He said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
World English Bible
Matthew 19:17
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
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WEB World English Bible Public Domain ✓ - Modern English
- BSB Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
- LSV Literal Standard Version A modern, highly literal translation (2020) · CC BY-SA 4.0
- ULB Unlocked Literal Bible An open-licensed literal translation produced for translators · CC BY-SA 4.0
- WMB World Messianic Bible The World English Bible with Hebrew names and Messianic-Jewish terms · Public Domain
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- BBE Bible in Basic English A 20th-century translation using a simple, limited vocabulary · Public Domain
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- MSB Majority Standard Bible A modern translation of the Majority/Byzantine text — the Berean counterpart to the critical-text BSB · Public Domain
- TCENT Text-Critical English New Testament A modern reasoned-eclectic New Testament (2022) · CC BY 4.0
- F35 Family 35 New Testament Wilbur Pickering's Byzantine-priority New Testament, with text-critical commentary notes · CC BY-SA 4.0
- OJB Orthodox Jewish Bible A Messianic-Jewish English Bible using transliterated Hebrew names and terms · CC BY 4.0
- Historic editions
- KJV King James Version Public Domain
- ASV American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
- GNV Geneva Bible (1599) The Reformation-era study Bible that preceded the King James · Public Domain
- DRA Douay-Rheims (1899) An English Catholic translation from the Latin Vulgate · Public Domain
- YLT Young's Literal Translation An extremely literal 19th-century rendering · Public Domain
- DBY Darby Bible A literal 19th-century translation by J. N. Darby · Public Domain
- WBT Webster's Bible Noah Webster's 1833 modernization of the King James Version · Public Domain
- TYNDALE Tyndale New Testament (1534) The pioneering early-modern English New Testament (New Testament only) · Public Domain
- JPS JPS Tanakh (1917) An early Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament only) · Public Domain
- RV Revised Version (1885) The 1885 British revision of the King James Version; parent of the American Standard Version · Public Domain
- LEESER Isaac Leeser Tanakh (1853) The first Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (1853, Old Testament only) · Public Domain
- KJVCP KJV Cambridge Paragraph Bible David Norton's critical Cambridge edition of the King James Version, set in paragraphs · Public Domain
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (3)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Is Salvation by faith alone?
Paul stacks Romans 3:28, Romans 4:13, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:11-12, and Ephesians 2:8-9 to insist humans are justified by faith apart from works of the law. Then Matthew 19:17 ("keep the commandments"), Matthew 25:31-46 (sheep and goats judged on what they did), Romans 2:6 and 2:13 (Paul himself!), James 2:14-26 ("faith without works is dead"), and Revelation 20:12-13 (judged according to works) all push the opposite direction.
Critical scholarship: Genuinely disputed among scholars.
Theology
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
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What was Jesus' sixth commandment?
In the rich young ruler pericope, Jesus enumerates a list of commandments from the Decalogue. Matthew's list has six items ending with 'love thy neighbor as thyself' as number six.
Critical scholarship: Leans toward a genuine contradiction.
Historical detail
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
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Is Jesus good?
John's Jesus calls himself the good shepherd twice in chapter 10 and applies the adjective *kalos* directly to himself. The Synoptic Jesus, addressed as 'Good Master' by the rich young ruler, deflects the title: 'Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.'
Critical scholarship: Leans toward a genuine contradiction.
Theology
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
Other verses examined for the same kind of question or claim
Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
One of these tensions involves a difference in wording across manuscripts or translations. Examine the original language on Lemma →
Cite this page
This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Matthew 19:17 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/matthew/19/17?version=WEB (retrieved 27 August 2026).