Knowing God: Chapter 16 - Goodness and Severity

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Chapter 16 of Knowing God helps us to see the necessity and complement of God’s goodness and God’s severity. The chapter warns that “people today are in the habit of disassociating the thought of God’s goodness from that of his severity.” That is, people want the benevolence of God without the wrath of God. But this is a picture of the mythical Santa Clause not the true God. Dr. Packer points out that seeing God as merely and solely benevolent effectively creates the problem of evil and neuters God of “his omnipotence and lordship over the world.”

God's Goodness
The goodness of God is that perfection of God that includes His generosity, mercy, grace, and love. It is “the sum total of his revealed excellences.” The particular moral perfection that God’s goodness points to is His generosity, “his disposition to give to others in a way which has no mercenary motive and is not limited by what the recipients deserve but consistently goes beyond it. Generosity expresses the simple wish that others should have what they need to make them happy...grace (free favor) cover[s] every act of divine generosity.” Dr. Packer notes in regards to God's generosity, God's grace, that common grace is extended to all while the special grace of salvation only comes to some. Thus, it can be said, “...God is good to all in some ways and to some in all ways.” And Dr. Packer points us to Psalm 107 as “the classical exposition of God’s goodness,” worthy of our repeated consideration and meditation. 

God's Severity
God is also severe, meaning He also exercises wrath and judgment. Pointing to Romans 11:20-22 Dr. Packer observes, “The principle which Paul is applying here is that behind every display of divine goodness stands a threat of severity in judgment if that goodness is scorned. If we do not let it draw us to God in gratitude and responsive love, we have only ourselves to blame when God turns against us...Those who decline to respond to God’s goodness by repentance, and faith, and trust, and submission to his will, cannot wonder or complain if sooner or later the tokens of his goodness are withdrawn, the opportunity of benefiting from them ends, and retribution supervenes.”

God's Patience and Long-suffering
Yet, let us not forget that “God is not impatient in his severity; just the reverse. He is ‘slow to anger’ (Neh 9:17; Ps 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jon 4:2) and ‘longsuffering’ (Ex 34:6; Num 14:18; Ps 86:15 KJV). The Bible makes much of the patience and forebearance of God in postponing merited judgments in order to extend the day of grace and give more opportunity for repentance.” (1 Pet 3:20; Rom 9:22; 2 Pet 3:9; Rev 2:5)

Our Response
Our response to the goodness and severity of God should be threefold:
  1. Appreciate the goodness of God (Psa 116:12-18)
  2. Appreciate the patience of God
  3. Appreciate the discipline of God (Heb 12:5; Psa 119:71)

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