The Limits of Politics (4)

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. Genesis 1.31

“Good” God’s way
We recall from previous installments in this series that God intends government to be a servant to the governed for good. That word, “good,” is an extremely important word, particularly as it relates to our understanding of the divine economy and what God intends for people on earth.

During the period of God’s creating the heavens and the earth, we read over and over, throughout Genesis 1, that God pronounced His work “good,” and then, at the end “exceedingly good,” as the Hebrew has it. The text of Genesis 1 blares the word at us repeatedly: good, good, good, exceedingly good. It’s as if God is saying, “Hey, pay attention here! What I want for human beings and all creation is goodness!”

Goodness elaborated
The idea of goodness can be further understood by a few related terms. The first is the term, “upright.” In Ecclesiastes 7.29 we’re told that God created people “upright.” As we observe Adam, listening to God, taking up the work God had appointed for him, enjoying his wife, and living within the framework of God’s presence and instruction, we get a sense of what “upright” means. People are upright when they are rightly related to God and obedient to His divine purposes.

Unhappily, as Ecclesiastes 7.29 reports, and as is all too evident on every hand, when people turn away from God to their own schemes and ideas, that uprightness is compromised and corrupted.

Where goodness obtains in a society, therefore, people are free to pursue being upright in the eyes of God. No one must be allowed to prevent or obstruct their seeking to “get right with God” as it were, or to aid and encourage others in doing so. And all should be encouraged to follow an order in human conduct and affairs that comports with ideas of goodness and uprightness as God defines them.

An orderly society will erect boundaries and privileges, therefore, that allow for the free exercise of whatever religion actually facilitates a return to uprightness.

A second idea has to do with development. This involves a cluster of related ideas.

God pronounced the creation to be “exceedingly good” only after He had instructed the man and the woman to exercise dominion over the creation and to serve and guard it so that it could become fruitful, productive, abundant, and increasing in all its own inherent goodness.

Development therefore entails the ideas of education – we must learn about the scope of our developmental duties – vocation, conservation and cultivation, innovation and invention, and more. A good society is one in which the order of society encourages maximum potential for development, both human and cultural, as well as of the environment itself. This is good and upright in the eyes of God, and therefore conduces to an orderly and just society.

Good government promotes human responsibility and stewardship. Governments serve their people for good when they promote an environment conducive to development, to allow people to realize their maximize potential for fulfilling their divinely-appointed purpose and calling.

Goodness in community
The idea of goodness also implies communities grounded in love. God Himself exists in community – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and He created men and women for marriage, families, and communities in which order and goodness could flourish for all. God said it was not good for a man to be alone. Communities of mutual respect, edification, and love are thus part of the divine purpose of goodness for which governments have been instituted. Divine Law was given to people in order to guide and bind them to practices that would ensure justice and promote love for their neighbors.

God has established governments and politics, which is the science of government, as ways of serving people for good – so that they can pursue becoming upright; are free to grow, develop, learn, work, and produce; can create families after the divinely-established model; and can enjoy community life that reflects the life of mutual love and assistance existing within the divine Trinity.

Government must work to maximize the possibilities for goodness and to resist and remove any barriers to people growing in God’s goodness, as He defines it for us in His Word. And all those entrusted with the exercise of political power, from the electorate to the chief executive, must pursue the science of politics within the parameters of goodness God has defined within His Word.

For reflection
1.      Paul says the Law of God is holy and righteous and good (Rom. 7.12). Jesus said that keeping and teaching the Law is the way to greatness in His Kingdom (Matt. 5.17-19). Should Christians be seeking to integrate the teaching of God’s Law into the political process of their nation? Explain.

2.      Use the terms provided in this lesson – uprightness, development, community – to offer a definition of a “good” society. Then, using that definition, reflect on the state of our society today in relation to that definition.

3.      How can the example of the Trinity serve as a model for the kind of “good” society we seek?

Next steps: Get a copy of the Bill of Rights – the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. How many different forms of “goodness” do these amendments ensure? Share your findings with a Christian friend.

T. M. Moore

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This week’s study, The Limits of Politics, is part 3 of a 5-part series on The King’s Heart, a Biblical view of government and politics, and is available as a free download by clicking here. We cannot understand God’s view of government, or how to function in a political environment apart from faith in King Jesus and His rule. Order T. M.’s books The Kingship of Jesus  and The Ground for Christian Ethics to supplement our studies of God and government..

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.