What's Good About It?

The earliest evaluation God ever made of this world was that "It was good." (Genesis 1) This simple statement acts like a refrain, almost poetic, announcing the Creator's pleasure in the world he designed and built.

We think we understand what it means. Good is good. It is everything that's not bad. But we need to remember what we're talking about here - a world untouched by anything but God. A world that is being evaluated by the One who made it. So what is "good?" Is it "beautiful" or "right" or "perfect" or just what?

You might not think finding a definition is especially important, but it is. If we could get a grasp of the original design, if we could see what God saw on the day he rested from all he had made and watched it with unbounded joy, maybe we could understand the difference between what he planned and made at the beginning, and the world we've inherited.

So what did God mean by "good?" First, that it was built according to plan. If creation's goodness means nothing else, it surely says that God's blueprint was fully and in every detail brought to life in the physical world. What God made was what he planned to make.

Ancient Gnosticism tried to deny this crucial truth by arguing that God formed the earth through intermediary powers so that he could not be touched by, nor blamed for, the innate corruption of physical matter. But nothing of this is seen in the creation account. God planned the world and he made it and he is responsible for it because it is his, built exactly to his design.

More to come....