This is a word not found in secular Greek. Graeco-Roman philosophers sometimes commended selfless generosity, but it was not a highly significant virtue for them.

Christian goodness is embodied in Jesus Christ. The best of the saints, says Sangster, have a peculiar kind of goodness. 'It unconsciously proclaims itself. One feels it as an aura around its possessor. It is incandescent (which is why artists have painted halos around saints). It is essential goodness: goodness 'in the inward parts'. Its radiations are so powerful that it may be doubted whether anyone could be near it and quite unaware of it... The saint is unconscious of it himself. Blissfully unaware of the impression he makes, he moves on his way reminding people of Jesus Christ.' (6)

How do you get to be like this? When you live closely with another you tend to be greatly influenced by that one. Good Christians are Christ-centred. George Muller, to whom God gave thousands of orphans and more than a million pounds, was asked his spiritual secret. 'There was a day when I died, utterly died, died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends and, since then, I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.'

So goodness is much more than 'doing good things', obeying the law, or helping others now and then. You can keep a rigid moral code and be a Pharisee. The person who says 'I'm as good as the next person' isn't good. The saints don't compare themselves with the next person but with Christ. Their goodness is not defensive or self-serving. The first thought of the saint is never him- or herself. The centre of the saint's life is the Lord. Their goodness is a gift from God, nurtured by love, not something they've done themselves by hard effort.

Good people are guileless. They live simply. They tend to have a naive indifference to what others hold dearly - money or reputation, for example. Life is complex for those who want more money or a better position: they have to constantly bother about 'playing their cards right', and so the interior life suffers. For the saint, says Sangster, the centre of life has shifted from self to Christ. Being assured of God's will the saint simply accepts it. Suffering, set-back, misunderstanding... the saint takes them all: they are God's agents to shape and purge one's soul. Each new day is greeted with childlike wonder, because of the deep knowledge that we are surrounded by Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Love. 'Hence, the saint is without guile and does not aim to 'use' you, as so many use their friends. The saint loves you - and for yourself alone. The saint is not mentally fitting you into his or her scheme - they have none. Loving you with a God-like love, the saint has but one thought - how to help you. The saint's luminous eyes rest on your face and you know he or she is your servant. The love God gives the saint is 'always slow to expose, always eager to blelieve the best, always hopeful, always patient' (1 Corinthians 13:7 Moffat).' (7)

This great virtue is forged in the personal, private disciplines of devotion, and is also corporate: each of us is helped by others in our quest for holiness and goodness, and we are meant to spread this virtue around (Romans 15:14; Ephesians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:11).

If there is any mark of 'life' in a church, surely it is goodness!

Further reading: 'Goodness', by H.P.Owen, in John Macquarrie, ed., A Dictionary of Christian Ethics, London: SCM, 1967, 137-9. W E Sangster, The Pure in Heart, London: Epworth, 1954.