¹⁴ And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

Odd statement it seems, for Paul to speak of his readers’ goodness. Earlier he had written (quoting from the OT), “All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Rom 3:12). Since the beginning when Adam and Eve sought for the knowledge of good and evil, we humans have fallen short. Even Jesus taught, “No one is good but One, that is, God” (Matt 19:17).

Christians today emphasize that we have no good works that would count toward or merit for us salvation—and rightly so. However, that does not mean we can do no good at all, now that we are believers. God’s goal, at least one of His goals, has always been to restore us to the place where we not only know what is good, but we do what is good. The Roman Christians were nailing it; they were “full of goodness,” that is, characteristically good, doing good things.

In the OT, it is written, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic 6:8). Paul himself writes elsewhere similarly: “While we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Gal 6:10) and “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph 2:10). To be sure, this is not an innate goodness, but rather a goodness rooted in God Himself (Ps 16:2). We need the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom 15:13).

Paul’s writing “I am convinced” makes the passage no less “God-breathed.” He writes with apostolic authority (Romans 1:1). The Roman Christians’ lives were convincing proof that salvation does in fact restore people to living life the way God has designed it.

When we see what Scripture commends in believers, then it makes sense for all Christians to strive to live up to that commendation. We should set our goal to live good lives; we should study the Word to be filled with God’s knowledge and the knowledge of God. And finally, we should learn all this so that we can properly and correctly, with the right motivation, “admonish one another.” These are all needed in dealing with our fellow Christians, with whom we sometimes (nay, often times) disagree.

Lord, I desire to be full of Your goodness and knowledge. Help me by Your Holy Spirit’s power.