STUDY IN GALATIANS
G O O D N E S S Scripture is very careful to chal lenge us to be useful in our service for Christ. Yet, with the work in which we should be involved, there is also necessary that characteris tic of spiritual "goodness." This is found in the listing of the fruit of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5:22. Spiritual goodness reveals a person to be a new creature in Christ. He lives beyond the godless pattern of life which characterizes those who have never received the Saviour. Keep in mind that the real qualities of life are only bestowed by the Holy Spirit on those whose lives have been transformed through faith in the Lord. The word Paul uses for goodness comes from a very common Greek term simply meaning good or noble. In ancient times it could convey the idea of goodness in reference to birth. A person was good or noble if he was born into the right family. This dis tinction, however, was not that strong in the days when Paul was inspired to write this epistle. The Greek word by then simply meant good; and here in scripture it gen erally means spiritually good. But, interestingly enough, we cannot become good in God's sight unless we are born into His family. It is unfortunate that the world's stand ards are based on the idea that ef fort and determination will get one almost anything. We have all read such so-called "success stories." When we come to the spiritual di mensions of life, however, although effort and determination may be extremely helpful, yet these are not the things whereby one enters into
the family of God. This can only be realized through the new birth, as our Lord explained to Nicodemus, recorded in John 3. There is ample time to be diligent later on in our service for Christ. Once we are born into God's fam ily, how can we determine whether or not we are good from a human perspective? I suspect by living up to the standards God de sires for His family. This is certainly not to suggest that we can win favor with Him by what we do. We do have obligations, however, to live and to walk in this world in a man ner which would be pleasing to Him. This is the only possible way we can find satisfaction and con tentment in our daily existence. Al ways keep in mind that we are good in God's sight only through the shed blood of Christ. Yet, He re quests of us the kind of life that produces goodness. This markedly stands apart from the production of evil. One is the life of satisfaction, while the other is the life of misery and defeat. In the terms of I Corin thians 3:1, it is the distinction be tween a spiritual and carnal Chris tian. In Ephesians 5:9 we have this ex planation, "For the fruit of the Spir it is in all goodness and righteous ness and truth, proving what is ac ceptable unto the Lord." The Lord expects us to be spiritually good. We are not to walk in such things as fornication, uncleanness and covetous. We are not to live a life marked by corruption (Ephesians 5:1-5). We should avoid listening to those who would lure us away
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