Matthew 19:20-22

ὁ νεανίσκος, the youth; whence known? from a special tradition (Meyer); an inference from the expression ἐκ νεότητός μου in Mark 10:20 (Weiss). ἐφύλαξα (- άμην). Kypke and Elsner take pains to show that the use of this verb (and of τηρεῖν, Matthew 19:17) in the sense of obeying commands is good Greek. More important is it to note the declaration the verb contains: all these I have kept from youth. To be taken as a simple fact, not stated in a self-righteous spirit (Weiss-Meyer), rather sadly as by one conscious that he has not thereby reached the desired goal, real rest in the highest good found. The exemplary life plus the dissatisfaction meant much: that he was not a morally commonplace man, but one with affinities for the noble and the heroic. No wonder Jesus felt interested in him, “loved him” (Mark 10:21), and tried to win him completely. It may be assumed that the man appreciated the supreme importance of the ethical, and was not in sympathy with the tendency of the scribes to subordinate the moral to the ritual, the commands of God to the traditions of the elders. τί ἔτι ὑστερῶ : the question interesting first of all as revealing a felt want: a good symptom; next as betraying perplexity = I am on the right road, according to your teaching; why then do I not attain the rest of the true godly life? The question, not in Mk., is implied in the tone of the previous statement, whether uttered or not.