Ten ways to be good

After reading Psalm 15 today, I thought the ancient wisdom could easily be modernised by reformatting it as a “Top 10 Ways to be Good” list. So I read a couple of commentaries, checked the meanings of a few Hebrew words, and wrote this loose paraphrase:

1. A good person does what they know is right; they have a sense of integrity and wholesomeness
2. A good person speaks the truth, not so much boasting about what they know cognitively, but honestly addressing what they know deeply in their heart
3. A good person isn’t always looking for a way to tear down other people’s reputation, or scheming up snide remarks to discredit them
4. A good person cares for the welfare of their friends
5. A good person assumes the best of the people around them rather than constantly finding fault
6. … but when they see real evil, a good person will stand against it firmly
7. A good person honours those who honour God
8. A good person stands by their word even at personal cost
9. A good person values people above money, and so will lend without expecting to make a profit from it
10. A good person seeks justice for the innocent, even if others are pressuring or enticing them to do otherwise.

I don’t think of that list as a set of rules to be obeyed in order to deserve the label “good” or in order to be rewarded with salvation or to earn your parents’ pride. The reward of being good is not that you receive some external prize but is to be found in the act itself. Being good is life giving, and by modus tollens, if it is not life giving it is probably not good. The Old Testament prophet Micah proposed that a good life — a meaningful life, a flourishing life — is characterised by three things: justice, mercy, and humility.

The list in Psalm 15 is perhaps an expansion of what David says in Psalm 24:3-4 in response to the question “Who shall stand before God?” That’s a multi-faceted question. By asking “Who shall stand …” rather than “Who is allowed to stand …” the question surely includes the presupposition that such people desire and choose to enter God’s presence. Furthermore, who has the integrity and dignity to not feel overwhelmed or ashamed by God’s goodness. Who will stand rather than grovel in self-disgust or run away in fear. David says they would be people who pay attention to both what they do (“clean hands”) and their motives for doing it (“pure heart”), and who are firmly committed to truth.

A broader Biblical perspective would recognise that the good life arises not just from these sort of character traits, but also from right relationships. A good life needs companions. And underlying that perspective is a divine foundation: goodness has been given to us generously by God (as noted at the beginning of Psalm 16) and all our good is a response to that gift.