The Fruit of the Holy Spirit – Part Six – Goodness

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

In part one of this series we learned that Paul encouraged Christians to let the Word of Christ dwell richly within them (Colossians 3:16-17). He also encouraged followers of Christ to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-20). Paul also taught that as believers obeyed the Word, followed the example of Christ and were filled with the Spirit they would manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit.   

 

Galatians 5:22-25

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

 

This bearing of fruit is God’s will for our lives and it brings Him great glory.

 

John 15:8

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

 

So as we allow God’s Spirit to live in and through us, the Spirit produces a set of Christ-like qualities or virtues within us, the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit of the Spirit is manifested in relationships, in our relationship with God as well as with other followers of Christ. While we might think that the fruit of the Spirit are personal attributes and private virtues, they are more importantly interpersonal qualities, virtues that are a result of people loving and ministering to one another as they let the Word of Christ dwell in them, as they are filled with the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is manifested as we grow spiritually and this fruit is a nine-fold visible attribute of a true Christian life. This fruit is not a list of individual “fruits” from which we pick and choose. Rather, the fruit of the Spirit is one nine-fold “fruit” that characterizes all who truly walk in the Holy Spirit. Collectively, this is the fruit that all Christians should be producing in their new lives in Jesus Christ. In other words, the fruit of the Spirit is a physical manifestation of a Christian’s transformed life. In our last segments we learned about love, joy, peace, patience kindness. Now we study goodness.

 

What is goodness? Goodness is the unselfish desire to be open-hearted and generous to others. It can also be described as moral excellence and virtuous. It often reflects a great strength of purity of character.

 

The Greek word for goodness is “agathosune” (pronounced: ah-gah-thow-soo-ney). It can also be defined as “uprightness of heart and life.” While kindness is an inner disposition of someone, goodness is a more active term. Goodness is a generous character which is energized, expressing itself in active, outward acts of good towards and for others.

 

We know God is good, because He is good to us. His goodness is reflected in how He loves, provides, protects and cares for us.

 

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Psalm 23:6

 

When Moses asked God to show His glory to Him, God chose instead to show His goodness to Him. God’s glory would very likely have killed Moses, but God’s goodness was something that would comfort, encourage and console Moses in his situation of leading God’s chosen people.

    

“Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”  And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.”

Exodus 33:18-19

 

The goodness of God inspires praise within us so we honor and worship Him as a result. We desire to witness to others about Him because of how good He is.

 

“They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.”

Psalm 145:6–7

 

Jesus is also good because He is our good shepherd. He knows us intimately, and just like our Heavenly Father, He cares for us as well. He loved us so much that He died for us so we could be forgiven, receive God’s grace and have a relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit.

 

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

John 10:14–15

 

As we study and obey God’s word His goodness begins to express itself in us as we walk as Jesus walked and as we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We think and act appropriately because we are new creatures in Christ and the Spirit guides us in living a godly life. This brings glory to God and attracts others to our Heavenly Father’s love and goodness.

 

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3:16–17

 

“You are the light of the world… Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:14, 16

 

Part of expressing goodness involves giving. We give of our talent, treasure and time to demonstrate God’s love for others as He works through us to share His gospel with those who are lost in sin. We serve others and provide for their needs and thus God’s goodness is expressed through us.

 

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth…. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

1 Timothy 6:17–19

 

God desires for us to imitate His character quality of goodness so He doesn’t want us to stop doing good.

 

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Galatians 6:9–10

“Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power.”

2 Thessalonians 1:11

 

“For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.”

Ephesians 5:9

 

To be good and express goodness may seem a timid and weak way to confront the challenges in the world, but this fruit of the Spirit has an enormous strength to impact the world for good. Goodness expressed through the power of the Spirit can soften the harshness of the world. It can overcome hatred, comfort those who are wounded and motivate people to see that true goodness comes only from God.

 

In 2 Peter we find a passage that demonstrates the relationship between God’s goodness and the goodness we are to express as His children. This passage also illustrates the relationship between goodness and other godly spiritual traits we are to possess and express as followers of Christ.    

 

2 Peter 1:3-9

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”

 

In this passage we see that God with His divine power gives us everything we need to live as a Christian. It states that we were called to be His child by our Heavenly Father’s glory and goodness. Part of His expression of goodness is giving us promises related to His perfect character and love. These promises include being indwelt by the Holy Spirit who trains us in righteousness and goodness and also secures our eternal salvation. When we are forgiven for our sins at conversion and receive the Holy Spirit to live within us, we participate in God’s divine nature. We do not become divine, but we are forgiven for our sins and participate with God to live a holy life.

 

Peter goes on to explain in this passage that when we add to our faith in God, goodness, and then add knowledge to this, we begin to practice self control in how we think and act. As we continue in the practice of being self-controlled, we persevere in our commitment to God and become godly, and therefore increase in how we practice kindness to others as we express our love for them. We see Peter’s final point in the last part of this passage. We are called as a follower of Christ to be effective and productive. All these qualities, of which goodness is one, requires us to be responsive to God, submitted to scripture, cooperative with the Spirit, in order that the fruit of the Spirit can be manifested. So we see goodness is an important part of being an obedient productive child of God. To fail to obey and be transformed by the renewing of our mind and spirit results in lacking these godly qualities, one of which is goodness.

 

“Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.”

Billy Graham