How Good Is He?

"And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good?
No one is good except God alone.'” --Mark 10:18 (ESV)

This account of the Rich Young Ruler is also recorded in Matthew and Luke, but with some variations which we will discuss further on. The full context goes from verse 13 through 31 and is all about eternal life and the coming Kingdom of God. Although the main point of the passage has to do with obtaining eternal life, many have stumbled over Jesus' response to being called "good teacher", which has led to serious questions.

I recently listened to a debate on the doctrine of the Trinity between a unitarian christian and a trinitarian christian. During their discourse, the unitarian debater cited Mark 10:18 and pointed out that Jesus clearly distinguished himself from God by not accepting the man's well-meaning address to him as “good”. In other words, the fact that Jesus refused the title "good" for himself demonstrates that he did not perceive himself as being God nor make himself equal with God in any way. Now, that makes perfectly good sense to me! However, the trinitarian debater responded (in what I thought was a rather condescending tone) by asking “well then, how good is Jesus? Was he good enough to go to the cross as the perfect lamb of God? Was he good enough to be the only human never to have sinned? Just how good is He?” This response was apparently meant to downplay the argument that Jesus denied any goodness of his own, and attempted to suggest that the unitarian position made Jesus “not good”. Of course, this was not the intent of the unitarian debater at all.

Unfortunately, many have misunderstood this verse. Some commentaries suggest that Jesus was using the moment to severely reprove the young man for a foolish habit of compliment and flattery. But certainly Jesus response carried much weightier intent than a simple rebuff. Most commentaries I've read, however, suggest that Jesus response meant to persuade the young man to recognize that He was God. In essence, Jesus was saying 'You call me good, are you willing to go all the way and recognize that I am, in fact, God?' It seems to me that this is a weak attempt to support the position that Jesus is God.

So, how good is Jesus? And what was the true intent of his response to being called “good”? I humbly suggest the following:

First of all, the rich man was not attributing divinity to Jesus by calling him good. As I mentioned earlier, most traditional commentaries say that Jesus response was an invitation for the rich young man to acknowledge that he (Jesus) was God. This idea projects modern Christology into an ancient Monotheistic setting and is not at all realistic, in my view. My opinion is that the young man was merely using a common address of respect towards a teacher of the law of Moses. Jesus' response was not a disclaimer to divinity since he did not have to disclaim something that was not being attributed to him in the first place. In Hebrew thought, God alone is worthy of the title good because only He is good in the absolute sense; ie., He is not dependent on any outside force or influence. Rather, His goodness is intrinsic! Certainly men are capable of doing good things and may have good character, but only in a 'derived'sense. Whatever goodness may be demonstrated in our lives comes only from the image of God in which we were created. By calling Jesus “good master” the man recognized that Jesus was a man of exceptional character, and that if anyone would have the answer to his question about eternal life, it would be Jesus.

Second, the account in Matthew's gospel sheds additional light on the subject. The accounts in Mark 10 and Luke 18:18 are essentially the same, but in Matthew 19:16-17 the man does not address Jesus as good, but asks “what good thing” can be done to inherit eternal life. To this, Jesus responds, “Why do you ask me about what is good?” and then follows up with "no one is good but God." In all three accounts, the emphasis is on what the man can do to get what he wants, and the fact that God alone is good. With this understanding, Jesus most certainly distinguished himself from God by not accepting the title “good”! The impact of Jesus response "why do you call me good" or "why do you ask me about what is good" was meant to correct the man's false assumption that one could either be or do something good enough to warrant favor from God. Although Jesus points the man to the commandments (the Good God's Good Word), Jesus had just finished teaching that the kingdom of God could not be earned, but must be received as a little child! Even Jesus recognized that his goodness was not innate or absolute, but derived from his relationship of complete trust and obedience with his heavenly father!

Third, to further understand this passage, we must recognize that our 20th century American view of eternal life does not really line up with that of Jesus and first century Judaism. I cannot treat the subject fully here, but in short, we should understand the concept of eternal life in terms of life in the age to come. The phrase in Greek is aionios zoe, but the translation of aionios as 'eternal' is not quite right. Rather than no beginning or ending, aionios has more to do with a period of time. Our word eon is a transliteration of the Greek aion which is the root of ainios. Since we cannot know when this present age will come to an end and the new age begin, and because each successive age (eon) is likewise beyond our ability to know, we call it eternity. But in reality, only God is immortal and therefore, eternal; time does not come to an end... we only enter a new age of time! In the Hebrew mindset, God would send a messiah - a king - an anointed leader - who would inaugurate the new age by establishing God's righteous kingdom on earth! Jews expected God to resurrect the righteous dead at that time, and this is what was meant by 'eternal life'. The young man was asking Jesus what he should do in order to insure that he would be resurrected to life in the age to come - the coming Kingdom of God.

Jesus response highlighted the futility of looking to good works for eternal life by pointing out that he lacked something even though (in his own estimation) he kept all the commandments. By telling him to "sell his stuff”, Jesus forced the man to hold himself up to the light of God's commandments. Could he really say he loved "his neighbor as himself" if he was unwilling to give what he had to to poor? And by inviting the man to 'follow' him, Jesus made available an opportunity to enter into a personal relationship wherein he could come to truly know God. This is in agreement with what Jesus said in John 17:3... "And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

If one would have life in the age to come, it cannot be purchased or earned in any way; rather, it will be the outcome of knowing God through Jesus Christ whom God sent! Certainly Jesus was good, no man was ever as good as him. But God alone is good in the absolute sense. And because of God's goodness we are assured of everlasting life in His coming kingdom by placing our faith in, and following the example of, the Lord Jesus Christ.