Q.
1. “What is God’s goodness?”
“God
is good. In fact, our English word ‘God’ is derived from the word ‘good.’
When we speak of God’s goodness we speak of His absolute perfection (His moral
or ethical goodness); we confess that He is the sum total of all perfections
(all virtues being infinitely in Him) and that He is the overflowing fountain
of all good (Belgic Confession, Art. 1). When we speak of God’s
goodness, we mean His benevolence or kindness toward creatures, specifically
His elect people. God’s goodness is traditionally subdivided into grace,
mercy and love.” (Rev. Martyn McGeown, “Essentials of
Reformed Doctrine”; Lesson 5.2—“God’s Communicable Attributes” [2])
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Q.
2. “From a study of the term goodness in Scripture, we see that goodness is closely related to
other attributes of God such as grace, mercy, love, longsuffering, goodness,
and the like. These ethical virtues of God stand related to each other.
Therefore, because all men are the objects of God’s goodness, all men are also
the objects of God’s grace, love, mercy, goodness, etc.”
The
argument is, of course, correct formally. Because God’s attributes are one in
Him, they are to be treated together. God’s grace is surely inseparably
connected to and a part of His love, kindness, goodness, mercy, longsuffering,
etc. If anyone of them is common to all men, they are all common. If one is
particular, however, they all are particular.
…
[However, when you survey the Scriptures for these terms,] in every case they
are attributes which are shown only to the elect. There is a prima facie case to be made for the
truth that always God is particular in His grace and mercy, His love and favor.
The argument consists of two lines of thought.
The
first is this. If all these attributes are indeed inseparably related to grace,
and if grace in Scripture is something shown only to the elect, then it follows
that these other attributes as well are shown only to those chosen in Christ
from eternity.
The
second line of thought goes like this. God’s attributes are never mere
characteristics of God. They are living, powerful, working attributes. They are
the virtues of the living God who does all things. If, e.g., grace is itself
the power whereby we are saved, so also is this true of love and goodness. We
love God because He first loved us. We are good because God is good to us. We
are called to be kind towards one another because God is kind to us. God’s
attitude is never merely attitude, powerless to accomplish what it is in Him.
When God is gracious to a man, that grace permeates man’s being and makes him
gracious. God’s mercy is more than an attitude of pity and longing to deliver.
It is a mighty power that rescues us from our own hell and makes us blessed. It
is a serious injustice to God to make His attributes mere attitudes such as our
attributes are. (Prof. Herman C.
Hanko, “Protestant Reformed Theological Journal,” April 1993)
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