In the account of Creation where we read “God saw that it was good”, Pastor Armstrong defined “good” as purposeful. I'm not sure this matches my Strong's Concordance. Where does he get the meaning “purposeful” from the word good?
In his teaching on Creation, Pastor Armstrong points out that the Hebrew word translated “good” is tob, which simply means good. He does not define the word to mean purposeful, however does teach that when God calls something good, He is stating that it is suitable in relationship to a purpose. For example, a butter knife is “good” in relationship to spreading butter on a slice of bread, but a butter knife is not good if your purpose is to cut down a tree. In one case it is good but in another case it isn’t good.
Therefore, Pastor Armstrong taught that when God declares His Creation to be “good,” He was stating that His work was suitable for a specific purpose that God had in mind. Through the study of Genesis 1, God’s repeating of “good” implies His creation was suitable for its intended purpose, and that purpose was Man.
