The Problem Of Good

by Scott Kauffmann

You know the problem of evil: if God’s so good, why is the world so bad?

At some point, it’s been a barrier to faith for nearly everyone. Yet when, by God’s grace, you begin to grasp the sin in your own heart, the weight of the problem shifts from the evil “out there” to the evil “in here.” Then you can see the Cross for what it is: God’s greatest gift and the solution to our biggest problem.

Still, as Christ-followers, if we’re paying attention, we’re faced with the opposite problem – the problem of good. Namely, if we’re all so bad, why is the world so good?

Why does a non-Christian firefighter go back up the stairs on 9/11 to save a non-Christian financial worker? How come unbelievers are responsible for so much goodness, truth, and beauty? At the personal level, why do I know so many unbelievers who are morally better than I am – more honest, more sacrificial, more joyful, more committed to other people? What do I do with that? And why can artists and filmmakers and musicians who seem personally unredeemable make paintings and films and music and books that are so unmistakably transcendent? Am I supposed to stay away from that stuff because the artist is not coming at things from a Christian worldview?

If you’re like me, these questions haunt you. They demand answers, and the answers we choose are vital. Because how we solve the problem of good drives whom we love, what we fear, how we work, how we share our faith, and how we consume media and entertainment. It significantly impacts how we reach, engage, change, create, shape, and battle with culture.

Logically, there are three possible answers to the problem of good.

“Comic grace”: we’re good enough to save ourselves
“Cosmic waste”: goodness outside salvation is an illusion
“Common grace”: goodness outside salvation is God’s gift to everyone

Christians must reject comic grace. But what about cosmic waste? Unknowingly, many of us actually live our lives this way. We divide the world into “secular” and “sacred” categories. The secular parts are of temporary use to us but of no significant use to God. The non- Christians are part of our world, but they aren’t doing anything that contributes to God’s eternal purposes, and we need to be careful not to get too close to their agenda. If people aren’t going to be saved, it doesn’t really matter what they do, except to the extent that they make life better for those who are going to be saved.

When you follow this view to its logical conclusion, it means that all this goodness you see is irrelevant at best, or a malicious illusion at worst. The love, compassion, and honesty you think you see coming from non-Christians is really just Satan’s simulation to take us away from Christ. So the sacrifice of those 9/11 firefighters? That’s not really sacrifice, it’s just selfishness in disguise. The unbelieving couple that reconcile and learn to love each other again? That isn’t really love. The non-Christian doctor healing a non-Christian patient? Doesn’t show up on God’s eternal scorecard.

To me, the “cosmic waste” view doesn’t offer a satisfying solution to the problem of good. At a theological level, it’s inconsistent with so much of the story of Scripture; and at a practical level, it’s unlivable.

LEARNING COMMON GRACE

I believe the best answer to the problem of good is common grace. Common grace is one of the most essential, useful, redemptive, and dangerous truths to understand as we interact with the world around us. It helps us understand God, our world, and others. An appreciation for common grace can help set us free from so many of the fears, prejudices, and UnChristian ¹ behavior we so often wallow in as Christians, as we pursue relationships, evangelism, work, cultural engagement, and arts and entertainment. And it solves the problem of good both theologically and practically.

Let’s start with some key elements of common grace.

God gives immense grace (unmerited favor) to all His creatures, in many ways.
God cares about more than just saving individual souls. That is certainly of great interest to Him, but it’s not His only interest. He also cares about restoring His creation to glory through the coming of His kingdom.
God is the author of truth, beauty, and goodness wherever – and in whomever – they are found. And they can be found nearly everywhere – in virtually every person, place, situation, or idea that ever existed.
Wherever they are found, they can and should be used to point others and ourselves to their source in Jesus.

COMMON GRACE FUNDAMENTALS

I believe that if you frame the fundamentals of the Gospel story well, common grace is unavoidable and essential to the story.

1. The Four-part Gospel: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration
Many contemporary Christian thinkers, including N.T. Wright, Chuck Colson, Nancy Pearcey, Tim Keller, Dallas Willard, and Mike Metzger beautifully lay out the case for the four-part gospel as the proper “grid” for assessing all worldviews, including Christianity. They contend that in the last two hundred years, we have “truncated” the original Gospel. Here’s how Tim Keller sums up this problem and its solution:

Some … Christians think of the story of salvation like this: Fall, Redemption, Heaven. In this narrative, only saved people have anything of value (people in the world are simply blind and bad), and the purpose of redemption is escape from this world. But if the story of salvation is Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration, then things look different. Non-Christians, created in the image of God, have much wisdom and greatness within them, even though the image is defaced and fallen. Moreover, the purpose of redemption is not to escape the world but to renew it.

The gospel, then, is not just about individual happiness and fulfillment. It is not just a wonderful plan for “my life” but a wonderful plan for the world; it is about the coming of God’s kingdom to renew all things.²

N.T. Wright says it this way: “The point of Christianity is not … to go to heaven when you die … [rather, it is] putting the whole creation to rights.” ³

What does that look like? The Jews call it “shalom” – not just the absence of conflict, but rich human flourishing in all dimensions. The way the world was meant to be. Shalom bookends our existence: it characterizes both the Garden and the eternal City, and so provides the vision for our existence in between.

David Dark says it this way: “The movement called Christianity … cannot be understood apart from the Jewish concept of shalom. The Christian gospel does not call people to give their mental assent to a certain list of correct propositions, nor does it provide its adherents with a password that will gain them disembodied bliss when they die and the pleasure of confidently awaiting their escape until then. Shalom is a way of being in the world. The Christian gospel invites us to partake in shalom, to embody shalom, and to anticipate its full realization in the coming kingdom of God.” ⁴

We are not going to create full shalom now – only Jesus will do that. But we are called to work for it in our fallen world, in messy, heartbreaking communities of broken people. This task invites the problem of good and requires the solution of common grace.

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Comments

David Yamamoto

I'm a Japanese believer. Please excuse me of my awkward English.

My question is not directly connected with this article above. I'm wondering if common grace has anything to do with propitiation by Jesus' death, because some Reformed people teach that common grace was purchased by the propitiation. But I can't find any scripture in the NT which connects C.G. and propitiation.

What about Noaic covenant? Does it have anything to do with Christ's death? Some people say that the burnt offering which Noah sacrificed after the flood symbolizes the cross of Jesus.

Greg Wilkinson

Two men were praying. One was a member of the religious elite, a television evangelist. “Thank you I am not like that despicable Haitian for I have preached the word of God to millions” said the evangelist. The other, a despised Haitian prayed: “Dear God, my house, my wife, my children are gone. Please forgive me for all I have done wrong”.

Which of these two men found God’s favor?

Greg Wilkinson

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up tempting him, and saying, Teacher, having done what, shall I inherit life eternal?

And he said to him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

But he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thine understanding; and thy neighbour as thyself.

And he said to him, Thou hast answered right: this do and thou shalt live.

But he, desirous of justifying himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

And Jesus replying said, A certain man descended from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into [the hands of] robbers, who also, having stripped him and inflicted wounds, went away leaving him in a half-dead state.

And a certain priest happened to go down that way, and seeing him, passed on on the opposite side;

and in like manner also a Levite, being at the spot, came and looked [at him] and passed on on the opposite side.

But a certain (Godless?) Samaritan journeying came to him, and seeing [him], was moved with compassion,

and came up [to him] and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine; and having put him on his own beast, took him to [the] inn and took care of him.

And on the morrow [as he left], taking out two denarii he gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou shalt expend more, *I* will render to thee on my coming back.

Which [now] of these three seems to thee to have been neighbour of him who fell into [the hands of] the robbers?

And he said, He that shewed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, Go, and do *thou* likewise.

JESUS MADE IT SIMPLE. THE TEACHERS OF RELIGION MAKE IT COMPLICATED.

Sheridan Voysey

Great thoughts, Scott.

I came to some similar conclusions after reflecting on the altruism shown to victims of the Brisbane floods in Australia earlier this year ( http://sheridanvoysey.com/god-altruism-queensland-floods ). Goodness has a source!

I'll be keeping this article. Brilliant.

Martha Bergin

He said, "I am the way, the truth and the light. No man cometh to the Father save by me." The Way is prayer, sincere prayer, to God, as honestly as we know the Creator. The Way is giving from the heart, allowing Love to flow through us From God to the world. What is the Truth? No lying, not bearing false witness, not lying to ourselves, but finding the narrow path, choosing beauty, being able to see beauty, treating others well, treating them as we would ourselves want to be treated, helping those who hunger, thirst, and suffer in all ways. What is the Light? It is the Divine Truth that illuminates the true manner of existence for humankind. Light banishes darkness, but nowhere can we invoke a darkness that will extinguish a light. And so... those who are living by the Way, the Truth, and the Light know Him. Some are blessed to know his name, to draw close to Him, and to pray and talk with Him daily. Some will be surprised at a later time, when they realize they have been walking with Him and didn't know it. For surely there is only One Way, Truth, and Light. It's like the story of the person who found only one set of footprints in the sand, and then came to know that they are His sustaining footprints, not their own.

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ALSO IN GOSPEL

The Problem Of Good

LEARNING COMMON GRACE

COMMON GRACE FUNDAMENTALS

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