“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone.Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one: God.And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, even God.
4 sermons cite this verse
… here we go as jesus started on his way a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him good teacher he asked what must i do to inherit eternal life why do you call me good jesus answered no one is good except god alone it's important to note here jesus is not denying his divinity He's pressing his definition of good. We'll come back to that. You know the commandments. Shall not murder. Don't commit adultery. Don't steal. Don't give false testimony. Don't fraud. Honor your father and mother. He's reciting six of the 10 commandments. Teacher, he declared, all of these I have kept since I was a boy. Verse 21. Jesus looked at him and loved him and then said, one thing you lack. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. Don't worry, the point of this sermon is not for you to sell everything. You can exhale. …
… Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And blows me away that Jesus picks up on this word good in verse 19 and says, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Now, there are three reasons why that's a very puzzling thing to say. Number one, it doesn't seem like it's called for. I mean, I can imagine this man saying, I was just trying to be nice. Come on, Jesus, good grief. I wasn't making any big theological statement. lay off. That's the first problem. He just said good teacher. Number two problem, Jesus calls people good a lot. Luke 6.45, good person out of his good treasure brings forth good. Luke 19.17, well done, good servant. Jesus knows perfectly well there's just an ordinary way to use the word good to talk to somebody without making any kind of big theological mistake. Jesus knows this. He didn't slip. that's the second problem surprising thing here's the third surprising thing he doesn't give the guy a chance to answer like you asked the question and now you just kept going let me answer if you I don't want your answer this isn't a question oh well if it's not what is it what is verse 19 Thank you. …
… He was living the right lifestyle because Jesus said, why do you call me good? Look at verse 18. And what he was saying was, do you know who you're talking to? Because the word good was only used for God. No one is good except God alone. All right? And then Jesus does something weird as he talks to this young guy. He starts quoting the Ten Commandments, the law of Moses. He hits the last six of these commandments. And I was thinking to myself at 5-something a.m., why is Jesus talking about the commandments? Why? The Bible tells us in the book of James that the law, say with me now, The commandments literally are a mirror to show us that we're fallen, to show us that we're sinners. For example, all of you look so good today. Man, we have such a beautiful church. Everyone looks clean and neat. And I know you looked into a mirror this morning, but you didn't take the mirror off the wall and shave with it, guys. …
… But what he does say is shocking. Verse 18, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You're throwing around the word good. You've called me a good teacher. Jesus is talking to him on a human level. He knows. He thinks Jesus is just a man, but a really good man. And so he doesn't understand good in its purest form, or he wouldn't call any man good, because there's no one good except God alone. Let me tell you something about God. Everything about God's nature is absolute. Everything is absolute. That is to say, when it says that He is good, it means He is all good all the time and never anything but good. When it says God is righteous, it means just exactly that. His righteousness is perfection. When it talks about His holiness, that He is holy, holy, holy, He is perfectly holy. Whenever you use virtuous terms to refer to God, including the word good, you have to understand that when applied to God, God is good and nothing but good, to the max, in imperfection always. …