God As Our Absolute Standard

The Bible consistently speaks of God’s own personal goodness as the absolute standard by which all ethical issues are to be evaluated. God’s law is right and good because it comes from God, who himself is right and good. Because he is righteous, everything he does and everything he expresses — including his laws for us — manifests his goodness.

It’s really common for skeptics, and even sometimes sincere believers, to read things about God in the Bible and wonder if he is actually good. At one time or another, most of us have at least thought to ourselves, “How can the Lord be good and allow the horrible suffering that’s going on in the world?” Now, the wisdom books in the Bible like Job and Ecclesiastes, as well as a number of passages in books like the book of James in the New Testament, help us answer these kinds of questions. But we must never expect God to live up to some standard of goodness that stands above him. Biblical faith rests on the firm belief that everything that is true of God, everything that God does, everything God commands is good because he is God. He’s the very definition of goodness. He’s the supreme standard of what is good. And there is no ideal of goodness that is higher than God himself. [Dr. Pichard L. Pratt, Jr.]

Now, it’s true that God delegates to human beings some responsibility for making ethical judgments. But the Bible also teaches that our human judgments are only correct and valid insofar as they mirror God’s judgments. Jesus himself made it clear that, on the last day, God himself will judge all people by their actions. John 5:27-30 records Jesus’ words on this matter:

[The Father] has given [the Son] authority to execute judgment … all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment… my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Regardless of the ethical conclusions we reach in this life, God himself is the highest court in the universe. It is God’s right to judge because he has absolute authority, and his judgments are inescapable because he has absolute power. Although God’s creatures may wish to escape his authority and power, they cannot. In the final analysis, there are only two options: either we submit ourselves to him as our judge, seeking refuge in his mercy through Christ, or we defy him and suffer eternal punishment. And, in case we are tempted to resent God and distrust his judgments, we should hasten to add that all of his determinations are just and right. He is not capricious but always judges according to the immutable standard of his character.