The identity of Jesus is the most pivotal and foundational concept that Christians declare and thus adhere to. It is of little surprise that those who reject Him as God the Son, the Eternal Word, have used this passage in Mark 10:17-27 to undermine that identity and even use it as evidence that Jesus supposedly rebukes us as believers from believing in His divine status.
Briefly examining the text and the implications of interpreting it both ways, will lead us to see that the contextual and historic interpretation of Jesus’ lofty status as God the Son is rightly placed.
Mark 10:17 “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?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honour your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Was this simply a rebuke by Jesus, followed by a statement of humility?
If this is the way to take Jesus’ words (he didn’t accept praise, he refused divine adoration) then we would have a problem with the following situations:
Why do we not see this kind of rebuke anywhere else? it should be a pattern that we see whenever Jesus is given accolades that are too lofty for a human. The opposite is true, we see instances of Jesus accepting praise and even lofty titles such as ‘Son of God’. Jesus does indeed encourage adoration of the Father, but Jesus also accepts and encourages similar adoration for himself
Why would Jesus be denying his sinless perfection? Sinlessness is the ultimate standard of goodness. Jn 8:46 ‘Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?’
Why does Jesus call himself ‘good’ in other places? Jn 10:11,14 ‘I am the good Shepherd’
This most certainly alludes to the shepherding illustrations of God throughout the Bible
Why does Jesus even call people ‘good’ in other places? Mt 12:35 ‘The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good’
Why do we see Jesus challenging the man to ‘follow me (Jesus)’ in vs 21 as a way of fulfilling the commandment ‘to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength’?
Why do we see in verses 29 and 30 that Jesus promises eternal life to those giving up everything to follow Him?
For these reasons, it is difficult to believe that Jesus was trying to rebuke the man for calling Jesus ‘good’
A more plausible explanation of Jesus’ statement would be:
That Jesus is probing the motives and beliefs of the young man. The pivotal word that Jesus uses is ‘why’
It’s not that Jesus doesn’t know these things, but with a question, he is attempting to alert the man to his ideas that Jesus sees as wrong or simply lacking ▪ Rather than tell the man straight up, Jesus often uses this questioning tactic as a way of getting the listener to examine himself
We see this tactic on many other occasions in Jesus’ teaching
With the question, the response (no one is good except God alone), and the subsequent conversation Jesus is after two things in man: One - who the man thinks/believes Jesus is ▪ The man holds Jesus in high regard (good), but Jesus is pressing him to go higher and think on who is innately and completely good
Only God is truly good, so by calling Jesus good, according to Jesus the man in effect correctly identifies Jesus’ divinity (thus authority) even if the man had only intended a high level of ‘human goodness’.
Jesus refuses to be called only ‘humanly good’ because it is incorrect, but even more so because Jesus is setting the man up to receive Jesus’ ultimate call to follow him (give up everything and trust Jesus implicitly) Jesus wants to prepare him for a call to devotion that only God can make on our lives.
If Jesus had not from the beginning corrected this man’s incorrect view of Jesus, it would have been somewhat disingenuous for Jesus to make such a demand on him later
By calling the man to ‘follow him’ to receive eternal life, Jesus is claiming to be the one to impart ‘divine goodness’ and the one that is ‘exclusively good’ therefore, Jesus’ claim is to divinity
Two - what the man understands about being good ▪ The young man most likely is sincere, he is hoping for some advice, even if his motive is to use the advice to justify himself and his efforts
As with Jesus’ initial claim about who is innately and completely good, Jesus also alerts man to what true and complete goodness is
If only God is truly good, then to be truly ‘good’, one must be as good as God. This is impossible as Jesus mentions in vs 27
Jesus slowly digs into the man’s heart to expose his failure to be truly good. First, by listing the commandments regarding others, then by exposing the man’s love for riches more than his love for God. On the first account, the man thinks he has fulfilled the law, but has he? Jesus doesn’t mention it, but has the man never hated, lusted or harboured evil thoughts? This is the standard Jesus taught in Matthew 5 and 15
On the second account, the man is caught, he has not loved God with all his mind, heart, soul and strength. Riches he has loved instead of God
Rather than saving himself by observing the law, the law had shown him how far he was from God’s perfect standard
21 “Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man, this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
In verses 26 and 27, Jesus ties the two ideas (Jesus’ identity and the man’s failure to be good) together with Jesus’ call to ‘follow him’ (vs 21) “The argument is clear: either Jesus was good, or he ought not to have
In closing, a quote from theologian Charles Spurgeon: “The argument is clear: either Jesus was good, or he ought not to have called him good; but as there is none good but God, Jesus who is good must be God.”