
There is another way that words function in our lives that
seems to just happen. It is as if some words fall on us; they are
formative—going beyond just relating information. They shape how we think,
feel, and respond to things in our lives. These words often reach in and
connect with beliefs and hopes that we have. They draw them out.
This formative role of words is particularly significant in
the Christian community. Words are used to express the reality of what is
already believed, and when we hear our beliefs and hopes expressed, faith
reaches out and grabs it. Our faith is stirred and then grows. This is one of
the primary purposes of the New Testament book of Hebrews. It is not primarily
instructional, it is constructive, and is intended to root and build faith
(Col. 2:6). So, the writer says, “pay even more attention to what we have
heard, so that we will not drift away” (Heb. 2:1).
Today, there are a few words that seem to be very
constructive for Christians. Grace.
Mercy. Gospel. With a resurgence in gospel-centered thinking, these terms
are feeding people as they seek to live their lives in response to what God has
done for them in the death and resurrection of Jesus. These words are shaping
their identity and calling out their faith in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ
for salvation.
There is one word, however, that is central to the biblical
story that appears to be missing in this discussion, and its absence might be
hindering our progress towards spiritual transformation. That word is good, or in a slightly different
grammatical form, goodness.
What is Good?
Terrence Malick’s film Tree
of Life is perhaps this year’s most puzzling movie. One reviewer admitted
he walked out of the theater asking the question, “what just happened?” That
was my first response to the movie, too.
Because the movie is about the meaning of life, the viewers
understandably expect (at least those unfamiliar with Malick’s work) that they
will be confronted with a message on life’s purpose. But, what they get is an
experience.
Malick’s movie does not answer many questions, if any. It
engages its viewers in a visceral experience on how through the passing of
time, events and relationships develop our understanding of life’s meaning. One
of the most poignant moments in the movie is when the central character, Jack,
while still a boy, watches a friend drown. After this, he asks—through the
voice of the narrator—looking to the heavens, “If you are not good, why should
I be?”
It seems to me that Jack’s question is the same question all
of us are asking. We may not express it in the same way, but the question
remains the same, “What is good?”
Many do exactly what Jack did. They look (perhaps just in
their minds) to the heavens and say, “Are you good?” Some people are so jaded
they deny anything is good, but they still live for something; the smile of a
loved one, the expression of their angst, the enjoyment of culture. Ultimately,
the question for everyone becomes specific and directed, “What is good for me?”
The question, “what is good?” is the persistent moral and
emotional question of our soul. It is moral in part because it raises concerns
over the nature of God. It is also moral because the answer to the question
affects our moral decisions, as much as any other single question. It is
emotional because the anticipation of finding something good gives life to our
hope, unlike any other anticipation.
We Were Created for
Goodness
Our pursuit of goodness is natural. We were made for it. God
created a good creation.
The first words that Adam and Eve probably heard were, “It
is very good.” This was God’s statement of pleasure at the end of creation. It
was more than just saying, “It is uncorrupted.” He was saying, “It is as it
should be.” There was order. There was beauty. There was abundance. Through
these things, God’s goodness for His creation was known. The Garden of Eden was
a place where humanity dwelt with God, and they enjoyed God’s abundant
provision. It was a place where God’s goodness was on display and where
humanity knew God’s goodness was for them.
But in the garden, God allowed the opportunity for goodness
to be explored without him. A tree was planted that was not good for food, for eating it would introduce death. He
permitted the serpent to enter the garden, who was his enemy. The serpent
approaches Eve, and goes to the heart of the issue--questioning God’s goodness.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said this conversation was the first theological
conversation because the serpent suggests that he knows something about God
that Eve does not know. He raises doubt about whether God can be trusted. It is
at this point, Eve looks at the forbidden tree and sees that, what once was
not, is now good for food. She eats, and Adam follows, eating after her.
The serpent’s words were a lie, but in a strange turn, they
become a truth. They knew their creator. He walked in the garden with them. He
spoke to them. But, after eating of the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve’s
knowledge of God’s goodness changed. God’s goodness did not change, but their
understanding of it and trust in it did. They became unfettered from God’s
goodness for them, and set out to find goodness on their own.
Adam and Eve demonstrated this by hiding from him and
covering themselves up. Their actions are reasonable on the one hand, for God’s
goodness is no longer for them. God is still good, and he has a good plan. He
will display his goodness to his creation in general ways, and use his goodness
to preserve his creation for his redemptive plan. But, the face of God is no
longer towards humanity. Death has entered the world, and with it came fear.
Fear changes our pursuit of and hope in goodness.
Humanity now is on a constant pursuit for what is good for
them as finite creatures with the looming reality of death—looking for promises
to believe that offer compelling goodness.
But, God
Re-expressions His Goodness
God demonstrates his goodness for us in redemption. Athanasius
wonderfully connects God’s goodness and the work of salvation in On the Incarnation. He writes,
It was unworthy of the goodness of God that creatures made by
Him should be brought to nothing through the deceit wrought upon man by the
devil; and it was supremely unfitting that the work of God in mankind should
disappear, either through their own negligence or through the deceit of evil
spirits. As, then, the creatures who He had created reasonable, like the Word,
were in fact perishing, and such noble works were on the road to ruin, what
then was God, being Good, to do? (1996)
God loves us because we derive our value from him and from
his purpose for us. Richard Bauckham (2004) echoes this when he writes, “The good of God’s human creatures requires
that he be known to them as God.” He demonstrates his goodness in love and
mercy for sinners, so that we might know him and give praise to his “glorious
grace” (Eph. 1:3-6, 2:4-8). In knowing God and praising him, we know our great
good—God himself.
In the redemptive work of God, He becomes our good, and His
goodness is now turned towards us.
Here is how Jesus says it:
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
(Matt. 7:11)
Paul has his own take on the significance
of knowing God’s goodness for us: “We know that all
things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called
according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
John has a slightly different way of
speaking to this truth: “Now His commands are not a burden,
because whatever has been born of God conquers the world.” (1 Jn. 5:3b-4a)
We live between two
promises
Now, we live between the promise of God being our supreme good,
and the promise of finding our own good separated from him.
Spiritual transformation is the process of believing that
the things of this world are passing away, and the things of God remain forever
(1 Jn. 2:17). The point of decision does not hinge on information, but rather
on belief. And this belief does not
hinge on will-power, but a compelling promise. Every decision and action is a
response to a belief in a promise.
Anger believes the promise that goodness is found in might
makes right. Lust believes the promise that the greatest pleasure comes from
what it can control. Greed believes the promise that security comes from what
can be gained.
The pure in heart are responding to the promise that they
will see God (Matt. 5:8). Those who hunger for righteousness believe they will
be filled (Matt. 5:6). Those who are gentle believe they will inherit the earth
(Matt. 5:55). They believe these things in response to trusting that God’s
goodness is for them.
We ultimately trust in “the promise” that we believe is for our good. We don’t make decisions
arbitrarily. We do what we most desire. What we desire most is what we
ultimately trust is for our good.
So,
one key piece to spiritual transformation is belief that God’s goodness is for us. This belief must exceed wishful
hope or spiritual excitement. It must be based on objective work, where the
promises of God’s goodness for us are secure.
We find this security in the gospel. Romans 8:32 says, “He
did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all; how will He not
also with Him grant us everything?” With this, the knowledge of God’s goodness
for us is found in what God has done for us in offering his Son up on our
behalf that we might be reconciled to him. This great truth stirs our faith in
God’s promises and produces transformed (lives, hearts, people, believers) that
deny the promise of lesser goods for the promises of God, which are for our greatest good.
References
Bauckham, R. (2004). Bible
and mission: Christian witness in a postmodern
world (p. 37). Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker.
St. Athanasius (1996). On
the Incarnation (p. 32). Crestwood,
NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary
Press.
Keith Whitfield
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
No comments:
Post a Comment