My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
| 239 |
| GOOD |
| 1 Peter 2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. |
| There are a few times in the Word when the message of God’s nature and being is simply stated. A short list is provided to remind my reader of a few of these short, succinct statements “God is love” 1 John 4:8 “God is great” Ps 70:4 “God is holy” Psalm 99 “God is righteous” Daniel 9:19 “God is true” John 3:33 “God is one” Romans 3:30 “God is faithful” 1Corinthians 1:9 But for our time this morning, consider Peter, as he is writing to the diaspora, the scattered church, a church that was entering a cleansing persecution, and he speaks of the Lord as good. Remember now, Peter is writing an epistle on the topic of suffering, and he has the audacity to say that the Lord is good. It might be reasoned that it is due to the believers faith in Jesus that the persecution will fall on them, and Peter describes God as being good. Might it have been better for Peter to describe God as being a Savior, or a mighty Fortress, or a Rock. No – Peter focuses on the Lord being good. So what is Peter trying to communicate to these believers who may already have suffered much for their faith, and will likely face more trials, more problems, more temptations to give up. Is Peter describing God as good in an ethical sense, a God who acts in conformance to a set of standards. I think not for God is the standard. Or when he speaks of God being good, might he be describing God as simply “not bad”? This also does not make any sense, and would be of no comfort of challenge for his audience. Might it be that Peter is describing God as benign, good to the point of being of no threat, that God is only good, and this goodness is almost likened to niceness. Now we know that being nice is not God’s nature nor is it ever commanded, nor even suggested for a Christian to be nice – See Love Like Jesus – Kindness for a short study if this interests you) So when Peter is telling beleagured believers, suffering saints that the Lord is good, what is the point? Peter uses the Greek word chrēstós, and the root meaning is to be useful, profitable or fit for use. As the word changes over time, it became associated with pleasantness, and kindness, even graciousness. Jesus used this word once when referring to His yoke, in that it was chrēstós. Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Another time, Jesus spoke of God as chrēstós, being kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. As you can see, to nail this term down to one specific meaning is difficult, as least for me, but I will suggest that Peter’s intent, at least by using this term to describe the Lord, is to encourage the saints. Peter is telling them that He is One who is pleasant to know, as opposed to those who persecute, and that He is a useful God to know, since He is a saving God, who has exhibited His care for His people through suffering. He gets it, for He has entered suffering, experientially knows the fear, the dread and the pain. Yes, the Lord is good, and He is good to all! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Your message has been sent
Come join us at Considering the Bible
Considering the Bible 