GOODNESS (HUMAN)
GOSPEL
471
found, although here the sequence shows that the rigliteousness before God is estimated higher than the mere benevolence towards men. In 1 P 2^^ the ' good ' and ' gentle ' masters are so described from the point of view of their treatment of ser- vants rather than of inherent quality. In Jn 7'^ there is some doubt as to whether ' a good man ' (in opposition to one who 'deceiveth the people') means a man of good character or one of good in- fluence. Ac 11"^ and Tit 2^ seem to be the only clear instances of the use of the word to describe inherent goodness.
The same difficulty recurs where the predicate applies not to persons but to things in the ethical sphere. The ' good things ' and the ' evil things ' spoken of in INIt 12^^- ^^ are, of course, in themselves morally right or wrong, yet in the context the re- ference is to blasphemy, so that the element of the good or bad intent and efiect can scarcely be excluded. When St. Paul in Ro 7'" says that the commandment is ayla Kal oiKala Kal dyad-q, the in- herent perfection of the Law is affirmed not only by the first and second but also by the third at- tribute ; still the ensuing question, ' Was then that wliich is good made death unto me?' proves that * the good' is felt as that which has naturally com- bined with it a good eflect. The same thought must be present in Ro 12^^. The 'good' of the neighbour which is to be promoted according to Ro 1.5^ is his ethical good ('unto edification'), but it is in part so called because it promotes his spirit- ual welfare. In Eph 6* the element of profitable- ness is plainly indicated by the context (cf. v.''). The 'good work' which God began in the Philip- pians (Ph 1') is good primarily because it has a beneficent, saving purpose, but probably the notion that it is productive of Avliat is inherently good in them is also present. In Philem '■* (cf. v.*') the AV renders to dyadov aov correctly by ' thj' benefit' (RV 'thy goodness'). The context decides in favour of ' beneficent' in 1 P3'^(cf. v." and 3 Jn"). ' A good conscience ' (Ac 23S 1 Ti l^^, 1 P 3=') is a conscience deriving its quality from its content, and therefore presupposes that the acts approved by it are good in themselves. The phrase ' good works' admits equally well of both interpretations. There can be no doubt that in Ac 9^^, Ro 13^, 2 Co 98, 1 Ti 2"' 5'", 2 Ti 2-^ 3", Tit V^ 3^ the reference is mainly to the good intent and efiect of the deed. In other passages, however, like Ro 2^", Eph 2'°,. Col 1'**, 2 Th 2", the emphasis seems to rest not on the outward beneficent tendency, but on the in- herent good character of the work, as conformable to the Divine Law.
The Jewish usage of the conception favours this, for in it not the helpfulness, but the meritorious- ness, the religious significance of the observance of the Law, stand in the foreground. While St. Paul denies, of course, the meritoriousness of good works as a ground of justification, he nevertheless is at one with Judaism in emphasizing their specific religious importance. It is not in liarniony with the Pauline teaching to deem of importance only the spirit and intent of the deed, and not its external performance. Such a judgment is possible only Avhere the ethical point of view is man-centred and virtue regarded as completed in itself. St. Paul's point of view is God-centred — the virtue, the dis- position exist for the sake of God ; and in order that they may accrue to the full glory of God, it is necessary that they shall issue into act. For the reality of the good work the presence of the disposition behind it is indisjiensable, but it is no less true that, for the completion of the good as it exists in the heart, its embodiment in the good work is essential.
The noun dyaduaivq (Ro IS^S Gal 5^2, Eph b^, 2 Th 1" — not in classical Greek, but only in the
Greek translations of the OT and in St. Paul) pro- bably in each case describes that form of goodness which seeks the benefit of others. In Gal 5^, standing among a number of other virtues, it must have this specialized sense. This is favoured also by the connexion in Ro 15'* ('able to ad- monish one another'). In Eph 5^ there is at least nothing to contradict this meaning. In 2 Th 1", ' Our God . . , may fulfil every desire of goodness and every work of faith Avith power,' the desire and the work stand related as the Avish and the execution, which secures for dya6u<Tvv7) here like- wise the same sense of beneficence as is asso- ciated with the 'work of faith.' dyadt^avvq then ditters from a.yad6T-t]% (likewise a word of the later Greek) as benevolentia does from bonitas.
LrrERATURE. — J. H. A. Tittmann, De Synonymis in Novo Testamento, \S29-o2, i. 19-27 ; R. C. Trench, Syno7iyms 0/ the NT^, ISSO, pp. 231-235 ; H. Cremer, Bihl.-Theol. Lex. of NT Greeks, ISSO, pp. 3-6, 1S3-193 ; T. Ziegler, Gesclnchte der christlichen Ethik, 18S6, i. 56 ff. ; C. E. Luthardt, History of Christian Ethics, Eng. tr., 1SS9, i. 98 ff. ; J. B. Lightfoot, Notes on Epistles of St. Paul, 1S95, p. 2S6 f. ; W. M. Ramsay in ExpT X. [1S9S-99] 107 ; A. Harnack, The Mission and Ex- pansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries^, Eng. tr., 1908, i. 147 fl., 199 flf. GEERHAKDUS VOS.