Okay, quick quiz. Who said, "There is none who does good"? Yeah, easy, right? David said it (twice) in Psalm 14. And, of course, Paul said it in Rom 3:12. And, then, there is Jesus. "Jesus?" Yes, He said the same thing. "No one is good except God alone" (Luke 18:18). Yes, Jesus, too. So what's up with that? I mean, Paul said there was none who does good in chapter 3 right after he said, "There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek." (Rom 2:9-10). Okay, now, what's going on here? Does Man do good or doesn't he?
The question, as it turns out, boils down to your definition -- your definition of "good". You see, we use the term loosely -- toss it out there like we all know what we're talking about -- without much thought of what we're talking about. What is good? Good, as it turns out, is purely relative.
No, I'm not talking about relativism. I'm talking about definitions. And we all know it. A good pizza is not the same as a good dog. A good dog is not the same as a good man. All these uses of the term "good" are relative. That is, each has certain standards, certain criteria, certain requirements that must be met in order to qualify as "good". And "pizza" doesn't have the same requirements as "man".
But wait! It gets worse. Even in the realm of man, the notion of "good" is relative. It depends on the topic. A man may be a good carpenter and a lousy husband because he meets the standards of "good" for carpentry but fails miserably at being a husband. It isn't contradictory to say of a fellow, "He does good" and "He doesn't do good" as long as we're talking about two different standards. So Paul, speaking of earthly standards in Romans 2, speaks of he who "does good" whether Jew or Greek, but affirming "There is none who does good; no, not one" in chapter 3 relative to God's standards. A person who is better behaved than another person is classified as "good" because the standard is the other person, but in God's standards it's a different matter.
So, when Jesus said, "There is none good but God" and when David said and Paul affirmed, "There is none who does good; no, not one", what good were they talking about? You see, it's not simply good. We know this because the question Jesus was answering was "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" and His answer was, in essence, "Obey the commandments." That it, "Be good." So, clearly, there was 1) a standard of "good" and 2) the man didn't meet that standard. (In case you missed it, he failed the "No other gods before me" standard when he was unwilling to give up his belongings.) So, by what standard do we say "There is none who does good"? It is God's standard. What is God's standard for "good"?
The simple answer would seem to be "perfect morality", but I don't think that's the right answer. I think the right answer is "God's glory". Paul said, "There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." (1 Cor 8:6). If God's design is "from whom are all things and for whom we exist" -- if His design is "from Him and through Him and to Him are all things" (Rom 11:36) -- then it would appear that the standard would be that all things be done from Him, through Him, and to Him ... to His glory. If God's purpose in making all that is was to extol His glory, then all that would be classified as "good" would be ... to extol His glory.
Thus, anything that we do that is not from Him, anything that we do that is not through Him, anything that we do that is not for Him would fail to meet this standard of "good". We can be good people and good parents and good spouses and good workers and all sorts of good things. That's as long as the standard of which we speak is not God's ultimate standard of "from Him and through Him and to Him are all things". And it would explain why it is true that "There is none who does good." Certainly not by that standard. Because that standard requires first God, and since no natural man operates on a "first God" mode of operation, there is none who does good. That's "good" relatively speaking. As it always is.
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