Matthew 19:17

‘And he said to him, “Why do you ask me concerning what is good? One there is who is good.” '

Mark has here, ‘why do you call me good?' But both are again conveying the same idea, the one writing mainly for Gentiles, the other for Jewish Christians. It has the same reasoning behind it as Matthew's expression ‘the Kingly Rule of Heaven' as compared with Mark's ‘the Kingly Rule of God'. It is a way of saying the same thing while avoiding something which might be regarded as using the idea and name of God too lightly. But to ask someone of ‘what is good' indicates the view that that person is ‘good' without actually saying so. Only a supremely good person could know what was supremely good.

And that is clearly the implication that Jesus takes from it, for He says, “Why do you ask me concerning what is good? One there is who is good.” He is asking the young man why he applies to Him a concept that only applies to God. And He is suggesting that he think through the implication of what he has said. He has recognised a unique goodness in Jesus, that is why he has come to Him and not to the Scribes. Let him then consider the implications of that. Jesus is not denying that He is good. He is asking him to think what, if it is true, that then indicates.

“But if you would enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Jesus then points out to him in what true goodness consists. It is found by wholly keeping, from the heart, all the commandments of God without exception (contrast James 2:10). Let a man but do that and he will enter into life (eternal), for it will indicate a full relationship with God. It will be to be God-like. The idea may specifically have in mind Amos 5:4; Amos 5:6; Amos 5:14 where life is to be found both by seeking God and by seeking His goodness. The two are thus seen as equated. The idea is that no man can seek true goodness without seeking God, and vice versa. And it is through truly seeking God that men find goodness. We can compare with this Jesus' indication that those whom God blesses will seek righteousness (Matthew 5:6), and as a result will be ‘filled' with righteousness as He Who is the Righteousness of God, and His salvation, come in delivering power. Jesus is not, of course, telling him that he can earn eternal life by doing good works. He is saying that anyone who would enter into life must be truly good, a goodness which they cannot achieve in themselves, a goodness which they must find through Him. Paul says the same, ‘Do you not know that the unrighteous will not enter the Kingly Rule of God?' (1 Corinthians 6:9). And then Paul lists the kind of people who cannot hope to do so, and goes on to explain that it is only be being washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God that it becomes possible (1 Corinthians 6:11). Jesus has in mind that if the young man would enter into life he must be willing to come with the humility and openness of a little child and receive from God through Him what pertains to goodness.

But He is very much aware that the young man's mind must be disabused of all its wrong ideas. This young man before Him wants, as it were, to climb into Heaven on the stairs of some wonderful ‘goodness'. He wants to enter it proudly as the trumpets blare about his great achievements (Matthew 6:2). He wants the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). The last thing that he is thinking of is humbling himself as a little child. So Jesus knows that He must first bring his high opinion of himself crashing down. He knows His man. And He knows that unless he learns that his righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, he cannot enter under the Kingly Rule of God (Matthew 5:20).