Intermission

While taking a break from The Two Trees, I thought to provide a brief intermission. But not to go without any content, here is the results on looking into the meaning of the word good as it is used in the New Testament.

Kalon is a Greek word used in the New Testament, commonly translated as "good." After looking into it a bit more, I was impressed that good means more than simply "not bad." It means "...beautiful applied by the Greeks to everything so distinguished in form, excellence, goodness, usefulness, as to be pleasing; hence beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful, suitable, commendable, admirable" (Thayer's). It is translated in the Recovery Version of the New Testament as: good, fine (Matt. 13:45), better (Matt. 18:8), noble and good (Luke 8:15 – kalon is translated noble here; good in this verse is the Greek word agathos, where we get our name Agatha), beautiful (Luke 21:5), Fair Havens (Acts 27:8), honorable (Rom. 12:17; 2 Cor. 8:21), approved…good (2 Cor. 13:7), respectable…good (Titus 3:8), excellent…good (1 Pet. 2:12). Finally, in an entry on synonyms in Trench's Synonyms of the New Testament, it is implied that Kalon is more than just being the best one can be, but rather is the best anything can be. This made me consider that although anyone can live a human life that is not bad,it is only by receiving Christ as our life and living Him out that we can actually have a life that is described as Kalon. For this, we need a heart as good earth to receive the word as the good seed (Matt. 13:19, 8, 24), to bear good fruit as good trees (Matt. 12:33), and we need to receive and hold the good teaching (1 Tim. 4:6), so that we'll be the fine pearl, so precious to the Lord that He sold everything to buy it (Matt. 13:45).

In today's age, when good for many describes doing the minimum required and staying out of trouble, it is refreshing to see that for others, good describes something much higher.