But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
-Galatians 5:22-23
With Proverbs 21:2, we discussed the existence of objective good and evil. Once we determine that such things exist, however, we need to figure out what they are. To that end, we look to the One who is judging between the two. He is the One who determines good and evil. In fact, He is Himself the standard of good. He is good and all He does is good. This is what makes Him the perfect judge, able to identify evil, which is all that is contrary to His nature. “You are good, and do good; Teach me Your statutes,” says the psalmist (Psalms 119:68). Good is that which is of God’s Spirit, and we are told in Galatians what sort of things flow from this Spirit:
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
These are the qualities that in my worldview constitute virtue. They are the traits of the good guys. They are encouraged and portrayed as good in my narrative. Holding to these virtues will not be easy. In fact, chances are it will be pretty hard at times and sacrifices will need to be made to adhere to them. However, they are the path to the good ending. Good will triumph in the end.
Good is the Standard
Galatians 5:22-23 gives us a standard of good, but good is also the standard. I’ll explain what I mean.
In many people’s narratives, good is what the protagonist may strive for, but it is evil that actually makes the world function. In such a universe, crooked business dealings, unequal justice, and genocide are not only present, but a key necessity to keep things running. The end justifies the means.
The Bible provides us with an opposite view. When God created the heavens and the earth, we read this verse: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31). The original state of the universe was one of goodness. Evil only comes in as a corruption from Satan and the sin of Adam and Eve.
Beyond good preexisting evil in the world, being the original state of creation, God also preexists all creation and all evil within it. God is perfectly good with no evil in Him (Psalm 92:15), and He existed before there was anything else (John 1:1-3). Based on this, we can draw the principle that good can exist on its own without the presence of evil.
But then what is evil?