Someone said to me, “Not too bad . . .” when he was responding to the question, “How are you?”. To say, “Not too bad” presupposes the whole idea of sin, sin being that which is not measuring up to the standard of “good”. For there to be “bad” there has to be “sin”. For something to be “bad” it is not being done “right”; it is not measuring up to the standard of “good”. Therefore, by definition, bad has to do with sin. When someone is saying, “not too bad” he is saying he is doing a degree of “bad”, but not a sufficient degree to matter to much - - it is not “altogether bad” or “very bad” or “somewhat more bad than I should be doing” - - just, “not too bad”.
A person ought to say, “not too good”. Then he means that, “I am not doing altogether good” or “Of all the good I could do, I am not doing all of it.” He is recognizing his sinfulness. He is saying, “I am a sinner and have done sin (not doing the right thing), therefore everything I have done is not ‘too good’, or, every bit of it has not been ‘entirely good’.”
The “too” is understood in both of the above (‘too bad”, ‘too good”) to mean “too much”. But if any sin is cause for separation from God, is the sin that causes this separation too much? If the result is separation from God, it is too much.
On the other hand, how can someone do “too much good”? If he has done the right, and not the wrong, he has done what he was supposed to do. It can not be “too much” - - but it is impossible. Hence the degree of correction in saying, “not too good”.
If I don’t stop now I’ll get myself into a position where I can not say anything. If I don’t say anything then I can not say anything "bad" ; however, not saying anything prevents me from saying "good" . If I should say good, and I do not, then I am being bad.
