Part 4 (2/2)

Any failure within the divine character would argue imperfection and, since G.o.d is perfect, it could not occur. Thus the attributes explain each other and prove that they are but glimpes the mind enjoys of the absolutely perfect G.o.dhead.

All of G.o.d's acts are consistent with all of His attributes. No attribute contradicts the other, but all harmonize and blend into each other in the infinite abyss of the G.o.dhead. All that G.o.d does agrees with all that G.o.d is and being and doing are one in Him.

The familiar picture of G.o.d as often torn between His justice and His mercy is altogether false to the facts. To think of G.o.d as inclining first toward one and then toward another of His attributes is to imagine a G.o.d who is unsure of Himself, frustrated and emotionally unstable, which of course is to say that the one of whom we are thinking is not the true G.o.d at all but a weak, mental reflection of Him badly out of focus.

G.o.d being who He is, cannot cease to be what He is, and being what He is, He cannot act out of character with Himself. He is at once faithful and immutable, so all His words and acts must be and remain faithful. Men become unfaithful out of desire, fear, weakness, loss of interest, or because of some strong influence from without. Obviously none of these forces can affect G.o.d in any way. He is His own reason for all He is and does. He cannot be compelled from without, but ever speaks and acts from within Himself by His own sovereign will as it pleases Him.

I think it might be demonstrated that almost every heresy that has afflicted the church through the years has arisen from believing about G.o.d things that are not true, or from overemphasizing certain true things so as to obscure other things equally true. To magnify any attribute to the exclusion of another is to head straight for one of the dismal swamps of theology; and yet we are all constantly tempted to do just that.

For instance, the Bible teaches that G.o.d is love, some have interpreted this in such a way as virtually to deny that He is just, which the Bible also teaches. Other press the Biblical doctrine of G.o.d's goodness so far that it is made to contradict his holiness. Or they make His compa.s.sion cancel out His truth. Still others understand the sovereignty of G.o.d in a way that destroys or at least greatly diminishes His goodness and love.

We can hold a correct view of truth only by daring to believe everything G.o.d has said about Himself. It is a grave responsibility that a man takes upon himself when he seeks to edit out of G.o.d's self-revelation such features as he in his ignorance deems objectionable. Blindness in part must surely fall upon any of us presumptuous enough to attempt such a thing. And it is wholly uncalled for. We need not fear to let the truth stand as it is written. There is no conflict among the divine attributes. G.o.d's being is unitary. He cannot divide Himself and act at a given time from one of His attributes while the rest remain inactive. All that G.o.d is must accord with all that G.o.d does. Justice must be present in mercy, and love in judgment. And so with all the divine attributes.

The faithfulness of G.o.d is a datum of sound theology but to the believer it becomes far more than that: it pa.s.ses through the processes of the understanding and goes on to become nouris.h.i.+ng food for the soul. For the Scriptures not only teach truth, they show also its uses for mankind.

The inspired writers were men of like pa.s.sion with us, dwelling in the midst of life. What they learned about G.o.d became to them a sword, a s.h.i.+eld, a hammer; it became their life motivation, their good hope, and their confident expectation. From the objective facts of theology their hearts made how many thousand joyous deductions and personal applications! The Book of Psalms rings with glad thanksgiving for the faithfulness of G.o.d. The New Testament takes up the theme and celebrates the loyalty of G.o.d the Father and His Son Jesus Christ who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; and in the Apocalypse Christ is seen astride a white horse riding toward His triumph, and the names He bears are Faithful and True.

Christian song, too, celebrates the attributes of G.o.d, and among them the divine faithfulness. In our hymnody, at its best, the attributes become the wellspring from which flow rivers of joyous melody. Some old hymnbooks may yet be found in which the hymns have no names; a line in italics above each one indicates theme, and the wors.h.i.+ping heart cannot but rejoice in what it finds: 'G.o.d's glorious perfections celebrated.' 'Wisdom, Majesty and goodness.' 'Omniscience.' 'Omnipotence and immutability.' 'Glory, mercy and grace.' These are few samples taken from a hymnbook published 1849, but everyone familiar with Christian hymnody knows that the stream of sacred song takes its rise far back in the early years of the Church's existence. From the beginning belief in the perfection of G.o.d brought sweet a.s.surance to believing men and taught the ages to sing.

Upon G.o.d's faithfulness rests our whole hope of future blessedness. Only as He is faithful will His covenants stand and His promises be honoured. Only as we have complete a.s.surance that He is faithful may we live in peace and look forward with a.s.surance to the life to come.

Every heart can make its own application of this and draw from it such conclusions as the truth suggests and its own needs bring into focus. The tempted, the anxious, the fearful, the discouraged may all find new hope and good cheer in the knowledge that out Heavenly Father is faithful. He will ever be true to His pledged word. The hard-pressed sons of the covenant may be sure that He will never remove His loving-kindness from them nor suffer His faithfulness to fail.

Happy the man whose hopes rely On Israel's G.o.d; He made the sky, And earth and seas, with all their train; His truth forever stands secure; He saves the oppressed, He feeds the poor, And none shall find His promises vain.

Isaac Watts

Chapter 16.

The Goodness of G.o.d Do good in Thy good pleasure unto us, O Lord. Act toward us not as we deserve but as it becomes Thee, being the G.o.d Thou art. So shall we have nothing to fear in this world or in that which is to come. Amen.

The word good means so many things to so many persons that this brief study of the divine goodness begins with a definition. The meaning may be arrived at only by the use of a number of synonyms, going out from and returning by different paths to the same place.

When Christian theology says that G.o.d is good, it is not the same as saying that He is righteous or holy. The holiness of G.o.d is trumpeted from the heavens and re-echoed on earth by saints and sages wherever G.o.d has revealed Himself to men; however, we are not at this time considering His holiness but His goodness, which is quite another thing.

The goodness of G.o.d is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing att.i.tude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.

That G.o.d is good is taught or implied on every page of the Bible and must be received as an article of faith as impregnable as the throne of G.o.d. It is a foundation stone for all sound thought about G.o.d and is necessary to moral sanity. To allow that G.o.d could be other than good is to deny the validity of all thought and end ill the negation of every moral judgment. If G.o.d is not good, then there can be no distinction between kindness and cruelty, and heaven can be h.e.l.l and h.e.l.l, heaven.

The goodness of G.o.d is the drive behind all the blessings He daily bestows upon us. G.o.d created us because He felt good in His heart and He redeemed us for the same reason.

Julian of Norwich, who lived six hundred years ago, saw clearly that the ground of all blessedness is the goodness of G.o.d. Chapter six of her incredibly beautiful and perceptive little cla.s.sic, Revelations of Divine Love, begins, 'This showing was made to learn our souls to cleave wisely to the goodness of G.o.d.' Then she lists some of the mighty deeds G.o.d has wrought in our behalf, and after each one she adds 'of His goodness.'

She saw that all our religious activities and every means of grace, however right and useful they may be, are nothing until we understand that the unmerited, spontaneous goodness of G.o.d is back of all arid underneath all His acts.

Divine goodness, as one of G.o.d's attributes, is self-caused, infinite, perfect, and eternal. Since G.o.d is immutable He never varies in the intensity of His loving-kindness. He has never been kinder than He now is, nor will He ever be less kind. He is no respecter of persons but makes His sun to s.h.i.+ne on the evil as well as on the good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust. The cause of His goodness is in Himself, the recipients of His goodness are all His beneficiaries without merit and without recompense.

With this agrees reason, and the moral wisdom that knows itself runs to acknowledge that there can be no merit in human conduct, not even in the purest and the best. Always G.o.d's goodness is the ground of our expectation. Repentance, though necessary, is not meritorious but a condition for receiving the gracious gift of pardon which G.o.d gives of His goodness.

Prayer is not itself meritorious. It lays G.o.d under no obligation nor puts Him in debt to any. He hears prayer because He is good, and for no other reason. Nor is faith meritorious; it is simply confidence in the goodness of G.o.d, and the lack of it is a reflection upon G.o.d's holy character.

The whole outlook of mankind might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under a friendly sky and that the G.o.d of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty is eager to be friends with us.

But sin has made us timid and self-conscious, as well it might. Years of rebellion against G.o.d have bred in us, a fear that cannot be overcome in a day. The captured rebel does not enter willingly the presence of the king he has so long fought unsuccessfully to overthrow. But if he is truly penitent he may come, trusting only n the loving-kindness of his Lord, and the past will not be held against him. Meister Eckhart encourages us to remember that, when we return to G.o.d, even if our sins were as great in number as all mankind's put together, still G.o.d would not count them against us, but would have as much confidence in us as if we had never sinned.

Now someone who in spite of his past sins honestly wants to become reconciled to G.o.d may cautiously inquire, 'If I come to G.o.d, how will He act toward me? What kind of disposition has He? What will I find Him to be like?' The answer is that He will be found to be exactly like Jesus. 'He that hath seen me,' said Jesus, 'bath seen the Father.'

Christ walked with men on earth that He might show them what G.o.d is like and make known the true nature of G.o.d to a race that had wrong ideas about Him. This was only one of the things He did while here in the flesh, but this He did with beautiful perfection. From Him we learn how G.o.d acts toward people. The hypocritical, the basically insincere, will find Him cold and aloof, as they once found Jesus; but the penitent will find Him merciful; the self-condemned will find Him generous and kind. To the frightened He is friendly, to the poor in spirit He is forgiving, to the ignorant, considerate; to the weak, gentle; to the stranger, hospitable.

By our own att.i.tudes we may determine our reception by Him. Though the kindness of G.o.d is an infinite, overflowing fountain of cordiality, G.o.d will not force His attention upon us. If we would be welcomed as the Prodigal was, we must come as the Prodigal came; and when we so come, even though the Pharisees and the legalists sulk without, there will be a feast of welcome within, and music and dancing as the Father takes His child again to His heart. The greatness of G.o.d rouses fear within us, but His goodness encourages us not to be afraid of Him. To fear and not be afraid - that is the paradox of faith.

O G.o.d, my hope, my heavenly rest, My all of happiness below, Grant my importunate request, To me, to me, Thy goodness show; Thy beatific face display, The brightness of eternal day.

Before my faith's enlightened eyes, Make all Thy gracious goodness pa.s.s; Thy goodness is the sight I prize: might I see Thy smiling face: They nature in my soul proclaim, Reveal Thy love, Thy glorious name.

Charles Wesley

Chapter 17.

The Justice of G.o.d Our Father, we love Thee for Thy justice. We acknowledge that Thy judgments are true and righteous altogether. Thy justice upholds the order of the universe and guarantees the safety of all who put their trust in Thee. We live because Thou art just - and merciful. Holy, holy, holy, Lord G.o.d Almighty, righteous in all Thy ways and holy in all Thy works. Amen.

In the inspired Scriptures justice and righteousness are scarcely to be distinguished from each other. The same word in the original becomes in English justice or righteousness, almost, one would suspect, at the whim of the translator.

The Old Testament a.s.serts G.o.d's justice in language clear and full, and as beautiful as may be found anywhere in the literature of mankind. When the destruction of Sodom was announced, Abraham interceded for the righteous within the city, reminding G.o.d that he knew He would act like Himself in the human emergency. 'That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?'

The concept of G.o.d held by the psalmists and prophets of Israel was that of an all-powerful ruler, high and lifted up, reigning in equity. 'Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.' Of the long-awaited Messiah it was prophesied that when He came He should judge the people with righteousness and the poor with judgment.

Holy men of tender compa.s.sion, outraged by the inequity of the world's rulers, prayed, 'O Lord G.o.d, to whom vengeance belongeth; a G.o.d, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?' And this is to be understood not as a plea for personal vengeance but as a longing to see moral equity prevail in human society.

Such men as David and Daniel acknowledged their own unrighteousness in contrast to the righteousness of G.o.d, and as result their penitential prayers gained great power and effectiveness. 'O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces.' And when the long-withheld judgment of G.o.d begins to fall upon the world, John sees the victorious saints standing upon a sea of gla.s.s mingled with fire. In their hands they hold harps of G.o.d; the song they sing is the song of Moses and the Lamb, and the theme of their song is the divine justice.

'Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord G.o.d Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou alone art holy: for all nations I shall come and wors.h.i.+p before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.'

Justice embodies the idea of moral equity, and iniquity is the exact opposite; it is inequity, the absence of equality from human thoughts and acts. Judgment is the application of equity to moral situations and may be favorable or unfavorable according to whether the one under examination has been equitable or in-equitable in heart and conduct.

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