God Is the Moral Standard
“How do you define right and wrong?” This question has never been more important than in these times of eroding morals and constantly changing values. We, as a society, have moved away from absolutes. “Moral relativism” is the rule of the day.
To know the difference between right and wrong, a person must have a base to start with. This is where God comes in. He has set clear standards for right and wrong, based upon His own perfect nature. We have already learned that these standards are worth heeding because God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present. Now let’s look a bit deeper into His character.
God is truth.
As in ancient times, our world worships many false gods. But our Bible teaches of the one true God, the only God whose knowledge and words are true.
How can we know that we worship the true God? Is it because we feel right or have certain opinions? Certainly not, for we are flawed in our ability to know what is true or false. The final court of arbitration is God Himself. He has told us that He exists and that He is truth (Jeremiah 10:10; John 17:3; Romans 9:20).
God is holy.
We repeatedly see this fact throughout Scripture. When we read of angels, we do not see them focusing their praise on the fact that God is “eternal,” “faithful,” or “mighty,” though God is all of these things. Rather, they praise Him as “holy, holy, holy!”
Being holy means that God is without sin and will not look on sin. This is why the death of Jesus Christ was necessary. For God to be able to look upon you and me, we must appear as sinless and holy. Since we cannot achieve that state by ourselves, Jesus was given to cover us with His holiness (Psalm 24:3; Proverbs 15:9; Isaiah 59:1; Habakkuk 1:13).
God is righteous.
God is just in His dealings with mankind. “For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face” (Psalm 11:7 NIV). Even Pharaoh recognized this fact as he and his people were suffering under the plagues. Pharaoh acknowledged the perfect justice of God in punishing him for his sin when he said, “I have sinned this time; the Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked” (Exodus 9:27).
Some people don’t like the fact that God has control over their lives (Many people even refuse to recognize that God has control over their lives!). Job eventually questioned God’s dealings with him. God answered Job’s questions quite bluntly, and put things back into perspective for him (Job 38–40).
God is good.
God is the final standard of what is good, and all that God is and does is worthy of approval. This does not mean that God’s goodness is contingent upon our approval. God is good whether we choose to believe it or not. Jesus said, “No one is good, except God alone” (Luke 18:19 NIV; see also Psalm 106:1; Psalm 34:8).
If God is good, then the definition of good that we should adhere to is: that which God approves, that which is consistent with His character.
God is just.
This attribute is closely related to holiness and righteousness. God hates sin and His just nature demands that He judge it. God has given us His law and has declared, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). It is because He is just that God has wrath and anger (Deuteronomy 32:4, Exodus 32:9–10; John 3:36; Romans 1:18).
