“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12).
Really? Are there really no good people on earth? I mean… c’mon. Sure, we see a lot of evil, but don’t we also see a lot of good being done by people everywhere? Good people?
Well…like so many other things, it’s all a matter of perspective.
Let me ask – are you a good person? Yeah, me too. Are you perfect? Nope, me neither. Funny how often we hear that isn’t it? “I’m not perfect, but I’m basically a good person.” The thing is, our criteria is somewhat arbitrary as there are no set standards or principles we use, except, often, those we have set for ourselves.
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who would go so far as to say they are perfect. But then, neither do we want to admit – or be referred to – as bad. We all know we aren’t perfect, but on what basis do we make that judgement? Author Cary Schmidt, in his book Gone, describes it as a rather arbitrary gray area that we humans have created. Cary refers to it as the “not too bad” space. How true that sounds, doesn’t it?
Of course, believers and non-believers alike each want to suppose we are good people, don’t we? Oh, we know we mess up sometimes. We know we do things we shouldn’t. But overall, we’re good people. The thing is – where exactly does good fall between, oh…say, Mother Theresa and Adolf Hitler? Where on that imaginary line is that point where we can call ourselves good?
How Good Is Good Enough?
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
On the other hand, maybe all of our good behavior offsets the bad things we do. But how many good works does it take to offset telling a lie to your spouse about who you’re having lunch with, or flirting with the cute receptionist at work? How many times do you have to volunteer at church to counterbalance cheating on your taxes, or taking something home that belongs to your employer? How much do you have to give to charity to compensate for gossiping about someone? Or getting drunk at a get-together and acting the fool? Or watching porn when no one is around? How’s your language?
It seems the list of “minor” offences can be quite long, and we have come to almost accept them as normal. Do we always think and act according to what is pure and virtuous? Or have we been known to cut corners? Maybe bend the truth a bit – or perhaps even venture outside the rules for our own benefit?
Perhaps too often, our measuring stick seems to be the behavior of others – after all, we think or say, at least I’m not as bad as that guy over there! But who are those others and how good or bad are they? It’s like back in school days when we were graded on a curve: the very best test score in the class got an A, even if they only got half the questions correct, and the worst got the F. Most of the class though was right somewhere in the middle and got Bs through Ds. But the thing is, God doesn’t grade on a curve, does he?
Will Graham, grandson of famed evangelist Billy Graham, tells the story of when he was in college and a professor asked him, “Will, how good do you have to be to get to heaven?” Of course, being Billy’s grandson, the pressure was on. Ultimately, the professor answered his own question, “In order to get to heaven, you have to be as good as God.”
In other words, God is the standard we are measured against. He is the One who is perfectly good. Absolutely sinless. That’s our measuring stick. That is God’s definition of “good.” Are we? I know for sure I’m not. I think I stop being good just about when my feet hit the floor after I wake up in the morning, especially if I overslept or stub my toe on the way to the bathroom.
Does that mean that humans are incapable of doing good? It absolutely does not mean that. There are a great many throughout history and into modern-day who have done and continue to do wonderful and amazing things. And yes, we call them good or even great people. And so they are – from our human perspective. But these still fall far short when compared to the standard against which we must be held.
Are People Basically Good?
“Surely, I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5).
How often do we hear it? “People are basically good.” Of course, everyone admits that no one is perfect; human wickedness is buried or at least minimized. Our bad behavior dismissed as normal. “Hey, I’m only human.” The evil in the world is often chalked up to one’s environment. In other words, excused. Nurture versus nature. How and where was someone brought up or raised as a child? Today, it is even worse – theft and other evils are too often viewed as “necessary evil” because of the perpetrator’s current circumstances.
Yet no child must be taught to sin. If you’re a parent, you know very well that young children will lie about the extra cookies they took or who broke the vase in the living room.
And therein lies the root – literally - of the problem. Jesus taught, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:18). Our roots have been corrupted, and we are incapable of producing good fruit. Our fruit is universally bad – and because of our roots, we are incapable of being good in the eyes of God.
Unfortunately, we have all been born under the same blanket handed down to us by our original parents. When our first ancestors – Adam and Eve – fell into sin, they left us covered by that blanket of sin. The term “original sin” does not refer to them choosing to eat the forbidden fruit, but rather it refers to the inescapable fact that every human being has been born with a corrupt, sinful nature that we simply cannot escape. It is less about what we do, and more about who we are.
In that sense, I guess it is all about our environment. In the same way that we have no control over where we are born geographically, or to whom – neither can we control our ultimate heritage and the impact that legacy has on who and what we are.
The Westminster Confession expresses the impact of the fall on each of us: “From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.” (WCF 6:1-4)
In other words, we are sinners not because we sin, but rather, we sin because we are born sinners. And, humanly speaking, there is nothing we can do about it. And the consequences are not good.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Yes. God does in fact say that must be perfect to get to heaven, even while He knows we’re not. But at the start of all things, He created us – in His own image – to have an abundant life with Him. He didn’t create robots who would automatically love and obey Him; He gave us the free will to make that choice on our own. And we choose poorly. Even today we make that choice, and the results are separation from God.
I have gone through life believing that if something sounded too good to be true… Well, you know the rest of the cliché. The thing is though, God puts that concept to rest.
But God…
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
A whole lot of people throughout time have tried their own ways to bridge that gap between us and God through “good” works, through religious rules and rites and rituals, through philosophy and through some form of morality. And all have failed because they fail to recognize that root. That blanket. The stain. No solution offered by mankind could ever bridge the gap. But God, in His love for us, created a bridge for us. And yeah – it sounds too good to be true. But true it is.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the grave to pay the penalty for our sin – not only our “sins” but the original stain of sin – and to erase that gap between God and people. God Himself created a path for us to a life of peace, forgiveness, and eternity in communion with Him.
And yes, we still must make the choice. We must choose that path offered to us. We must choose to accept the free gift of mercy and grace and forgiveness.
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
Eternity Begins Now
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
Once we begin to earnestly enter a life in relationship with Jesus Christ, our lives can change. Once we do – the abundant, eternal life God created for us is available to us.
And yes, the news sounds too good to be true.
Will we suddenly become “perfect” in the eyes of the world? No we will not. We will still be human – still commit sins, despite our best efforts. But the blanket will have been removed. We no longer will carry the stain. Rather we will be as white as new snow.
But most importantly, in God’s eyes we will have become “good” people.
We will be children of God.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/oatawa
Greg doesn’t pretend to be a pastor, a theologian, or a Bible expert, but offers the perspective of an everyday guy on the same journey as everyone else – in pursuit of truth.
Greg can be reached by email or on Facebook @ Greg Grandchamp - Author.
