What does it mean to be a good person?
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This question reminds me of a puzzling verse from the New Testament – a statement that Jesus made:
Mark 10:18
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”
It wasn’t unusual for Jesus to make statements that provoked people to think and ask questions – some call this hyperbolic language. We even do that today – for example; “I’ve told you a million times not to do that!” 😀. Elsewhere in the New Testament, it’s made clear that Jesus was, and is, a perfect human, but also God the Son.
So is anyone good? The New Testament emphasizes that we are sinful and that we need a Saviour. I often mention the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. The Pharisee saw himself as good and thanked God for it. The Tax Collector saw himself as a sinner and cried for mercy. And God was pleased with the Tax Collector and wasn’t pleased with the Pharisee. And Romans 3 spells out that all are sinful. The Jews saw the Gentiles as sinners, but Apostle Paul was pointing out that all of us need a Saviour.
One of my favourite songs from 1982 was Paul McCartney’s Ebony and Ivory:
I was a bit uneasy with the line: “There is good and bad in everyone.” I had recently became familiar with the New Testament. Aren’t we totally depraved? Can there be any real good in us?
Total depravity doesn’t mean that we’re as bad as we could be. It means that there’s nothing in us that would seek the true God without some intervention from the Holy Spirit, who gives us an appetite for salvation and holiness. But apart from all the theology, when you look at the New Testament, you do see “good” people. The Good Samaritan is an example. He’s not actually called “good”, but the point that Jesus made is that good behaviour can come from unexpected sources. None of us are sinless or absolutely good, apart from Jesus Himself. But we can be good in relative terms.
Here are some examples:
Luke 23:50:
“Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man…”
Acts 11:24 (Barnabas)
“He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”
Matthew 25:21
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Luke 6:45
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
So what’s the answer to the question? Here’s a verse that might answer the question – but we need to recognize that we fall short. So, we should aim to love God and others, but also repent and believe in Jesus, our Saviour:
Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
John 6:28-29
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
You don’t need to be a Christian or even a theist to be good in a relative sense. You can get people who’ll show great kindness to others from anywhere. The parable of the Good Samaritan makes that point. But if the first and greatest commandment is to love God, then it’s surely good to seek God and to seek to know the truth about Him.
Here are a couple of hymns that use the word “good” or “goodness” in their titles.
And here are a couple about human sin – I don’t see any that celebrate human goodness 😀 – but plenty encourage us towards holiness:
