Why do you call me good? No one is good
but God only. Such a passage rests within the walls of complete annoyance
during a Christian’s time of preaching the gospel unto the world. One could
only wish to count the amount of times such a verse was quoted by the
opposition in an attempt to demolish orthodox claims of Christ’s God nature.
Such a verse seems to do so when our eyes
and mind only go as far as seeing the surface of such a saying. When one takes it upon
himself to dig deeper within the gospels and the sayings Jesus, what he will
come to discover is something quite different than the arguments brought forth by other
side.
The obvious and most common answer to
this argument is that Jesus was also man. However, within this post, I will
provide 2 other answers to the above question/argument
in an attempt to finally put this claim to rest.
1st answer
In essence, this story talks about a
religious man and a tax collector going to pray. The religious leader prayed to
God by thanking him that he lived a life of purity, lacking in wickedness. He went
as far as to say that he was grateful that he was not a sinner like the tax
collector. He also went on to brag about all the religious things he used to do.
On the other hand, the tax collector, by means of his awareness of his sin,
couldn’t even look up to God. Rather than praying in like manner, he begs for
mercy and admits his sinful nature unto the Lord. Hence, it is THIS man who was
justified and forgiven. Salvation depends on our willingness to accept our
imperfect nature and to come to an understanding that no one is righteous. That
we are all soaked in sin. Only then can we come unto the Lord in humility and
be saved.
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[9] And he spake
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and despised others:
[10] Two men went up into the
temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
[11] The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
[12] I fast twice in the week, I
give tithes of all that I possess.
[13] And the publican, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his
breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
[14] I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth
himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted
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What is interesting within the following
passages is that it connects with the above verses we just looked at. Some
parents during this time brought their children unto Christ so he can bless
them. Although the disciples tried to prevent them from doing so, Christ
ordered that they be enabled because heaven consists of individuals who are
like children. The reason why this verse directly connects with the above
section is because it speaks to humility. What we see here is that those who
are in heaven or go to heaven are the
ones who display humility. In the same manner, the one who was justified above
was not the religious leader who bragged, but the one who was like a child. The
one who was humble before the Lord. For humility is the first step to admitting
your imperfections and coming under submission to Christ for the forgiveness of
sins.
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[15] And they brought unto him also
infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked
them.
[16] But Jesus called them unto
him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for
of such is the kingdom of God.
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Now we come to the relevant passage.
Within this verse, Jesus is approached by a ruler who asks him what he must do
in order to be granted entrance into the kingdom of heaven. However, upon
asking him this question, he calls Christ by the title GOOD master. Jesus then
goes on to say “ why do you call me good? No one is good but God only." Now
before we come to understand what Jesus was really trying to say, let us note
that Jesus was not lying. Indeed, no man is good:
If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in
heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:11
Note: Jesus calling us evil is not to be seen as an
insult. Rather,
it
points to our imperfect nature. To our sinful condition. This is also displayed in Jesus saying that we must be humble like children and be aware of our sin, like the tax collector was. No one is righteous, no not one!
YET, Jesus TAUGHT that HE WAS GOOD in John 10
verse 11:
I am the good shepherd: the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Jesus also claimed to be sinless!:
Which of
you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? John 8:46
And He who sent Me is with Me; He has
not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. John
8:29
Note: Jesus ALWAYS does the things that are
pleasing to God. This includes following the law in a perfect manner. (he does
not sin)
So on one hand, we have Jesus telling us
that no one is Good but God. On the other, we have Jesus telling us that he is
good. Perfect. Sinless. How do such things come together without being viewed
as a contradiction?
When we come to understand what Jesus was
trying to do, we clearly see that there is no such contradiction which exists
within this passage.What Jesus was trying to do here
was point to his true identity. In other words:
IF NO ONE IS GOOD BUT GOD ALONE, AND YOU
INDEED CALL ME GOOD, THEN WHY DON’T YOU CALL ME GOD?
Jesus’s response was a rhetorical
question. It was to lead the man to Christ's true nature and essence.
2nd
answer
One of the intentions of Christ was to
serve as an example for the people to follow. Hence, when we read the gospels,
we constantly run into actions which Christ performs which we wouldn’t expect
God to do, but he STILL did them AS AN EXAMPLE FOR US TO FOLLOW.
John,13th chapter verses 12-14:
So after he had washed their feet, and
had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what
I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash
one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to
you.
We also see such an example within the
baptism of Christ. Please refer to my post: http://beyondcontroversy.blogspot.ca/2016/06/if-jesus-was-god-why-did-he-get-baptized.html
What we see is that Jesus may sometimes
lean towards doing or saying certain things with HUMANITY in mind. He wants
people to mirror him in words and deeds. Furthermore, it is important to note
that THIS MAN WAS NOT A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST hence this would probably be the
first and last time Jesus runs into him.
This is evidenced in the fact that Jesus
told the ruler to FOLLOW him. This displays unto us that he was not a follower
of Jesus to begin with:
[20] Thou knowest
the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not
bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
[21] And he said, All these have I
kept from my youth up.
[22] Now when Jesus heard these
things, he said unto him, Yet lackest
thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
In light of this fact, this man was probably
not even aware of Christ's divinity. He was not with Jesus long enough to
truly understand who he was.He saw Jesus as a man. So imagine if Christ would
have told him “Yes, I am good” or would have answered this man's question concerning eternal life without correcting him on who REALLY is good. This man would run around mirroring Christ
saying that mankind is indeed good, which is in direct contradiction with
Matthew 7. Jesus spoke with the ruler in mind, a man who had limited knowledge
of WHO Jesus was.
If this ruler were to follow Jesus (
which he didn’t) then he would do the same things as the disciples did when they
obeyed Christ's command to follow him. He would have realized who Jesus REALLY
was and worship him as GOD.
Please refer to my post on the earliest
followers of Jesus believing him to be GOD: http://beyondcontroversy.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-earliest-christians-believed-jesus.html
Notice how these 2 parts harmonize
perfectly. In part 1, Jesus was trying to get this man to see that he was God.
In part 2, Jesus speaks to this ruler while aware of the fact that this man did
not recognize Christ's divinity.
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[19] And Jesus said unto him, Why callest
thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
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