goodness in and through us as Christian is ever-new, novel,
unique, fresh and spontaneous. It cannot be explained in
ecclesiastical rules and regulations. It cannot be contained
in codifications of conduct. It cannot be retained and
restrained in repetitive rituals. It cannot be objectified into
Biblical blueprints. It cannot be made static. God's
expressions of goodness cannot be put in a box! God will
reveal (Phil. 3:15) His goodness so that we might know His
goodness and how it is that He desires to express His
goodness in our behavior by His grace.
Likewise, the distinctive of the Christian gospel for the
doing of goodness, the manifestation of goodness, is only
and always the activity of God by the indwelling presence
of the Spirit of Christ. "God is at work in you both to will
and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). God is
energizing both the motivation and the out-working of our
behavior in accord with His good character and for His
good pleasure, unto His glory. God in Christ will do what
He desires, and He will do so by the dynamic of His own
self-generated expression of goodness. III John 11 reads,
"The one doing good is of God." As previously noted, "of
God" is ek theos in Greek, meaning "out of God." Any time
we manifest genuine goodness it is derived out of the
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