The type of goodness Paul has in mind in Galatians is an inspiring goodness – a passionate doing of what is right that spills over to others in generosity.

As we have studied the fruit of the Spirit, we have seen how we’ve had to define each term carefully from Scripture because our culturally determined definitions are inadequate and often incorrect. Perhaps none of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians is as confused as the virtue of goodness.

A fundamental problem with the human condition is that sinners confuse good and evil (Isaiah 5:20). Sometimes they do this willfully, but other times they do it under deception. Goodness, then, is impossible to discern and define based on our cultural and societal standards. Like the many generations before us, we live in a time where evil is held up as good, and good is maligned as evil.
Goodness is also difficult to define because it is not inherent to fallen humanity (Romans 7:18). When the Apostle Paul looked at himself in his fallen human nature, in his flesh apart from the power of the Spirit of God, he recognized that nothing good dwells in him. Goodness, then, is an alien concept to those of us, whose hearts have not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

On the other side, we have the fruit of the Spirit, which is goodness. This fruit is not natural to us, but it is supernatural through us when we belong to Christ through faith. When God’s spirit dwells in us, His goodness flows through us – we are the channels, and He is the source. To grow in this virtue, we need to understand three things about goodness.

First, we must understand the nature of goodness.

Goodness is morally upright generosity toward others produced by the Spirit in all believers. Note two key parts in this definition. God defines good and evil, and whatever conforms to the Lord’s standard of good is good. Additionally, true goodness cannot be self-contained; it involves giving to others.

Let’s see how Scripture bears out this concept of goodness as morally upright generosity, starting with creation. In Genesis 1, the term good appears seven times to describe the creation. Creation, therefore, reflected the true nature of goodness. It was morally upright, the opposite of evil, but it was more than that. It reflected the lavish generosity of a good God, who gave abundantly above and beyond the basic life necessities. His blessings overflowed on His creation, especially on humanity. Overwhelming blessing marks the nature of the Lord’s goodness just as much as moral uprightness.

Scripture also portrays the concept of goodness as Providence. After the creation, sin entered the world. Yet the entrance of evil did not alter the meaning of goodness. In fact, it allows us to see God’s goodness even more clearly against the terrible backdrop of humanity’s evil. The Lord continues to show His goodness especially in His providence. There are two texts that help us see the nature of goodness in a fallen world.

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