Genesis 1:4 - "And God saw that the light was good..."
How do you interpret the meaning of "good"? I tend to think of the biblical "good" as some sort of binary definition where it either is good or not. Meaning, things are either having sin or not. Is man inherently good or evil? Evil because of the presence of sin is what I think most of you will say. Since that is the case, why then do people contend that the definition of the "good" being used in the bible is one different than having binary properties? If we accept everything either has sin or doesn't, then we cannot have a spectrum of evilness to goodness. It is either a sin or not. It is either having evil or not.
Our blog is not regulated like peleas5. He is very capable of looking past abrasive speech or "debate" (like my own at times unfortunately due to my sinful nature). I, on the other hand, am not. Therefore please keep replies very polite and delicate if you disagree with someone. I'm not here to facilitate strong disagreements since we are not in person having a discussion.
Late Addition:
One more thing I forgot to mention is I have heard from those that contend "good", even in Genesis, is measured on a spectrum is that it can therefore be implied that God did not have a perfect creation. I wonder if this could be how some evolutionists still claim to be Christian. The biggest problem I have here is that if you allow God to not make a perfect creation, then it seems He is imperfect. (Unless you suppose He purposefully did it imperfectly.) If He made an imperfect creation without the supposition being true, our understanding of Jesus' perfection and the perfection of our trinity seems to be put in jeopardy. Lastly, I realize some of you will be learning Genesis in Sunday School this semester. That is great. This means you will be able to better answer this right?!?!?!?!?
2 comments:
Good, in that sense, means that the light (in this case) existed just as God designed it and was fulfilling its purpose in accordance with God's will. As you wrote, it was not tainted by sin ('groaning' as Creation is currently) and was a reflection of God's perfect nature.
Good can exist without bad, yet the opposite is NOT true. As C.S. Lewis wrote, there can be no sense of a crooked line without there first being a straight one. In other words, 'bad' is corrupted 'good'; however, good cannot be corrupted bad because, if it were corrupted at all, it would cease to be good.
The term "good" has multiple meanings in Scripture. The "good" in Genesis means something like, "acceptable in God's sight." The "good" that Jesus says alone belongs to God (cf. Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19) means "righteous." Only God (including Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is righteous, and only in God (by His decree and declaration) are men made righteous. But our righteousness is still derivative.
As Matt said, "good" can make sense apart from "sin" (for Creation is acceptable in God's sight prior to sin's occurrence) and yet some "good" is reserved for God alone, or His children by the bestowal of His justifying grace.
As to your point, I think when God finds something acceptable in his sight, it still implies the logical opposite of disapproval, which would be evil in God's sight. So your binary is correct, but must be taken according to the separate uses of the term "good."
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