Fruit of the Spirit: GOODNESS

It is always disheartening to us when people we hold to very high standards fail to live up to those standards. The abuse scandals that have been exposed across the global church over the last decade are one example. It disheartens us because there is part of us that holds the leaders of the global church to a higher standard of expectation. We expected better from them. We expected them to position themselves to maintain a higher standard of goodness.

When I was a teenager my father gave me a curfew to home at night when I would go out with friends. He would say, “nothing good happens after midnight.” He expected a standard of goodness. That is the fruit of the Spirit we are up to today: goodness. In the New Testament the apostle Paul writes to Titus about bearing this spiritual fruit of goodness.

Titus 2:1–14 NIV

1 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. 3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. 6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. 9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. 11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

progression of Titus: goodness within the church, goodness within society, goodness of God revealed in Christ

It would be good in this discussion of goodness for us to start with a little background about this passage from Titus. The New Testament letter of Titus is quite short, only three chapters. It was written by the apostle Paul to a man named Titus, a young pastor he was training to lead the churches on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean. In all three chapters of Titus the theme of goodness is evident. The theme in Titus goes in this progression: goodness within the church (Titus was put in charge of the church elders by Paul), goodness within society beyond the church, and the goodness of God revealed to us in Christ.

application of goodness in Titus 2 — generational structure, family structure, economic structure, divine structure

Paul does not waste time with being theoretical or propositional in this short letter; he gets right to the point of practical application for Titus. He talks in chapter 1 about the way goodness applies to the elders of the church and how the church should instruct others. As we read in chapter 2, Paul applies goodness to various settings within society. The quick overview of what we saw in chapter 2 shows us an application to the generational structure (goodness within young and old), application to the family structure (goodness within marriage), and application to the economic structure (goodness within slavery).

how to take the Bible from its historical cultural context into our world today finding the timeless principles of God’s truth

Before we go any further, we need to pause and spend just a little time talking about an axiom of Bible study. The self-evident feature of Bible study is that we are looking at a document that is thousands of years old and was originally written to a completely different people and culture than we live in today. One of the hard tasks of Bible study is to identify the words of scripture within its own historical and cultural context, and then pull the timeless principle of God’s truth from that particular historical and cultural context, and then examine the way that timeless principle of God’s truth applies into particular cultural contexts of our world today.

what do we do with slavery and patriarchy in Titus?

Titus 2 is a perfect passage for us to analyze through this kind of Bible study because the lack of harmony between historical and cultural context of the Bible and our own cultural context is so obvious. Paul writes to a world which includes slavery; but of course we no longer embrace slavery as part of our world today. Paul writes to a world which includes patriarchy; but of course we no longer embrace patriarchy as part of our world today. I think we are all aware that it would be an obvious misuse of scripture to point to Titus 2 and conclude that God promotes slavery or promotes patriarchy.

Titus is not a list of rules to follow for marriages or slaves or youth | Paul’s point to Titus: this is what goodness looks like

Here is the part, then, of which we need to be sure we steer clear. Titus 2 is not a list of rules to follow for marriages. And Titus 2 is not a list of rules to follow for slavery. God is not saying in Titus 2, this is what a wife needs to do. And God is not saying in Titus 2, this is what a slave needs to do. God is not saying in Titus 2, this is what old people need to do. And God is not saying in Titus 2, this is what young people need to do. Here is what God is saying in Titus 2. God is saying, this is what goodness looks like. And what Paul does from there is take this timeless principle of God’s truth and applies it within contexts that already happen to be the structures of that world in that culture during that time when Paul lived.

pulling the common thread: understanding goodness as a spiritual fruit

So, here is what we need to do today with this passage. We need to get the principle of goodness out of those particular historical and cultural contexts of the biblical world; and we need to apply that idea of goodness into the structures and culture of our own world today. Let’s pull at the common threads which are woven through the examples given in Titus 2 and try to name it so we can have a better understanding of what goodness means as a spiritual fruit.

“what is good” — end of verse 3, middle of verse 7, end of verse 14

Greek kalos, Hebrew tov = good, right, beautiful, useful

Bauer — something that meets high standards of expectations or quality

First, look at the places goodness itself is mentioned in these verses. It comes across in our English Bibles as the phrase “what is good.” We see it at the end of verse 3, in the middle of verse 7, and at the end of verse 14. These three examples are all based in the Greek root word kalos, which is most often translated into English as “good” but can also show up in English as right, beautiful, or useful. Bauer’s Greek dictionary says that kalos refers to something that meets high standards of expectations or quality.

This is not far off from the Old Testament Hebrew word tov, which is often translated into English from the Old Testament as “good.” I think our English understanding of good is not far off either.

pizza | golf | car | kids

Saturday nights are homemade pizza night at my house. I have to say, it’s good pizza—especially the Chicago style deep dish. When I say the pizza is good, sure I am saying it is delicious. But what I am really saying is that it does not fail to meet the high standard of expectation—the same understanding of goodness that is expressed in the Greek word kalos and the Hebrew word tov.

My golf league partner is a pretty good golfer, meaning, his golf game meets a high standard of expectation. Although I should note, next to my own golf game, a standard higher than me is easily achievable.

I drive a good car. Sure, it’s 17 years old and has 221,000 miles on it. But in all those years it has reliably started up and ran every time without any major breakdowns or needed repairs. It absolutely meets a high standard of expectation.

When my kids would go out at night to meet up with friends, often one of the things Laura and I would say to them on their way out the door was “be good” or “make good choices.” What we mean by that is, we have a high standard of expectation for the way you behave when you are out with friends.

same understanding of high standards of expectation in our world today

This same way of thinking about good and goodness fits with the Bible’s understanding as well. When we read in Titus 2 the instructions of Paul to do “what is good,” that is also a reference towards a high standard of expectation. Why is it so important to point this out? Because it helps to break us away from the mistake of seeing Titus 2 as a legalistic list of rules to follow. It puts this passage into context for us. It reminds us that the only thing Paul is doing here with the young pastor Titus is reminding him that the people within his charge bear a spiritual fruit which lifts them up to a high standard of expectation which applies to the historical and cultural context of his own time.

take the biblical principle of goodness and apply that from the historical world of the Bible and into our own world today

So, Titus 2 is not mandating or validating slavery. Rather, Paul is applying the spiritual fruit of goodness into the economic systems that happened to be used in the world at his time. And Titus 2 is not mandating or validating patriarchy. Rather, Paul is applying the spiritual fruit of goodness into the home and family systems that happened to be used in the world at his time. Now then, you and I are left to do that hard work of taking the biblical principle of goodness and applying that from the historical world of the Bible and into our own world today.

goodness shows up in people as integrity

integrity — firm adherence to a code of values, or stedfast adherence to moral and ethical principles

We need to go one step past the few examples I mentioned earlier about good and goodness in our world. I don’t think the Bible means for us to be talking about golf games and pizza and automobiles. The Bible seems rather focused on what we do in relationship together as the place where the spiritual fruit of goodness takes its shape. Let’s put those ideas together in a helpful way. When we think about relationships between people which bear the marks of meeting high standards of expectations, we have ways to name the qualities of such people. It is not that these people are the highest producers or have the greatest amount of talent. It is not that we focus on exceptional performance or celebrity status. Those are not the qualities which we identify with people of goodness. Goodness shows up as something different. Integrity. What Paul is describing to Titus in this letter is integrity. We would define integrity as firm adherence to a code of values, or stedfast adherence to moral and ethical principles. People of integrity bear the spiritual fruit of goodness. Being good and doing what is good is not about following a legalistic list of rules and behaviors. It is about being people of integrity.

striving to be a person of integrity places you on the path of bearing the spiritual fruit of goodness

Now we’ve got something which can apply from the Bible and into our own world in which we live today. If you are a student, be a student with integrity. That doesn’t mean you always get perfect A’s in every class; but it does mean you try your best and you don’t cheat. That’s integrity. If you have a job and work a career, be a worker with integrity—whether you are the boss or the employee. It means trying to do your work well and treating others you work among with fairness and respect. That’s integrity. If you are within a family—whether that is a parent or a child or a spouse—live among those relationships with integrity. It means consistently working to keep those relationships as healthy as you can. You see, striving to be a person of integrity places you on the path of bearing the spiritual fruit of goodness.

verse 5 — “so that no one will malign the word of God” verse 8 — “so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us” verse 10 — “so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive”

Look at the results that come from the spiritual fruit of integrity. We can identify those results in this passage because they are phrases which begin with “so that…” In verse 5, be a person of integrity who bears the spiritual fruit of goodness “so that no one will malign the word of God.” In verse 8, be a person of integrity who bears the spiritual fruit of goodness “so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.” In verse 10, be a person of integrity who bears the spiritual fruit of goodness “so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”

spiritual fruit of goodness positions life in a way which always points to God

Notice what all three of those results have in common. They all point to God. For the person of faith, being a person of integrity who bears the spiritual fruit of goodness positions life in a way which always points to God. Verses 11-14 tell us how this works and why this is possible. In those verses the Bible reminds us that it is Jesus who positions himself in a way which points to us. It is the integrity of Jesus to bring the grace of God to us which opens for us the way to live with integrity that follows him. Let’s admit it, when it comes to being a follower of Jesus, the standard of expectation that is required to walk along with the creator of the universe is a pretty high standard. It is a higher standard of integrity than any one of us can achieve. But Jesus lived out that perfect integrity for us. Jesus embraces a goodness in his integrity that brings the grace of God into your life.

our goodness always points to Jesus because our goodness is only possible because of Jesus

The goodness that we bear in our lives is an overflow of the goodness that we have received from Jesus. Our goodness always points to Jesus because our goodness is only possible because of Jesus.