Are We No Good At All?

MATTHEW 19:16-23.

A wealthy young man approached Jesus, asking, what good deeds do I need to do to enter Heaven? Jesus responded, why have you chosen me to ask this question; don’t you know only God, who alone is good, can answer and grant your request." But if you think you can earn your way in, obeying His commandments would be the place to start. Confident that he had fulfilled them, the young man wanted Jesus to quiz him on God’s laws. However, after the exam, the young man realized he wasn’t good enough to enter God’s kingdom because he walked away disappointed.

Is that how you feel when made aware you’re not good enough? It is statements like this one that even we as Christians differ when explaining verses in the Bible, like all have sinned and come short of God's glory. Our righteousness is filthy rags to God, and no one is good but God, no, not one! However, the book of James 4:17 reads, “To know to do good, and do it not, is sin.” And you can find more verses in the Bible that mean the same.

But how can one know to do good if no one is righteous but God; is it possible to understand what good is if someone is no good? To answer this, I must explain what it means to be "good and not good at all." The word of God informs us that God, who is Holy, is the source of goodness (I Samuel 2:2), and nothing can possess this quality or exist apart from Him. (Genesis 1: - 2:17.) For these reasons, whatever God makes is good, and only God determines why it is not.

Furthermore, anything He creates that can become something opposite of good must be able to violate a specific law or laws by its "Maker." That would explain how what was good becomes detestable in God's sight. However, the freedom to defy Him does not limit God, who can also make good again what isn't. Thus, the view of “Total Depravity,” embraced by some, that nothing at all is good about us because we all have sinned is untrue. There is a difference between none good but God and nothing good about us. The first is a reminder, not a comparison between God and us, that justification before God is impossible without God.

Also, by calling Jesus good, the rich man unconsciously acknowledges that Jesus is God. What makes this encounter just as revealing is when Jesus said to him if you “really” desired to have eternal life, sell all that is yours and give it to the poor; his countenance changed because he was convicted for his arrogance, thinking he was just as good as Jesus. (Matthew 19:23-26.) After that, everyone around Jesus knew that salvation was not the work of man. For who is anything without God?

But the statement, nothing good about us, insinuates, according to this doctrine, that we are corrupt throughout our entire being and incapable of responding to God. Unless God selects us to love Him, the opportunity to experience eternal joy is impossible—and they use various scriptures to explain their view. However, before anyone accepts such an interpretation of our sinful state, they should ponder this question. Can anything created by God ever become no good at all; if so, what purpose would it have? Keep in mind its intentions cannot make evil God’s. I suggest that if you study unclean things in the Bible, you will discover that the answer is no! Jesus said, "Even the rocks can acknowledge God." (Luke 19:37-40.) Another way to say it is everything God created can respond to Him, which is why disobedience is a choice.

So, "knowing to do good and do it not" is refusing to accept or believe in God, who is the giver of life. Everyone comfortable with that decision underestimates sin's dominion over them and their need for God's righteousness. These people are oblivious that the sentence due them is eternal gloom, also called endless death! However, the rest of us who know there is no Savior but God, although we too were rotten, placed our faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ—the only solution to have a life of eternal fulfillment. (Read John 3:16-18.)

So, the question every sinner should ask is not whether they are no good at all; instead, how did God use them in His plan? Heaven or hell will reveal how you lived.

(Written November 11/2024 – January 18, 2025, by Pastor W. Land.)

Challenge: What scriptures in the Bible would you use to support or refute this reading? May God’s grace abound towards all who love Him because they seek the truth.