How do I know if there is goodness in a person?

Genesis 1:31Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

When God created the heavens and the earth and all living creatures, he pronounced everything he had made as “very good.” So in one sense, every human being (created by God and in his image) is basically good.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.

Through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, sin entered the world, and, consequently, every person born thereafter has been born a sinner, with a sin nature. Thus, although all humans are in some sense “good,” they all are also sinners and separated from God.

Psalm 53:2-3God looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!

As fallen sinners, humans cannot do anything good in God’s sight without God’s intervening help.

Ecclesiastes 7:20Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.

Romans 3:23-26Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

All people are separated from God by their sin, but Jesus became the “offering for our sin,” making the way to be forgiven and reconciled with God by grace through faith. We are declared righteous, “good,” in God sight. We do good, not to be saved, but out of gratitude for being saved by grace through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8–10).