There is None Good Except God | Mark 10:18–19
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you
call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do
not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and
mother.’ ”
One of the primary uses of God’s law is to stress the gulf
between the His holiness and man. In
other words, as we read God’s Word, reveals how unholy we are, and how
much we need God’s grace. Yet, the rich
young ruler failed to see his need for forgiveness and mercy.
We can’t see others as good. Some have taken Jesus’s words here to mean He
denies being good (and that He couldn’t therefore be God), but He doesn’t say that. As the parallel text records, Jesus asked, “Why
are you asking Me about what is good?” (Mt 19:17). In other words, Jesus forces the man to
ponder the weight of the word “good,” to not use it superficially or
flippantly.
We can’t see ourselves as good. This man uses “good” lightly of others and himself,
so Jesus takes him to the Ten Commandments.
As Jesus recites the list, it seems that He tailors them, for He says, “Do
not defraud” instead of, “Do not covet.” This rich man, coveting more, might have
commit fraud by hiring a poor person who can’t defend himself and then paying him
less (cf. Dt 24:14). If he inherited his
initial wealth from his parents, then he would be dishonoring them in doing so,
which may be why Jesus stated that command last. Jesus knows exactly what is in our hearts and
how we sin every day.
Since there’s no one good, Jesus can’t simply a teacher of
righteous standing. Jesus affirms that
only God is “good,” so the only way in which this can be true is if this man identifies
Jesus with God. However, there’s no
evidence that this man venerated Jesus as God in flesh—and as such, will sadly not
find the good salvation he needs.
