16Behold, one came to him and said, “Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”
17He 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.”
18He said to him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “ ‘You shall not murder.’ ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ‘You shall not steal.’ ‘You shall not offer false testimony.’
19‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
16 Behold, one came to him and said, “Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”
17 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.”
18 He said to him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “ ‘You shall not murder.’ ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ‘You shall not steal.’ ‘You shall not offer false testimony.’
19 ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
TYNDALETyndale New Testament (1534)
16 And beholde one came and sayde vnto him: good master what good thinge shall I do that I maye have eternall lyfe?
17 He sayde vnto him: why callest thou me good? there is none good but one and that is God. But yf thou wylt entre in to lyfe kepe the commaundementes.
18 The other sayde to him Which? And Iesus sayde: breake no wedloke kill not steale not: beare not falce witnes:
19 honoure father and mother: and love thyne neighbour as thy sylfe.
Show all 3 translations
GNVGeneva Bible (1599)
16 And beholde, one came and sayd vnto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I doe, that I may haue eternall life?
17 And he said vnto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, eue God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keepe ye commandemets.
18 He sayd to him, Which? And Iesus sayde, These, Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not commit adulterie: Thou shalt not steale: Thou shalt not beare false witnesse.
19 Honour thy father and mother: and thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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 la…
Is Jesus good?John's Jesus calls himself the good shepherd twice in chapter 10 and applies the adjective *kalos* directly to himself.
Show all 5
To kill or not to killExodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17 command 'thou shalt not kill,' and Jesus reaffirms it in Mark 10:19 and Luke 18:20.
Is it always wrong to steal?The Decalogue and its echoes across the Torah, Gospels, and Epistles absolutize the prohibition on stealing, yet Genesis 31:19 reports without condemnation tha…
Mark 10:17-30(v16)As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit…
Leviticus 18:5(v17)You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am Yahweh.
Luke 18:18-30(v16)A certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No…
John 3:15(v16)that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Jude 1:21(v16)Keep yourselves in God’s love, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
Show all 62 cross-references
Matthew 25:46(v16)These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Deuteronomy 5:16-21(v18)“Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the…
1 John 1:2(v16)(and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and…
1 John 5:20(v16)We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in…
Luke 10:26-28(v17)He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with…
Galatians 3:11-13(v17)Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.” The law is not of faith, but, “The…
Titus 3:7(v16)that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Exodus 20:12-17(v18)“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. “You shall not murder. “You…
Leviticus 19:18(v19)“ ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I…
1 Samuel 2:2(v17)There is no one as holy as Yahweh, for there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.
Matthew 19:29(v16)Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will…
Mark 10:19(v18)You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’…
Luke 10:25-28(v16)Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is…
Luke 18:20(v18)You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and…
Acts 16:30(v16)brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Romans 10:5(v17)For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
1 Timothy 6:12(v16)Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight…
1 Timothy 6:19(v16)laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.
Titus 1:2(v16)in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began;
James 2:10-11(v18)For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,”…
1 John 2:25(v16)This is the promise which he promised us, the eternal life.
1 John 5:11-13(v16)The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have…
Exodus 20:12(v19)“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
Deuteronomy 5:16(v19)“Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the…
Daniel 12:2(v16)Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Matthew 5:21-28(v18)“You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But…
Matthew 22:39(v19)A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
John 4:14(v16)but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well…
John 5:39(v16)“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
John 6:27-29(v16)Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the…
John 6:47(v16)Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life.
John 6:68(v16)Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
John 10:28(v16)I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
John 12:25(v16)He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.
John 17:2-3(v16)even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him. This is eternal life, that they…
Romans 2:7(v16)to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;
Romans 5:21(v16)that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:22-23(v16)But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.…
Romans 13:8-10(v18)Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not…
Galatians 3:10(v18)For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things…
1 John 4:16(v17)We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
Nehemiah 9:29(v17)and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they were arrogant, and didn’t listen to your commandments,…
Ezekiel 20:11-12(v17)I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he will live in them. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths,…
Ezekiel 20:21(v17)“ ‘ “But the children rebelled against me. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and didn’t keep my ordinances to do them, which if a man does,…
Matthew 15:4-6(v19)For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you…
Matthew 19:17-18(v16)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.”…
Matthew 19:26(v16)Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Luke 10:27(v19)He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and…
Ephesians 6:1-2(v19)Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise:
1 Timothy 1:16(v16)However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience for an example of those who were…
James 2:8(v19)However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
Leviticus 19:3(v19)“ ‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
Psalms 145:7-9(v17)They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness. Yahweh is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of…
Proverbs 30:17(v19)“The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall…
Galatians 5:14(v19)For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
James 1:17(v17)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning…
1 John 4:8-10(v17)He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (25 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v16They neither know themselves nor the Law, that seek…
They neither know themselves nor the Law, that seek to be saved by the Law.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv16–1916 And, behold, one came and said unto him,…
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Ver. 16. And behold one came] One of good rank, a ruler, Luk 18:18, of good estate, for he was rich, and had great revenue (χρηματα, saith Luke, κτηματα, saith Matthew, Mat 19:22, he had a good title to that he had, and he lived not beside it). He was also a young man, in the prime and pride of his age, and had been well bred; both for point of civility, he came congeeing (bowing) to our Saviour, Mar 10:17. {a} And for matter of piety, he was no Sadducee, for he inquires after eternal life, which they denied. And although but young, he hearkens after heaven: and though he were rich, he comes running to Christ through desire of information; whereas great men use not to run, but to walk leisurely, so to maintain their authority. Lastly, he knew much of God’s law, and had done much; so that he seemed to himself to want work, to be beforehand with God. Christ also looked upon him and loved him, as he was a tame creature, a moral man, and fit to live in a commonwealth.
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What good thing shall I do?] A most needful and difficult question, rarely moved, by rich men especially, whose hearts are usually upon their half-penny, as they say, whose mouths utter no other language but the horse leech’s, Give, give; Who will show us any good? &c.; A good purchase, a good penny’s worth? &c. Howbeit, by the manner of his expressing himself, this gallant seems to have been a Pharisee, and of that sort of Pharisees (for there were seven sorts of them, saith the Talmud) which was named, Quid debeo facere, et faciam illud, Tell me what I should do, and I will do it. They that know not Christ, would go to heaven by their good meanings and good doings; this is a piece of natural popery, that must be utterly abandoned ere eternal life can be obtained.
That I may have eternal life] He had a good mind to heaven, and cheapens it, but was not willing to go to the price of it, that thorough sale of all. Good desires may be found in hell’s mouth, as in Balaam some short winded wishes at least. The spies praised the land as pleasant and plenteous, but they held the conquest impossible, and thereby discouraged the people. Many like well of Abraham’s bosom, but not so well of Dives’ door. They seek to Christ, but when he saith, "Take up the cross and follow me," they stumble at the cross, and fall backward. Their desires after heaven are lazy and sluggish, like the door that turns upon the hinges, but yet hangs still on them: so these wishers and woulders, for all their faint and weak desires after heaven, still hang fast on the hinges of their sins; they will not be wrought off from the things of this world, they will not part with their fatness and sweetness, though it be to reign for ever, Jdg 9:11. Theotimus in St Ambrose would rather lose his sight than his sin of intemperance ( Vale lumen amicum), farewell bright friend, so many, their souls.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv16–18This history is reported by Mark, Mar 10:17-23 and…
This history is reported by Mark, Mar 10:17-23 and by Luke, Luk 18:18-25. Mark saith, When he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life? Luke saith, A certain ruler asked him. Our Lord was now in his way from Galilee to Judea and to Jerusalem. There cometh a person, a ruler, whether of some of the synagogues, or in some place of civil magistracy, the Scripture saith not. He runs, he kneels to him, (paying him at least a civil homage, as to his superior), he salutes him with the ordinary title they gave to their teachers, Master, Good Master; he propounds a grave question to him, what he should do that he might get to heaven; but yet he doth not propound the question in those terms, but,
What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? It appeareth by his respect showed to Christ at his coming, and by the question proposed, and by his going away sorrowful when our Saviour’s answer did not satisfy him, that he did not come upon any captious design to entrap our Saviour, but out of a desire to learn; but yet it appeareth plainly that he was a Pharisee, or a disciple of the Pharisees; and thought his life was in his own hands, that he had a power in himself to do some good thing by which he might merit eternal life, or upon the doing of which he might at least obtain everlasting life, though not as a strict reward for his work, without any consideration of a Messias. He grants an eternal state, he declares his desire of an eternal happiness, he declares his readiness to do some good thing that he might obtain it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt1703 · Public DomainOn vv16–18Observe here, A person addressing himself to Christ, and…
Observe here, A person addressing himself to Christ, and propounding an important question to him; namely, What he should do to gain eternal life?
Where, Note, 1. He believes the certainty of a future state.
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2. He professes his desire of an eternal happiness in that state.
And, 3. He declares his readiness to do some good, that he may obtain that happiness.
Learn, That the light of nature, or natural religion, directs and teaches men, that good works are necessary to salvation, or that some good things must be done by men that at death expect eternal life.
What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? It is not talking well, and professing well, but doing well, and living well, that entitles us to eternal life.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv16–19And behold, one came,.... The Persic version reads, "a…
And behold, one came,.... The Persic version reads, "a rich man"; and so he was, as appears from what follows: Luke calls him, "a certain ruler"; not of a synagogue, an ecclesiastical ruler, but a civil magistrate: perhaps he might be one of the sanhedrim, which consisted of "twenty one" persons; or of that which consisted only of "three", as in some small towns and villages Mark represents him as "running"; for Christ was departed out of the house, and was gone into the way, the high road, and was on his journey to some other place, when this man ran after him with great eagerness; and, as the same evangelist adds, "kneeled to him"; thereby paying him civil respect, and honour; believing him to be a worthy good man, and deserving of esteem and veneration:
and said unto him, good master: some say, that this was a title which the Jewish doctors were fond of, and gave to each other, but I have not observed it; he seems by this to intimate, that he thought him not only to be a good man, but a good teacher; that he was one that came from God, and taught good doctrine, which induced him to run after him, and put the following question to him:
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what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Or, as in the other evangelists, "inherit eternal life"; a phrase much in use with the Jewish Rabbins (a):
"Judah confessed, and was not ashamed, and what is his end? , "he inherits the life of the world to come" (i.e. eternal life); Reuben confessed, and was not ashamed, and what is his end? "he inherits the life of the world to come".''
This man was no Sadducee, he believed a future state; was a serious man, thoughtful about another world, and concerned how he should enjoy everlasting life; but was entirely upon a legal bottom, and under a covenant of works; and speaks in the language and strain of the nation of Israel, who were seeking for righteousness and life by the works of the law: he expected eternal life by doing some good thing, or things; and hoped, as the sequel shows, that he had done every good thing necessary to the obtaining it.
(a) T. Bab. Sota, fol. 7. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv16, 17, 19And behold one came - Many of the poor…
And behold one came - Many of the poor had followed him from the beginning. One rich man came at last. Mark x, 17; Luke xviii, 18.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv16–19Verse 16. One came] Instead of εις one, several…
Verse 16. One came] Instead of εις one, several MSS., the Slavonic version, and Hilary, read νεανισκος τις, a certain young man.
Good, c.] Much instruction may be had from seriously attending to the conduct, spirit, and question of this person.
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1. He came running, (Mr 10:17,) for he was deeply convinced of the importance of his business, and seriously determined to seek so as to find.
2. He kneeled, or caught him by the knees, thus evidencing his humility, and addressing himself only to mercy. See Mt 17:14.
3. He came in the spirit of a disciple, or scholar, desiring to be taught a matter of the utmost importance to him - Good teacher.
4. He came in the spirit of obedience he had worked hard to no purpose, and he is still willing to work, provided he can have a prospect of succeeding - What good thing shall I do?
5. His question was the most interesting and important that any soul can ask of God - How shall I be saved?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv16–17Mat 19:16. And behold, one came, &c. — Many…
Mat 19:16. And behold, one came, &c. — Many of the poor had followed him from the beginning. One rich man came at last, and came running, with great earnestness, and kneeled to him with great humility and reverence, Mar 10:17, and said, Good Master — Manifesting by the appellation both a submissive and teachable disposition; his persuasion that Christ was a divinely-commissioned teacher, and his affection and peculiar respect to him as such. What good thing shall I do? — Or, as Mark and Luke express it, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? — By this question he manifested, 1st, That he believed in a future state; that there was an eternal life that might be inherited; he was therefore no Sadducee: 2d, that he was concerned to ensure that life to himself, and was more desirous of it than of any of the enjoyments of this life: thus he differed from many of his age and quality; for the rich are apt to think it below them to make such an inquiry as this, and young people in general are inclined to defer making it to some future period of their lives: 3d, that something must be done; some evils omitted, some duties performed, or divine injunctions complied with, in order to it: 4th, that he was, or at least thought he was, willing to do what was to be done, or to take the steps necessary to be taken for the obtaining of this eternal life. And surely those that know what it will be to enjoy eternal life, and what to come short of it, will be glad to accept it on any terms.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn v16This account is found also in Mar 10:17-31; Luke…
This account is found also in Mar 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-39.
Mat 19:16
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One came - This was a young man, Mat 19:20. He was a ruler (Luke); probably a ruler in a synagogue, or of the great council of the nation; a place to which he was chosen on account of his unblemished character and promising talents. He came running (Mark); evincing great earnestness and anxiety, He fell upon his knees (Mark); not to worship him, but to pay the customary respectful salutation; exhibiting the highest regard for Jesus as an extraordinary religious teacher.
Good Master - The word “good” here means, doubtless, most excellent; referring not so much to the moral character of Jesus as to his character as a religious teacher. It was probably a title which the Jews were in the habit of applying to their religious teachers. The word “Master” here means teacher.
What good thing shall I do? - He had attempted to keep all the commandments. He had been taught by his Jewish teachers that people were to be saved by doing something - that is, by their works; and he supposed that this was to be the way under every system of religion. He had lived externally a blameless life, but yet he was not at peace: he was anxious, and he came to ascertain what, in the view of Jesus, was to be done, that his righteousness might be complete. To “have eternal life” means to be saved. The happiness of heaven is called “life,” in opposition to the pains of hell, called “death,” or an eternal dying, Rev 2:2; Rev 20:14. The one is real life, answering the purposes of living - living to the honor of God and in eternal happiness; the other is a failure of the great ends of existence - prolonged, eternal suffering, of which temporal death is but the feeble image.
Mat 19:17
Why callest thou me good? - Why do you give to me a title that belongs only to God? You suppose me to be only a man, yet you give me an appellation that belongs only to God.
It is improper to use titles in this manner. As you Jews use them they are unmeaning; and though the title may apply to me, yet, you did not intend to use it in the sense in which it is proper, as denoting infinite perfection or divinity; but you intended to use it as a complimentary or a flattering title, applied to me as if I were a mere man - a title which belongs only to God. The intentions, the habit of using mere titles, and applying as a compliment terms belonging only to God, is wrong. Christ did not intend here to disclaim divinity, or to say anything about his own character, but simply to reprove the intention and habit of the young man - a most severe reproof of a foolish habit of compliment and flattery, and seeking pompous titles.
Keep the commandments - That is, do what God has commanded. He in the next verses informs him what he meant by the commandments. Jesus said this, doubtless, to try him, and to convince him that he had by no means kept the commandments, and that in supposing he had he was altogether deceived. The young man thought he had kept them, and was relying on them for salvation. It was of great importance, therefore, to convince him that he was, after all, a sinner. Christ did not mean to say that any man would be saved by the works of the law, for the Bible teaches plainly that such will not be the case, Rom 3:20, Rom 3:28; Rom 4:6; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:9; 2Ti 1:9. At the same time, however, it is true that if a man perfectly complied with the requirements of the law he would be saved, for there would be no reason why he should be condemned. Jesus, therefore, since he saw he was depending on his works, told him that if he would enter into life that is, into heaven - he must keep the commandments; if he was depending on them he must keep them perfectly, and if this was done he would be saved. The reasons why Christ gave him this direction were, probably:
1.Because it was his duty to keep them.
2.Because the young man depended on them, and he ought to understand what was required if he did - that they should be kept perfectly, or that they were not kept at all.
3.Because he wanted to test him, to show him that he did not keep them, and thus to show him his need of a Saviour.
Mat 19:18, Mat 19:19
He saith unto him, Which? - In reply to the inquiry of the young man, Jesus directed him to the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and fifth Exo 20:12-16, as containing the substance of the whole - as containing particularly what he intended to show him that he had not kept. See notes at Mat 5:21, Mat 5:27.
Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder - See the notes at Mat 5:21-26.
Thou shalt not commit adultery - See the notes at Mat 5:27-32.
Thou shalt not steal - To steal is to take the property of another without his knowledge or consent.
Thou shalt not bear false witness - Give testimony contrary to truth. This may be done in a court of justice, or by private or public slander. It means to say things of another which are not true.
Honour thy father ... - That is,
Obey them, keep their commands, Col 3:20; Eph 6:1-3. Respect them, show them reverence. Treat their opinions with respect - do not despise them or ridicule them. Treat their habits with respect. Those habits may be different from ours; they may be antiquated, and to us strange, odd, or whimsical; but they are the habits of a parent, and they are not to be ridiculed. Provide for them when sick, weary, old, and infirm. Bear with their weakness, comply with their wishes, speak to them kindly, and deny yourselves of rest, and sleep, and ease, to promote their welfare.
To this he added another - the duty of loving our neighbor, Lev 19:18. This Christ declared to be the second great commandment of the law, Mat 22:39. A neighbor means:
1.Any person who lives near to us.
2.Any person with whom we have dealings.
3.A friend or relative, Mat 5:43.
4.Any person - friend, relative, countryman, or foe, Mar 12:31.
5.Any person who does us good or confers a favor on us, Luk 10:27-37,
This commandment means, evidently:
1.That we should not injure our neighbor in his person, property, or character.
2.That we should not be selfish, but should seek to do him good.
3.That in a case of debt, difference, or debate, we should do what is right, regarding his interest as much as our own.
4.That we should treat his character, property, etc., as we do our own, according to what is right.
5.That, in order to benefit him, we should practice self-denial, or do as we would wish him to do to us, Mat 7:12.
It does not mean:
1.That the love of ourselves, according to what we are, or according to truth, is improper. The happiness of myself is of as much importance as that of any other man, and it is as proper that it should be sought.
It does not mean that I am to neglect my own business to take care of my neighbor’s. My happiness, salvation, health, and family are committed especially to myself; and, provided I do not interfere with my neighbor’s rights or violate my obligations to him, it is my duty to seek the welfare of my own as my first duty, 1Ti 5:8, 1Ti 5:13; Tit 2:5. Mark adds to these commandments, “Defraud not;” by which he meant, doubtless, to express the substance of this to love our neighbor as ourselves. It means, literally, to take away the property of another by violence or by deceiving him, thus showing that he is not loved as we love ourselves.
Mat 19:20
All these things have I kept from my youth up - I have made them the rule of my life.
I have endeavored to obey them. Is there anything that I lack - are there any new commandments to be kept? Do you, the Messiah, teach any command besides those which I have learned from the law and from the Jewish teachers, which it is necessary for me to obey in order to be saved?
Mat 19:21
If thou wilt be perfect - The word “perfect” means complete in all its parts, finished, having no part wanting.
Thus a watch is perfect or complete when it has all its proper wheels, and hands, and casements in order. Job was said to be perfect (see the notes at Job 1:1), not that he was sinless, for he is afterward reproved by God himself Job 38; 39; Job 40:4; but because his piety was properly proportioned, or had a completeness of parts. He was a pious father, a pious magistrate, a pious neighbor, a pious citizen. His religion was not confined to one thing, but it extended to all. Perfect means, sometimes, the filling up, or the carrying out, or the expression of a principle of action. Thus, 1Jo 2:5; “Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” That is, the keeping of the commandments of God is the proper expression, carrying out, or completion of the love of God. This is its meaning here. If thou wilt be perfect, complete, finished - if thou writ show the proper expression of this keeping of the commandments, go, etc. Make the obedience complete. Mark says Mar 10:21, Jesus, beholding him, loved him. He was pleased with his amiableness, his correct character, his frankness, his ingenuousness. Jesus, as a man, was capable of all the emotions of most tender friendship. As a man, we may suppose that his disposition was tender and affectionate, mild and calm. Hence, he loved with special affection the disciple John, eminently endowed with these qualities; and hence he was pleased with the same traits in this young man. Still, with all this amiableness, there is reason to think he was not a Christian, and that the love of mere amiable qualities was all the affection that was ever bestowed on him by the Saviour.
“One thing,” adds Mark, “thou lackest.” There is one thing missing. You are not complete. This done, you would show that your obedience lacked no essential part, but was complete, finished, proportionate, perfect.
Go and sell that thou hast ... - The young man declared that he had kept the law. That law required, among other things, that he should love his neighbor as himself. It required, also, that he should love the Lord his God supremely; that is, more than all other objects. If he had that true love to God and man - if he loved his Maker and fellow-creatures more than he did his property, he would be willing to give up his wealth to the service of God and of man. Jesus commanded him to do this, therefore, to test his character, and to show him that he had not kept the law as he pretended, and thus to show him that he needed a better righteousness than his own.
Treasure in heaven - See the notes at Mat 6:20.
Follow me - To follow Jesus then meant to be a personal attendant on his ministry; to go about with him from place to place, as well as to imitate and obey him. Now it means:
1.To obey his commandments.
2.To imitate his example, and to live like him.
Mat 19:22
He had great possessions - He was very rich.
He made an idol of his wealth. He loved it more than God. He had not kept the commandments from his youth up, nor had he kept them at all; and rather than do good with his treasures, and seek his salvation by obeying God, he chose to turn away from the Saviour and give over his inquiry about eternal life. He probably returned no more. Alas, how many lovely and amiable young persons follow his example!
Mat 19:23
A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven - Shall with difficulty be saved.
He has much to struggle with, and it will require the greatest of human efforts to break away from his temptations and idols. and to secure his salvation. Compare the notes at 1Ti 6:9-10.
Mat 19:24
It is easier for a camel ... - This was a proverb in common use among the Jews, and is still common among the Arabians.
To denote that a thing was impossible or exceedingly difficult, they said that a camel or an elephant might as soon walk through a needle’s eye. In the use of such proverbs it is not necessary to understand them literally. They merely denote the extreme difficulty of the case.
A camel - A beast of burden much used in Eastern countries. It is about the size of the largest ox, with one or two bunches on his back, with long neck and legs, no horns, and with feet adapted to the hot and dry sand. They are capable of carrying heavy burdens, will travel sometimes faster than the fleetest horse, and are provided with a stomach which they fill with water, by means of which I they can live four or five days without drink. They are very mild and tame, and kneel down to receive and unload their burden. They are chiefly used in deserts and hot climates, where other beasts of burden are with difficulty kept alive.
A rich man - This rather means one who loves his riches and makes an idol of them, or one who supremely desires to be rich. Mark says Mar 10:24 “How hard is it for them that trust in riches.” While a man has this feeling - relying on his wealth alone - it is literally impossible that he should be a Christian; for religion is a love of God rather than the world - the love of Jesus and his cause more than gold. Still a man may have much property, and not have this feeling. He may have great wealth, and love God more; as a poor man may have little, and love that little more than God. The difficulties in the way of the salvation of a rich man are:
1.That riches engross the affections.
2.That people consider wealth as the chief good, and when this is obtained they think they have gained all.
3.That they are proud of their wealth, and unwilling to be numbered with the poor and despised followers of Jesus.
4.That riches engross the time, and fill the mind with cares and anxieties, and leave little for God.
5.That they often produce luxury, dissipation, and vice. that it is difficult to obtain wealth without sin, without avarice, without covetousness, fraud, and oppression, 1Ti 6:9-10, 1Ti 6:17; Jam 5:1-5; Luk 12:16-21; Luk 16:19-31.
Still, Jesus says Mat 19:26, all these may be overcome. God can give grace to do it. Though to people it may appear impossible, yet it is easy for God.
Mat 19:27
We have forsaken all - Probably nothing but their fishing-nets, small boats, and cottages.
But they were their all - their living, their home; and, forsaking them, they had as really shown their sincerity as though they had possessed the gold of Ophir and lived in the palaces of kings.
What shall we have, therefore? - We have done as thou didst command this young man to do. What reward may we expect for it?
Mat 19:28
Verily I say unto you - Jesus in this verse declares the reward which they would have.
They were not to look for it now, but in a future period.
That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration - This word occurs but once elsewhere in the New Testament, Tit 3:5. It literally means a new birth, or being born again. Applied to man, it denotes the great change when the heart is renewed, or when the sinner begins to be a Christian. This is its meaning, clearly, in the passage referred to in Titus; but this meaning cannot be applied here. Christ was not born again, and in no proper sense could it be said that they had followed him in the new birth; but the word also means any great change, or a restoration of things to a former state or to a better state. In this sense it is probably used here. It refers to that great revolution - that restoration of order in the universe - that universal new birth which will occur when the dead shall rise, and all human things shall be changed, and a new order of things shall start up out of the ruins of the old, when the Son of man shall come to judgment. The passage, then, should be read, “Ye which have followed me shall, as a reward in the great day of the resurrection of the dead, and of forming the new and eternal order of things - the day of judgment, the regeneration - be signally honored and blessed.
When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory - That is, to judge the world. “Throne of glory” means glorious throne or a splendid throne. It is not to be taken literally, but is used to denote his character as a king and judge, and to signify the great dignity and majesty which will be displayed by him. See Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64; Act 1:11; Act 17:31.
Sit upon twelve thrones - This is figurative. To sit on a throne denotes power and honor, and means here that they would be distinguished above others, and be more highly honored and rewarded.
Judging the twelve tribes of Israel - Jesus will be the Judge of quick and dead. He only is qualified for it, and the Father hath given all judgment to the Son, Joh 5:22. To be a judge denotes rank, authority, power. The ancient judges of Israel were people of distinguished courage, patriotism, honor, and valor. Hence, the word comes to denote not so much an actual exercise of the power of passing judgment, as the honor attached to the office; and as earthly kings have those around them dignified with honors and office - counselors and judges, so Christ says that his apostles will occupy the same relative station in the great day. They will be honored by him, and by all, as apostles, as having, in the face of persecution, left all; as having laid the foundations of his church, and endured all the persecutions of the world.
The twelve tribes of Israel - This was the number of the ancient tribes. By this name the people of God were denoted. By this name Jesus here denotes his redeemed people. See also Jam 1:1, where Christians are called the twelve tribes. Here it means also, not the Jews, not the world, not the wicked, not that the apostles are to pronounce sentence on the enemies of God, but the people of God, the redeemed. Among them Jesus says his apostles will be honored in the day of judgment, as earthly kings place in posts of office and honor those who have signally served them. Compare the notes at 1Co 6:2.
Mat 19:29
And every one that hath forsaken houses ... - In the days of Jesus, those who followed him were obliged, generally, to forsake houses and home, and to attend him.
In our time it is not often required that we should literally leave them, except when the life is devoted to him among the pagan; but it is always required that we love them less than we do him, that we give up all that is inconsistent with religion, and that we be ready to give up all when he demands it.
For my name’s sake - From attachment to me. Mark adds, “and for the gospel’s;” that is, from obedience to the requirements of the gospel, and love for the service of the gospel.
Shall receive a hundred-fold - Mark says “a hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters,” etc. A hundred-fold means a hundred times as much. This is not to be understood literally, but that he will give what will be worth 100 times as much in the peace, and joy, and rewards of religion. It is also literally true that no man’s temporal interest is injured by the love of God. Mark adds, “with persecutions.” These are not promised as a part of the reward; but amid their trials and persecutions they should find reward and peace.
Mat 19:30
This verse should have been connected with the following chapter
The parable there spoken is expressly to illustrate this sentiment. See it explained in the notes at Mat 20:16.
Remarks On Matthew 19
1. We should not throw ourselves unnecessarily in the way of the enemies of religion, Mat 19:1. Jesus, to avoid the dangers to which he was exposed, left Jerusalem, and passed over to the other side of the Jordan. If duty calls us to remain in the presence of our enemies and the enemies of religion, we should do it. If we can do them good, we should do it. If our presence will only provoke them to anger and bitterness, then we should turn aside. Compare the notes at Mat 10:23.
2. People will seek every occasion to ensnare Christians, Mat 19:3. Questions will be proposed with great art, and with an appearance of sincerity, only for the purpose of leading them into difficulty. Cunning men know well how to propose such questions, and triumph much when they have perplexed believers. This is often the boast of people of some standing, who think they accomplish the great purposes of their existence if they can confound other people, and think it signal triumph if they can make others as miserable as themselves.
3. We should not refuse to answer such persons with mildness, when the Bible has settled the question, Mat 19:4-6. Jesus answered a captious question, proposed on purpose to ensnare him. We may often do much to confound the enemies of religion, and to recommend it, when without passion we hear their inquiries, and deliberately inform them that the question has been settled by God. We had better, however, far better, say nothing in reply, than to answer in anger or to show that we are irritated. All the object of the enemy is gained if he can make us angry.
4. People will search and pervert the Bible for authority to indulge their sins and to perplex Christians, Mat 19:7. No device is more common than to produce a passage of Scripture known to be misquoted or perverted, yet plausible, for the purpose of perplexing Christians. In such cases, the best way, often, is to say nothing. If unanswered, people will be ashamed of it; if answered, they gain their point, and are ready for debate and abuse.
5. We learn from this chapter that there is no union so intimate as the marriage connection, Mat 19:6. Nothing is so tender and endearing as this union appointed by God for the welfare of man.
6. This union should not be entered into slightly or rashly. It involves all the happiness of this life and much of that to come. The union demands:
(1)Congeniality of feeling and disposition;
(2)Of rank or standing in life;
(3)Of temper;
(4)Similarity of acquirements;
(5)Of age;
(6)Of talent;
(7)Intimate acquaintance.
It should also be a union on religious feelings and opinions:
(1)Because religion is more important than anything else;
(2)Because it will give more happiness in the married life than anything else;
(3)Because where one only is pious, there is danger that the religion of the other will be obscured and blighted;
(4)Because no prospect is so painful as that of eternal separation;
(5)Because it is paganish, brutal, and mad, to partake the gifts of God in a family and offer no thanksgiving; inexpressibly wicked to live from day to day as if there were no God, no heaven, no hell;
(6)Because death is near, and nothing will soothe the pangs of parting but the hope of meeting in the resurrection of the just.
7. No human legislature has a right to declare divorces except in one single case, Mat 19:9. If they do, they are accessories to the crime that may follow, and presume to legislate where God has legislated before them.
8. Those thus divorced, or pretended to be divorced, and marrying again, are, by the declaration of Jesus Christ, living in adultery, Mat 19:9. It is no excuse to say that the law of the land divorced them. The law had no such right. If all the legislatures of the world were to say that it was lawful for a man to steal or to commit murder, it would not make it so, and, in spite of human permission, God would hold a man answerable for theft and murder. So, also, of adultery.
9. The marriage union demands kindness and love, Mat 19:6. The husband and the wife are one. Love to each other is love to a second self. Hatred, and anger, and quarrels are against ourselves. The evils and quarrels in married life will descend on ourselves, and be gall and wormwood in our own cup.
10. Infants may be brought to Jesus to receive his blessing, Mat 19:12-15. While on earth, he admitted them to his presence and blessed them with his prayers. If they might be brought then, they may be brought now. Their souls are as precious; their dangers are as great; their salvation is as important. A parent should require the most indubitable evidence that Jesus will not receive his offspring, and will be displeased if the offering is made, to deter him from this inestimable privilege.
11. If children may be brought, they should be brought. It is the solemn duty of a parent to seize upon all possible means of benefiting his children, and of presenting them to God to implore his blessing. In family prayer, in the sanctuary, and in the ordinance of baptism, the blessing of the Redeemer should be sought early and constantly on their precious and immortal souls.
12. Earnestness and deep anxiety are proper in seeking salvation, Mat 19:16. The young man came running; he kneeled. It was not form and ceremony; it was life and reality. Religion is a great subject. Salvation is important beyond the power of language to express. Eternity is near, and damnation thunders along the path of the guilty. The sinner must be saved soon, or die forever. He cannot be too earnest. He cannot press with too great haste to Jesus. He should come running, and kneeling, and humbled, and lifting the agonizing cry, “What must I do to be saved?”
13. We should come young, Mat 19:20. No one can come too young. God has the first claim on our affections. He made us, he keeps us, he provides for us, and it is right that we should give our first affections to him. No one who has become a Christian ever yet felt that he had become one too young. No young person that has given his heart to the Redeemer ever yet regretted it. They may give up the frivolous world to do it; they may leave the circles of the dance and the song; they may be exposed to contempt and persecution, but no matter. He who becomes a true Christian, no matter of what age or rank, blesses God that he was inclined to do it, and the time never can come when for one moment he will regret it. Why, then, will not the young give their hearts to the Saviour, and do that which they know they never can for one moment regret?
14. It is no dishonor for those who hold offices, and who are people of rank, to inquire on the subject of religion, Luk 18:18. Men of rank often suppose that it is only the weak, the credulous, and the ignorant that ever feel any anxiety about religion. Never was a greater mistake. It has been only profligate, and weak, and ignorant people that have been thoughtless. Two-thirds of all the profound investigations of the world have been on this very subject. The wisest and best of the pagans have devoted their lives to inquire about God and their own destiny. So in Christian lands. Were Bacon, Newton, Locke, Milton, Hale, and Boerhaave men of weak minds? Yet their deepest thoughts and most anxious inquiries were on this very subject. So in our own land. Were Washington, Ames, Henry, Jay, and Rush men of weak minds? Yet they were professed believers in revelation. And yet young men of rank, and wealth, and learning often think that they show great independence in refusing to think of what occupied the profound attention of these men, and fancy they are great only by refusing to tread in their steps. Never was a greater or more foolish mistake. If anything demands attention, it is, surely, the inquiry whether we are to be happy forever, or wretched; whether there is a God and Saviour; or whether we are “in a forsaken and fatherless world.”
15. It is as important for the rich to seek religion as the poor, Mat 19:22. They will as certainly die; they as much need religion. Without it they cannot be happy. Riches will drive away no pain on a death-bed - will not go with us when we die - will not save us.
16. It is of special importance that wealthy young persons should be Christians. They are exposed to many dangers. The world - the “happy” and flattering world - will lead them astray. Fond of fashion, dress, and amusement, as many of them are, they are exposed to a thousand follies and dangers, from which nothing but religion can secrete them. Besides, they may do much good; and God will hold them answerable for all the good they might have done with their wealth.
17. The amiable, the lovely, the moral, need also an interest in Christ, Mar 10:21. If amiable, we should suppose they would be ready to embrace the Saviour. None was ever so moral, so lovely, so pure as he. If we really loved amiableness, then we should come to him - we should love him. But, alas! how many amiable young persons turn away from him, and refuse to follow him! Can they be really lovers of that which is pure and lovely? If so, then why turn away from the Lamb of God?
18. The amiable and the lovely need a better righteousness than their own. With all this, they may make an idol of the world; they may be proud, sensual, selfish, prayerless, and thoughtless about dying. Externally they appear lovely; but oh, how far is the heart from God!
19. Inquirers about religion usually depend on their own works, Mat 19:16. They are not willing to trust to Jesus for salvation, and they ask what they shall do; and it is only when they find that they can do nothing - that they are poor, and helpless, and wretched that they east themselves on the mercy of God and find peace.
20. Compliments and flattering titles are evil, Mat 19:17. They ascribe something to others which we know they do not possess. Often beauty is praised where we know there is no beauty - accomplishment where there is no accomplishment - talent where there is no talent. Such praises are falsehood. We know them to be such. We intend to deceive by them, and we know that they will produce pride and vanity. Often they are used for the purpose of destruction. If a man praises us too much, we should look to our purse or our virtue. We should feel that we are in danger, and the next thing will be a dreadful blow - the heavier for all this flattery. They that use compliments much, expect them from others; are galled and vexed when they are not obtained; and are in danger when they are.
21. If we are to be saved, we must do just what God commands us. Mat 19:17-18. This is all we have to do. We are not to invent anything of our own. God has marked out the course, and we must follow it.
22. We are easily deceived about keeping the law, Mat 19:17. We often think we observe it, when it is only the outward form that we have kept. The law is spiritual, and God requires the heart.
23. Riches are a blessing if used aright; if not, they are deceitful, dangerous, ruinous, Mat 19:23-24. Thousands have lost their souls by the love of riches. None have ever been saved by it.
24. It is our duty to forsake all for Christ, Mat 19:27-29. Be it little or much, it is all the same to him. It is the heart that he looks at; and we may as really show our love by giving up a fishing-boat and net, as by giving up a palace or a crown. If done in either case, it will be accepted.
25. Religion has its own rewards, Mat 19:28-29. It gives more than it takes. It more than compensates for all that we surrender. It gives peace, joy, comfort in trial and in death, and heaven beyond. This is the testimony of all Christians of all denominations of all that have lived, and of all that do live that they never knew true peace until they found it in the gospel. The testimony of so many must be true. They have tried the world in all its forms of gaiety, folly, and vice, and they come and say with one voice, Here only is true peace. On any other subject they would be believed. Their testimony here must be true.
26. Those eminent for usefulness here will be received to distinguished honors and rewards in heaven, Mat 19:28. They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as stars in the firmament forever. See the notes at Dan 12:3.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv16, 17, 19Behold one came. St. Luke (xviii. 18.) calls him…
Behold one came. St. Luke (xviii. 18.) calls him a prince or lord. Some conjecture this young man came only in a dissembling way, to try or tempt our Saviour, as the Pharisees sometimes did, and without any design to follow his advice; but by all the circumstances related of him, by the evangelists particularly, when St. Mark (Chap. x. 22.) tells us, he went away sorrowful, he seems to have come with sincerity, but without resolution strong enough to leave his worldly goods and possessions. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v16C. Property in the Church. Mat_19:16-26
C. Property in the Church. Mat_19:16-26
(Mar_10:17-27; Luk_18:18-27.)
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16And, behold, one came and said unto him,13 Good14 Master, what good thing [τί ἀγαθόν] shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God [Why dost thou ask me about the good? One is the Good, ὁ ἀγαθὸς]Matthew 15 : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder [shalt not kill], Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 20The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from myyouth up16: what lack I yet [do I yet lack]? 21Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that [what] thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22But when the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through17 the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 25When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? 26But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat_19:16. And, behold, one came, εἶς.—From the circumstance that the former two sections are connected together, we infer that Christ was still surrounded by the Pharisees who had come tempting Him. Hence the expression of astonishment: “Behold!” Besides, the special designation of this “one” as an ἄρχων in the Gospel by Luke, is in favor of the supposition that, having partly been gained over by Jesus, he now came forward with the inquiry of the text.
Mat_19:16-17. (Good) Master.—We presuppose that the accounts of Mark and Luke must be regarded as supplementing that of Matthew. In that case, the rejoinder of the Saviour: “Why callest thou Me good?” must be taken as an objection, not to this salutation itself, but to the superficial and merely outward meaning which attached to it in the mind of this scribe. None is good but God: One only is good. Everything good being in and from Him, can only be one, and can only be regarded as good in so far as it is connected with God.
Thus we also account for the reading: “Why askest thou Me about the good? One is the Good.” God alone being good, is the sole source of all goodness. Hence the duty of doing good is not one of many others which has to be ascertained by means of inquiry, or by theological investigation. The one good thing is to live in God and to love God. Of this the commencement is to keep the commandments, which are the legal form in which that which is good has manifested itself. In other words, seek to fulfil the law, or to be righteous before God. When attempting to do this, you will gradually be led onward to repentance and faith; or, in order to arrive at the one good, or to come unto God, you must first be in earnest about His commandments, or the manifold forms under which the good becomes outwardly manifest. Neander is mistaken in interpreting the passage: “Why askest thou Me about that which is good? One is good; address thyself to Him. He has revealed it in His word.” Still more erroneous is the view of de Wette, who explains it as meaning: Why propoundest thou to Me the unanswerable inquiry about the real and highest good? etc. It is certainly strange, that while this critic characterizes such an inquiry as unanswerable, Meyer should style it superfluous. The latter interpreter, however, aptly remarks: “There is one who is good, and one that is good, alterum non datur. But if you really wish (the δέ here in the same sense as the metabatic autem) to apply to your life what I say, so as to become thoroughly conscious of its spiritual import, etc.” The emphasis rests on the words: τίμεἐρωτᾷς. That which is good is not to be treated as the subject of pharisaical ἐρωτᾷν. It is not to be found in the form of any particular commandment contained among Jewish traditions. Hence Fritzsche correctly explains τί ἀγαθὸν ποιήσω by quid quod bonum sit, what good thing. The young man imagined that he had kept all these things; yet he felt that he still sacked something, although he knew not what. Thus the transaction here recorded is closely connected with the interview between Jesus and the scribe recorded in Mar_12:28. In that case the fundamental idea was: One God; and hence, only one commandment. In the present instance: Only one good Being; and hence, also, only one good thing. On both occasions, the Lord alludes to the contrast with Jewish traditionalism and its manifold ordinances, which so frequently impeded and obscured what was good.
Mat_19:18. Which?—ΙΙοίας, “quales, which is not equivalent to τίνας, but implies that he would like to know its characteristic marks.” Meyer. Hence the statement shows that, like the Pharisees generally, he made a distinction between what were supposed to be primary and secondary commandments.
Thou shalt not.—This enumeration of the commandments by the Lord is of some importance, with reference to the distinction between what are commonly termed the first and second tables of the law. In Mat_19:18 four commandments of the second table are mentioned; and it has been asked how this verse stands related to Mat_19:19. But, according to Lev_19:18, the injunction, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” is evidently intended as a summary of the second table. Hence we infer that “Honor thy father and thy mother” is to be taken in a deeper sense, as summing up the commandments of the first table. In other words, 1. Keep sacred the root of life; or, the first table. 2. Keep sacred the tree of which you are a branch; or, the second table.
Mat_19:20. All these things have I kept, etc.: what do I yet lack? τιἔτιν̔οτερω,—The latter query must not be regarded as an expression of satisfied self-righteousness, as if it implied, In that case I lack nothing. It is, indeed, true that the young man was still self-righteous. He had no conception of the spirituality, the depth, or the height of the commandments of God. Taking only the letter of the law, he considered himself blameless, and perhaps even righteous, before God. Yet his heart misgave him, and he felt that he still lacked something. Under this sense of want, he put the question to the Saviour, as if he would have said: What is it then that I yet lack? All these things have not given me peace of mind. That such is the correct view of the passage, appears both from the statement in Mark, “Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him,” and from the great struggle through which he afterward passed.
Mat_19:21. If thou wilt be perfect.—In its connection with the preceding context, the expression can only mean: If thou wilt have the one good thing, and thus do the one good thing, so that spiritual fear and want may give place to peace and love, etc. The Lord admits the supposition of the young man, that he was now beyond the many commandments, or the way of the law. Well, then, granting this to be the case, proceed to the one thing. The young man was now to give proof that he was in earnest about the matter. For this purpose Jesus tries him, with the view of setting before him the deeper import of the law, and of awakening within him a sense of sinfulness and of spiritual bondage. The injunction of the Lord is manifestly intended to bring out the fact, that the young man had made an idol of his riches, and hence that he utterly contravened the spirit even of the first commandment. Substantially, this demand of Christ imports the same thing as the call addressed to all His disciples—to deny themselves, to take up the cross, and to follow Him. In this sense, then, the injunction applies to every Christian. All that belongs to a believer is in reality not his, but the Lord’s property; above all, it belongs Christo in pauperibus. The Lord, however, expresses this general call of His gospel, as it were, in a legal form, for the purpose of taking away the self-righteousness of the young man, and of leading him to feel his sinfulness and need of salvation. Obviously He could not have meant, that by literally and outwardly obeying this injunction, the young man would obtain a claim upon the kingdom of heaven. Hence those interpreters have missed the import of the passage, who imagine that everything would have been right if the young man had only followed the direction of the Saviour; but that, as he went away sorrowful, he was finally lost. It is, indeed, true that his going away indicated a state of great danger, and was calculated to awaken serious concern about his future. Still the fact of his being sorrowful afforded evidence of an inward conflict, through which by grace he might pass to a proper view of his state before God. This was still lacking in his case, and not any additional attempt at external righteousness.
Treasure in heaven.—Comp. Mat_5:12; Mat_6:20.
Mat_19:23. Hardly, δυσκόλως.—The expression implies that the state of the young man was one of extreme danger. Still it does not follow that it was hopeless. A rich man may enter into the kingdom of heaven, although not as a rich man. The difficulty of the case lies in the natural unwillingness to surrender our trust in and love of earthly possessions. Comp. the tract of Clement of Alexandria: Τις ὁ σωζὴμενος πλούσιος; Quis dives salvetur?
Mat_19:24. It is easier for a camel.—The hyperbolical figure here used has given rise to various false interpretations. Thus, 1. it has been rendered an anchor-rope, (a) after the somewhat arbitrary interpretation of the word κάμηλος (τινές in Theophylact); or, (b) after the reading κάμιλον18 (Castellio, Huetius, etc.). 2. It has been asserted that the expression, eye of a needle, was in the East used to designate the side-gate for foot-passengers, close by the principal gate, through which camels were wont to enter cities. 3. Most interpreters, however, have taken the terms, “camel” and “the eye of a needle,” in their literal sense. Thus Grotius remarks: totum hoc proverbium mutata cameli voce in elephantem est apud Rabbi Jacobum in Caphtor. Similarly de Wette reminds us that the same saying occurs in the Talmud about an elephant; comp. Lightfoot, Schöttgen, Buxtorf’s Lexic. Talmud.19 Grotius quotes a similar Latin proverb, and refers to Jer_13:23 as a somewhat analogous passage. It seems to us that the Saviour here intended to convey the fact, that the difficulty of entering into the kingdom of heaven, to which Mat_19:23 referred, had now become changed into an impossibility. Of course, no expression could be too strong to characterize an impossibility. Hence the import of the passage seems to be, that while Mat_19:23 refers to those who actually possessed riches, with which they might at any moment part, Mat_19:24 applies to rich men in the symbolical sense of the term, or to those who give their heart and life to these things. Accordingly, we regard the expression not merely as a proverbial saying, but as intended to express that a thing was absolutely impossible. The camel as a beast of burden might serve as a fit emblem of a rich person while the eye of a needle, which is the smallest passage through which anything visible could enter, might be regarded as a figure of the spiritual entrance into the kingdom, of a soul which had renounced the world. In one respect, however, even this figure is inadequate, if taken literally, as it might imply that a soul could enter that kingdom while hanging to the world, though it were only by a thread. But figures must not be too closely pressed, and the eye of a needle is certainly the most fitting emblem that could be found.
Mat_19:25. Who then can be saved?—De Wette (after Grotius): “Since every one has more or less of the same love of the world.” This explanation is certainly more satisfactory than that of Meyer, who regards the clause as a conclusio a majoribus ad minores; as if it meant, If rich persons, who have the means of doing so much good, have such difficulty, who then, etc.? In our view, the disciples reasoned as follows: If riches render a man unfit for the kingdom of heaven, there is surely some thread of possessions by which even the poorest individual may be kept from entering the kingdom, more especially as by nature every one loves riches. Or, perhaps, we might take it even in a more general sense: If riches are so great a hindrance, how much more actual sin! The disciples had evidently not yet fully perceived that every sin springs from worldliness of mind and heart; and their Jewish prejudices rose in rebellion against this teaching.
Mat_19:26. But Jesus looking on them.—With kindly sympathy. He felt what a hard struggle they had yet before them, before they could attain the full liberty of the children of God.
With men.—The use of the plural number deserves notice: 1. According to the judgment of men. So Fritzsche and Ewald. 2. According to the power and ability of men. De Wette and Meyer. Both these views may be combined. The common judgment of men accords, in this instance, with their felt inability; and in that sense it is impossible. But God, in His power and grace, not only renders this possible, but actually declares it such, in and through Christ. The expression men refers to the ancient and corrupt world, lost in its worldliness; while the Lord is here presented to the view of the disciples as the Creator of a new era, in which the world would be crucified to believers, and they to the world. Comp. Luk_1:37.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. We have already stated that this section sets before us the third aspect of the Christian family, or of the family in the kingdom of heaven. Having first shown what is the import of Christian marriage, and then assigned to children their proper place in the Christian household, the Lord now refers to the possessions of believers. It is of great importance to notice the threefold offence of the disciples in regard to the three fundamental elements in the Christian family, and the manner in which the Lord removes these offences. As the young man was still entirely legalistic in his views, Christ sets before him in a legalistic form the great principle according to which a Christian man was to administer his property. But this mode of teaching was intended to awaken the “ruler” to a knowledge of his real state before God. Hence it is a complete perversion of the import of the passage, when Roman Catholic divines regard it as a commandment applying to special individuals, or as what they designate a consilium evangelicum, in reference to voluntary poverty. The supposed consilium only becomes evangelicum, and in that case a principium evangelicum, when we look beyond the form in which this principle is expressed, and learn to regard it as teaching that a Christian is to consider all his possessions as a trust committed to him by the Lord, which he is to employ for behoof of the poor, or for the removal of the wants of humanity.
2. In this passage, the doctrine concerning the highest good is expressed in most clear and definite language. God is not merely the highest good, but also the source of all moral and physical good, and hence the only good. Even Christ Himself only claims the designation of Good because He is one with the Father, not because He was the “leading Rabbi.” And just as any creature can only be called good from its connection with God, so all the special commandments are only an expression of moral good in so far as they are viewed in their connection with the fundamental commandment of love to God. Finally, physical good is such only, if enjoyed or administered in the spirit of Christian devotion; otherwise it becomes a snare to the soul, and an evil instead of a blessing.
3. The Lord at once perceived that, both in respect of virtue and of the things of this life, the young man had lost sight of God as the highest and only good; and that when be addressed Him as “Good Master,” it had not been from the depth of a believing heart, but only as a worldly and superficial acknowledgment of His character. This view is corroborated by the peculiar manner in which the Lord dealt with him, the object of which, evidently, was to bring him to proper knowledge—to a knowledge of Christ, to an understanding of the commandments, to a proper view of the import of earthly blessings, but above all to a sight and sense of his own state and condition. Many commentators labor under a twofold misapprehension in interpreting this narrative. First, they confound the mental self-righteousness or intellectual legalism of the young man with self-righteousness of the heart, entirely overlooking the fact, that he expresses a deep feeling of spiritual want. It is in this sense that we understand the statement of Mark, that Jesus, beholding him, loved him. True, his heart was not yet broken under a sense of spiritual poverty; he still deceived himself, in his self-righteousness; but he felt that there remained some deep want unsatisfied. Again, the young man is generally condemned and supposed to have been ultimately lost, because he did not immediately obey the injunction of Christ; as if the Lord had intended to convert him into a legalist, instead of arousing him to a sense of his guilt and sinfulness. [Similarly Alford: “This young man, though self-righteous, was no hypocrite, no Pharisee: he spoke earnestly, and really strove to keep, as he really believed he had kept, all God’s commandments. Accordingly Mark adds, that Jesus looking upon him loved him: in spite of his error there was a nobleness and openness about him, contrasted with the hypocritical bearing of the Pharisees and scribes.”—P. S.]
4. “Such an animal as a camel, laden with its burdens, could not possibly enter the gate of a city of dwarfs, so small as to be compared to the eye of a needle. The case of a rich man is exactly similar. Naturally overgrown and laden with burdens, the rich man whose heart cleaves to his wealth appears before the strait gate of the kingdom of heaven. No wonder that in these circumstances he cannot even see, far less enter it. He still belongs to the sensual world; the only things which he can perceive are outward and carnal objects. The kingdom of heaven, with its spiritual realities, is far too small and inconsiderable to attract his sensuous gaze, nor can he in that state enter into it.” (From the author’s Leben Jesu, ii. 2, 2110.)
5. Our Lord here presents one great truth under a twofold aspect: (1) It is difficult for any rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, because it is difficult for him to become poor. (2) It is even impossible for him, inasmuch as he is rich, and will remain such, unless by a miracle of grace he becomes poor in spirit. Hence the disciples asked in deep concern, Who then can be saved? They felt that the saying of the Lord applied to the poor as well as to the rich, since all aimed after wealth; nay, that it applied to themselves, as they also still placed too much value on earthly things. Hence Jesus now “beheld” them with the same look of pity and sympathy as formerly the young man. True, it is impossible with men; but all things are possible with God, who can and will empty His own people, and make them poor. Thus are we, by a miracle of grace and through the cross, to be so directed and influenced, that we possess as if we possessed not, and that, as heirs of God, or of the highest good, we shall be willing to lay on the altar of love all which we possess.
6. “The application of this passage made by the begging monastic orders—Francis of Assisi—is not the right one.” Heubner. [This application is much older than the mendicant orders of the middle ages. St. Antony of Egypt, the patriarch of Christian monks, when he heard this Scripture lesson in the church, understood the Saviour’s injunction, Mat_19:21, in a literal sense, and sold his rich possessions, retaining only a sufficiency for the support of his sister. When shortly afterward he heard the Gospel: Take no thought of the following morning, he sold the remainder and gave it to the poor. The Roman Catholic commentators and moralists base their doctrine of voluntary poverty as an essential element of the higher Christian perfection mainly on this passage. Comp. Maldonatus, Cornelius à Lapide, and Schegg in loc. But Christ commands all His disciples to be perfect, τελειοι, Mat_5:48, and so St. Paul, 1Co_2:6; Php_3:15; Col_1:20; Eph_4:13; and St. Jam_1:4; Jam_3:2. The counsel, therefore, must be understood in a sense in which it is applicable to all true believers.—P. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The good as viewed in the light of the gospel.—Property in the Christian family.—God the highest and sole good, and the source of every other good.—The character of Christians: 1. They give themselves to that which is good; 2. they do that which is good; 3. they hold their possessions for that which is good. Or, the principle—1. of all virtue; 2. of all duty; 3. of all true riches.—The inquiry of the rich young man: “What good thing must I do?” as expressing a threefold error: 1. He seems to think that he can be saved by his works; 2. by deeds of special beneficence; 3. by some particular deed, which was to crown and complete all his previous righteousness.—A ruler of the synagogue, and yet he has no conception of the law in its spirituality; or, the fearful ignorance resulting from mere legalism.—Self-deception and self-righteousness producing each other.—The question of the young man should have been: How may I have eternal life in order to do good things?—The various forms of self-righteousness: 1. Self-righteousness of the head and of the heart (of doctrine and of sentiment); or, Pharisees in the strictest sense; 2. self-righteousness of the heart with orthodoxy of the head, as in the case of some in the Church who seem to be zealous for soundness of doctrine; 3. self-righteousness of the head, combined with a deep sense of spiritual need, although its grounds may not be fully understood, as in the case of this young man and of many Christian legalists.—Antagonism between the self-delusion of a man and the felt need of his heart.—“If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments;” or, we can only be free from the law by the law: 1. By understanding its spiritual import (its application to the heart); 2. by comprehending all the commandments into one commandment (forming, as it were, the point of the arrow of the law); 3. by sincere and earnest self-examination, in view of the one great commandment of love to God (the law working death).—How the Lord applies the law in order to train us for the gospel.—The rich young man in the school of the Lord.—On the close connection between spiritual and temporal riches (or rather, the attempt to be rich): 1. Spiritual riches leading to pride and pretensions; 2. temporal riches often serving to conceal spiritual poverty.—The dangers of riches (avarice, love of pleasure, pride, confidence in temporal wealth, false spirituality, self-deception as to our spiritual state).—The object of riches.—Twofold interpretation of this declaration of the Lord: 1. The interpretation put upon it by the disciples; 2. the interpretation of the Master.—“Who then can be saved?” or, an admission that all men share the same guilt and love of the world.—How a rich man may enter into the kingdom of heaven: 1. It is always difficult in his peculiar circumstances; 2. it is impossible, if in mind and heart he cleaves to his wealth (the Pharisees); 3. it becomes possible by a miracle of divine grace (Joseph of Arimathea).—The entrance into the kingdom of heaven: 1. Very inaccessible to the natural man: (a) it is always, and in every case, a strait gate; (b) it becomes the eye of a needle to those who are rich. 2. But it is widely open to believers: (c) leading the genuine disciple of Christ into the banqueting-hall, Mat_25:10; (b) it is a gate of honor to faithful followers of Christ; (c) a heavenly gate on our return to the Father’s house, Joh_14:2.—The various stages of evil, as represented by the symbols of a “camel,” “wolves,” and a “generation of vipers.”—The camel with its heavy burden before the eye of a needle, an emblem of avarice or of worldly-mindedness standing at the gate of heaven. Comp. Mat_23:24.—Regeneration and poverty in spirit a miracle of grace; resembling in that respect the birth of Christ, Luk_1:37.
Starke:—Quesnel: If we want to know how we may be saved, let us apply to Christ, the greatest and truest Teacher.—Zeisius: It is a common but most dangerous error, to seek eternal life by our own works.—Every good gift cometh from above, Jam_1:17. To arrogate it to ourselves, is not only to defile the gift by touching it with polluted hands, but to be guilty of sacrilege, Mat_7:22.—Osiander: All who are ignorant of their state before God, should be directed to the law in order to learn their guilt and need.—Love to our neighbor the clearest evidence of love to God.—How many imagine that they have done everything required at their hand, while in truth they cannot answer one upon a thousand! Job_9:3.—Zeisius: The law is spiritual; hence, they who trust in their works grievously deceive themselves, Rom_7:8; Rom_7:14.—The most dangerous state, is to imagine that we are righteous in the sight of God.—Tossani Bibl.: We are not to take this history as if it implied that by the outward work of almsgiving, the young man would have become perfect. The opposite of this appears from 1Co_13:3. But Christ here sets one special commandment before the young man, whose state of mind He well perceived, in order to convince him that he was infinitely far from perfection, and unable to keep the law.—He who soweth bountifully shal also reap bountifully, 2Co_9:6-7.—The whole work of salvation is far beyond the knowledge or power of man.—Quesnel: A sense of spiritual inability should not lead us to despair, but result in the triumph of the grace of Jesus Christ.
Lisco:—Marginal note of Luther: Our Lord here puts the question, Why callest thou Me good? in the same sense as He says, Joh_7:15, My doctrine is not Mine,—referring more particularly to His humanity, by which He would always lead us to the Father.—To be perfect, is to keep the commandments of God.—Hence it is evident, that this young man had not in reality observed the commandments, as he fondly imagined.
Gerlach.—Jesus tries the young man by setting before him the spiritual bearing of the law.—By such examples, the Master gradually trained His disciples to understand the utter inability of man for anything that is good.
Heubner:—The “ruler” came forward in haste, as if he could not wait or delay; still it led to no lasting results. Afterward, however, he went away slowly and sorrowfully.—“There is none good.” These words are not spoken lightly, but have a deep and most solemn meaning.—Comp. the excellent work of J. Casp. Schade: “The most important inquiries: What lack I yet? and, What shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” 14th ed., Leipz., 1734.—The calculation is correct, except in one little particular; but this renders the whole account false.—Every one of us has something which he must give up in order to enter the kingdom of Christ.—Chrysostom: On the question of the disciples, “Who then can be saved?”—because they felt concern for the salvation of their fellow-men, because they bore deep affection to them, and because they already felt the tenderness characteristic of all true ministers. This saying of Christ made them tremble for the whole world.
Footnotes:
[13] Mat_19:16.—[Or better: one came to him and said, εἷς προσελθὼν αὐτψ͂ εἶπεν, which is the correct reading for εἶπεν αὐτψ͂.—P. S.]
[14] Mat_19:16.—Codd. B., D., L., al., [also Cod. Sinait.], omit ἀγαθέ (good), and read only διδάσκαλε (master, teacher). With this is connected the following reading: τί με ἐρωτᾷς περὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ; εἷς ἐστὶν ὁ ἀγαθός (instead of the Recepta: τί με λέγεις, κ.τ.λ.). These readings are decidedly better attested by B., D., and ancient versions, and adopted by Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf. The Recepta is inserted from Mark and Luke.
[15] Mat_19:17.—[The true reading, as already stated by Dr. Lange in the preceding note, is: τίμε ἐρω τᾷς περὶτοῦἀ γαθοῦ; εἷς ἐστὶν ὁ ἀγαθός, i.e., Why dost thou ask me about the good? One is the [absolutely] Good; Lange: Was fragst du mich über das Gute? Einer ist der Gute. This reading is sustained by Cod. Sinait., Cod. Vatican., D., L., and other MSS., by Origen, Euseb., Jerome, Augustine, the Latin Vulgate (“Quid me interrogas de bono? unus est bonus, Deus”), and other ancient versions, and adopted by Tregelles and Alford, as well as Lachmann and Tischendorf. See the summaries in the editions of these critics in loc. The lect. rec.: τίμε λέγεις άγαθόν; οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς, εἰ μὴ εἷς, ὁθεός, is from Mark and Luke, and is an answer to the address: “Good Master,” while Matthew gives the answer to the question of the young man: “What good thing shall I do?” Our Lord referred him first from the multiplicity of good things (ὰ ἀγαθά) to the unity of the absolute personal Good (ὸ ἀγαθός) or God (this is the sense of the question in Matthew), and then He directed him (in the question of Mark and Luke) from a merely humanitarian view of Christ to the true theanthropic view, as if to say: If God alone is good, why do you call Me good, whom you regard a mere Rabbi? He answered to the thoughts of the young man and declined his relative and humanitarian homage, but pointed him at the same time to the higher and absolute conception of good, in which He was good according to His divine nature and as one in essence with the Father. He does not say: “I am not good,” but “none is good;” no man is good in the proper sense of the term, but God alone.—P. S.]
[16] Mat_19:20.—[The words: ἐκ νεότητός μου, from my youth up, are omitted in the best ancient authorities, including Cod. Sinait., and in the modern critical editions. (See the apparatus in Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford.) They are inserted from the parallel passages of Mark and Luke. Dr. Lange retains them in his German Version.—P. S.]
[17] Mat_19:24.—Besides the reading: διελθεῖν, we have the more difficult εἰσελθεῖν, to go into. [Cod. Sinait reads.; εισελθιν.—P. S.]
[18][The word κάμ ι λος, supposed to mean a rope or cable, occurs in a few minuscule MSS., but in no Greek author, and was probably invented to escape the imaginary difficulty of this proverbial expression. Comp. the Greek Lexica and the apparatus in Tischendorf’s large edition ad Mat_19:24 —P. S]
[19][The Koran, Sur. 7:38, probably in imitation of this passage, uses the same figure: “Non ingredientur paradisum, donec transeat camelas foramen acus.” Comp. also Mat_23:24, to swallow a camel. The camel was more familiar to the hearers of the Saviour than the elephant, and on account of the hump on its back, it was especially adapted to symbolize earthly wealth as a heavy load and serious impediment to entrance through the narrow gate of the kingdom of heaven.—P. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv16–18§ 105. — THE RICH YOUNG MAN, Mat_19:16-22.
§ 105. — THE RICH YOUNG MAN, Mat_19:16-22.
16. And behold, one came — The case of the young man is here brought in to show that he who would be saved must be ready to give up all for Christ in the fullest sense of the words; and that he who cannot do this is deceived in supposing that he has so kept God’s law as to be thereby saved. The conversation that follows shows that he who gives up all for Christ, will be no loser, but an infinite gainer, 27-30. The parable that follows (xx, 1-16,) shows that even he who does give up all for Christ will be saved, not by his works, but by grace. Let this connection be observed and traced, and the meaning of the whole will become more clear and striking.
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Our Lord, as appears by Mark, had just come forth from the house where he had blessed the children, into the way, where this rich young ruler, as Luke calls him, (that is, ruler of the synagogue,) who had perhaps been waiting, came running and kneeling. His rapid movement indicated his earnest feeling; his kneeling indicated his reverence. Good Master — This was a new and a very studied title by which to address our Lord. Others had called him Lord and Son of David; but he is a noble Jew, who must give a polite address without quite admitting that he is addressing the Messiah. What good thing — He calculates to do something which will earn heaven. He will accomplish it by some bold stroke of righteousness, some grand supererogation, if he can find out what it is to be. He has kept the decalogue until he is tired of so tame a righteousness. If this good Master can inform him by what method he can pay for and justly deserve salvation, he is ready to bid for it. Try him with any task, and see if he will fail!
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv16–1816. one came] “Came one running, and kneeled to…
16. one came] “Came one running, and kneeled to him” (Mark). “A certain ruler,” i. e. one of the rulers of the synagogue, like Jairus. The “decemvirate” (see ch. Mat_4:23) of the synagogue were chosen from “men of leisure” (Hebr. Batlanin, cp. our “scholars”), who were free from the necessity of labour, and could devote themselves to the duties of the synagogue, and to study; of these the first three were called “Rulers of the Synagogue.”
Good Master] According to good MS. authority simply “Master.”
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what good thing shall I do] In this question ‘what shall I do’ the ruler touches the central error of the Pharisaic system—that goodness consisted in exact conformity to certain external rules of conduct Jesus shews that it is not by doing anything whatever that a man can inherit eternal life, but by being something; not by observing Pharisaic rules, but by being childlike.
16–22. The Young Rich Ruler
Mar_10:17-22. Luk_18:18-23.
From Luke alone we learn that he was a “ruler;” from Matthew alone that he was young. Each of the three Synoptists states that “he was very rich” (Luke); “had great possessions” (Matthew and Mark).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv16–18(16) Behold, one came and said . . .—The…
(16) Behold, one came and said . . .—The vagueness with which a man who must have been conspicuous is thus introduced, without a name, is every way significant. He was, like Nicodemus, “a ruler of the Jews” (Luk_18:18), i.e., probably, a member of the Sanhedrin or great Council, like Joseph of Arimathæa. He was, beside this, conspicuously rich, and of high and ardent character. There is one other case in the first two Gospels which presents similar phenomena. In the narrative of the supper at Bethany, St. Matthew and St. Mark record the passionate affection which expressed itself in pouring the precious ointment of spikenard upon our Lord’s head as the act of “a woman” (Mat_26:7; Mar_14:3), leaving her unnamed. In St. Joh_12:3 we find that the woman was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. The train of thought thus suggested points to the supposition that here also there may have been reasons for suppressing in the records a name which was familiar to the narrator. What if the young ruler were Lazarus himself? The points of agreement are sufficiently numerous to warrant the conjecture. The household of Lazarus, as the spikenard ointment shows, were of the wealthier class. The friends who came to comfort the bereaved sisters, were themselves, in St. John’s language, “of the Jews”—i.e., of the chief rulers (Joh_11:19). The young ruler was obviously a Pharisee, and the language of Martha (Joh_11:24) shows that she too believed in eternal life and the resurrection of the dead. The answer to the young ruler, as “One thing thou lackest” (as given by St. Mark and St. Luke), is almost identical with that to Martha, “One thing is needful” (Luk_10:42). In such a case, of course, nothing can be attained beyond conjectural inference, but the present writer must avow his belief that the coincidences in this case are such as to carry the evidence to a very high point of probability. It is obvious that the hypothesis, if true, adds immensely to the interest both of the narrative now before us, and to that of the death and resurrection of Lazarus in John 11
Good Master.—The better MSS. omit the adjective, and it has probably been added here by later copyists to bring the passage into a verbal agreement with the narrative of St. Mark and St. Luke. From the prominence given to it in the form of our Lord’s answer, as reported by them, we may reasonably believe that it was actually uttered by the questioner. The words show reverence and, at least, half-belief. They are such as might well come from the brother of one who had sat at Jesus’ feet, drinking in His words (Luk_10:39)—from one who, like Nicodemus, looked on Him as a Rabbi, “a Teacher” sent from God.
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That I may have eternal life.—In St. Mark (Mar_10:17) and St. Luke (Luk_18:18), and in some of the oldest MSS. of St. Matthew, “that I may inherit eternal life.” The question exhibits the highest and noblest phase of Pharisaism. The seeker has a firm belief in something that he knows as “eternal life.” He thirsts for it eagerly. He believes that it is to be won, as a perpetual inheritance, by some one good deed of exceptional and heroic goodness. The Teacher has left on him the impression of a goodness such as he had seldom, if ever, seen before, and as being therefore able to guide him to the Supreme Good.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv16–19Vers. 16-22. Answer to the inquiry of the rich…
Vers. 16-22. Answer to the inquiry of the rich young ruler concerning eternal life. (Mar_10:17-22 Luk_18:18-23)
And, behold. The exclamation, as usual, denotes the suddenness and unexpected nature of the occurrence. It took place probably on the next day after the blessing of the children. One came (eiv proselywn). This is more emphatic than the enclitic tiv , and we learn from St. Luke that he was "a ruler," i.e. of the synagogue, and he must have been of noted piety and worth to have arrived at this dignity while still a youth (ver. 22). St. Mark gives more details he "came running, and kneeled to him." He was eager for an answer to his question, and recognized in Jesus a Rabbi worthy of all honour and veneration, though he saw in him nothing more. lie comes with no sinister intention, as the Pharisees did, but in all good faith, hoping to have a religious difficulty solved. Good Master. Thus the received text in the three synoptists. The epithet "good" is omitted by many excellent manuscripts, and has been expunged by most modern editors. It is required if the received text of the next verse is retained. It occurs in Mark and Luke without variation. The young man may have used the expression with the view of winning Christ"s favour, or, at any rate, with the idea of showing the light in which he regarded him. What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? His notion was that eternal happiness was obtained by the performance of certain acts, and he is not sure that he has done enough for the reward, and wishes to know particularly what further good work will secure it. The other synoptists have merely, "What shall I do? but of course, good work is implied, if not expressed. This was a question much mooted in the rabbinical schools, and one to which the answers were as various as they were puerile. Some taught that the commandments were not equally important, and that what they deemed the lesser might be violated with impunity, if the others were observed. Some made the gift of perfection to depend on the daily recitation of certain prayers or psalms, others on giving due honour to the aged. Amid such perplexing rules, the youth desires an authoritative decision, which he may put in practice, and thus be sure of a happy place in Messiah"s kingdom be, as the Jews termed it, "a son of the age to come.
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Vers. 16-30. The young ruler.
I HIS INTERVIEW WITH CHRIST.
1. His question. Christ was "gone forth into the way"; (Mar_10:17) he was leaving Peraea; his ministry there was ended. But there was a young man, a ruler of the synagogue, a man of large possessions and of blameless life, who came running and kneeled to him. Perhaps he had already felt the supreme goodness of Christ, the holiness of his teaching; hut his position, his Jewish prejudices, had hitherto prevented him from becoming a disciple of the Lord. Now the Lord was departing; if he hesitated longer, he would be too late. He had lived an upright, honourable life, but he felt that there was something lacking yet; there was a void in his heart, a yearning which he could not satisfy. Perhaps this great Teacher might help him. There was no time to lose; he hastily made up his mind, and ran after Christ. Thus far he is an example to us. Earthly rank, earthly riches, will not fill the heart; we need something more we need Christ. We may be late in seeking him; we have wasted much time and lost many opportunities. The Lord is long suffering; he is still near at hand; but it may soon he too late. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near." Come running, kneeling to him in lowly supplication; he will tarry on his way; he will listen to the suppliant"s prayer. So the young ruler came now. "Good Master," he said, "what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" It sounds like the question of the jailor at Philippi, "What must I do to be saved?" But it was not so genuine, so natural, so heart-felt. There was an element of truth, some real desire; but there was something of ostentation, of self-confidence; little of that childlike spirit which the Lord had so highly commended. He thought too much of his past uprightness. He thought, apparently, that eternal life might be earned by some great and noble deed.
2. The Lord"s answer. "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good? One there is who is good!" God only is good. Love him; do his holy will; take him for thy Portion. Eternal life is his gift; it is given to them who walk with God, who live in and for God, who keep his commandments. St. Mark and St. Luke have the words which some ancient authorities read in St. Matthew also, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but One, that is, God." The Lord had forbidden the apostles to tell men that he was the Christ, because the Jews looked for a human Messiah, an earthly king. In the same spirit he would not accept the title "Good" from this ruler, who regarded him simply as a wise Teacher, a great Rabbi. He bade him keep the commandments. The young ruler had been expecting to hear something lofty and extraordinary from so great a Prophet; he was surprised at a direction so simple and commonplace, as he doubtless thought it. He was disappointed again when, in answer to his inquiry, the Lord simply recited five commandments of the Decalogue, adding that general principle in which the whole second table is briefly comprehended, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The Lord. had indicated the first and great commandment of the Law in his first answer. He now mentions those duties towards our neighbour which flow out of our duty towards our God. He would lead the young man to examine himself, to discover his deficiencies, to see for himself that he had not yet entered on the way that leadeth to eternal life.
3. The young rulers rejoinder. He had done all this, he said; he knew it all; he wanted something more than elementary teaching. "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" He spoke the truth according to his light. He had been brought up in the narrow school of the rabbis, and, according to the mechanical interpretations of the scribes, was, like Saul the Pharisee, "touching the righteousness which is in the Law, blameless." He had lived all his days a life of external obedience, and he did not understand the spiritual meaning of these commandments as taught by our Lord in his great sermon on the mount. He did not realize the wide range, the deep reach of that second commandment, which became, when illustrated by our Lord"s example, the new commandment, the mark and test of Christ"s disciples. He had kept the commandments as far as he understood them, as far as he had been taught; but he was conscious of a deficiency. He felt that something, he knew not what, but certainly something higher than this external obedience, was necessary for the attainment of that eternal life which he sought. "What lack I yet?" he said. It was a fine character as far as it went; unspotted moral rectitude joined with aspirations for something better and nobler. The Lord saw the promise of much good. "He beheld him," St. Mark says. It was a deep searching look that read his heart; and he loved him he regarded him with something of that esteem which any degree of real goodness produces in the good. "Goodness," Bishop Butler says, "implies the love of itself, an affection for goodness. The really good recognize any spark of goodness in others, and cannot fail to love it." This special drawing forth of the Lord"s love was a great honour to the young ruler; it showed the natural excellence of his character.
4. The Lord"s commandment. "Go, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor." It is not a counsel of perfection, not advice, but a commandment. This self-sacrifice was necessary for the young man necessary for the attainment of that eternal life which he sought. "One thing thou lackest," the Lord said, according to the report of the conversation given by St. Mark and St. Luke. It must mean that when the Lord read the young man"s soul, he saw much that was lovable; but he also saw that the love of money, which is the root of all evil, was poisoning what should have been a very fine and noble character. It was necessary for him to make this great venture of faith. He perilled his salvation by not doing so at the time; he may have done it afterwards. The Lord had a high reward for him treasure in heaven hereafter, and in this life a place near to himself: "Come, follow me," he said. It may be that the Lord saw in that young ruler the making of an apostle. He might have stood high in the roll of saints; perhaps afterwards he did. Can he have been lost whom the Lord Jesus distinguished with his love? But now he went away. He could not make the sacrifice required of him. He had thought that he might do some great thing, some noble deed, to gain eternal life, and the Lord had taken him at his word; but this was too great, too difficult; he could not bring himself to it. He went away sorrowful, not angry; he felt that the Lord was right. There was something good and noble in his character which responded to the Lord"s invitation. He felt the supreme holiness of Christ, the powerful attraction of his gracious love. He owned in his heart that to be near to Christ the Lord, to follow him, to live in close communion with him, was a privilege exceeding precious, a privilege not too dearly bought at the cost of all earthly riches, all earthly comforts. He knew that the Lord had not asked too much; his heart told him so; but he had not the strength, the courage. He could not part with his large possessions; he could not take up the cross. (Mar_10:21) He was sad at that saying, "Take up the cross." It was a strange and dreadful word; even the apostles could not reconcile themselves to it. And he went away sorrowful, vexed with himself; he had made the great refusal, and he felt that he done a weak and cowardly thing. He had judged himself unworthy of that eternal life which he had sought, and he despised himself. He knew that those riches for which he had turned away from Christ could not compensate him for the tremendous loss. He was not blinded. He felt the value of the love of Christ, and the unutterable preciousness of eternal life. He knew that these great possessions of his were as nothing in comparison with that priceless treasure which Christ had offered him. He sinned against light, and he was miserable. Perhaps his misery brought him afterwards to a better mind. We hope it was so. We cannot but feel a very deep and real interest in a character so touching, so engaging, in one whom the Lord Jesus Christ loved. We are not all called to make the sacrifice which was required of the young ruler. The Lord did not say the like to Nicodemus or to Joseph of Arimathaea. But all true Christian men must be willing to do so if need be. "Not my will, but thine be done" was the Lord"s own prayer in his agony. "Thy will be done" is the Christian"s daily, it should be his hourly, prayer. And that prayer pledges us to the spirit of ready self-sacrifice for Christ"s sake. We must be ready to give freely, liberally, in proportion to our means, for all holy works. We must be ready to take up our cross; for the Lord says that without the cross we cannot be his disciples. It is not enough to have the word often in our mouths, to have the picture of the cross upon our walls, or to wear the cross for an ornament. The mark of the Christian is the real cross, the inner spiritual cross; and that means self-denial for Christ"s sake, self-denial which is real, which is painful, which is hard to bear; even as the cross which the Lord bore for us was hard and heavy and painful exceedingly. But the cross leadeth to the crown. The conditions of eternal life are unvarying; they are the same now, in their real spiritual meaning, as they were when they were presented by the Lord himself to the young ruler in Peraea.
II THE LORD"S CONVERSATION WITH THE APOSTLES.
1. The warning. "A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." It is a hard thing, and his temptations are so great; there is so much to draw him to the world. Indeed, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven as a rich man; he must become poor, that he may be rich indeed. He must become poor in spirit, poor in the willingness to consecrate all his wealth to the service of Christ; he must give largely, denying himself in many things that he may give the more; learning to do God"s will, not his own; and regarding himself simply as the steward of what really belongs to God. For otherwise his danger is exceeding great. The gate of eternal life is always strait; it becomes like the eye of a needle to the rich man who stands before it, burdened with his riches, like a heavily loaded camel. "They that trust in riches" (see Mar_10:24, though the reading is somewhat doubtful) "cannot enter in;" and it is very hard for a rich man to cast off his trust in his riches. Yet the strait gate shall be thrown open wide to them that overcome to the poor who are rich in faith, and to the rich who are poor in spirit, true disciples of him who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.
2. The amazement of the apostles. They were startled, almost terror stricken; it seemed so hard a saying; it seemed to make salvation so very difficult to attain. Perhaps St. Peter was thinking of it when long afterwards he wrote, "If the righteous scarcely be saved". (1Pe_4:18) "Who then can be saved?" they said in their astonishment. All men, they knew, share the like peril; it is not only the rich who are in danger of trusting in riches. The poor often care for money quite as much as the rich. The fault lies, not in the fact of having great possessions, but in the trust reposed in them; and there are poor men who trust in their little store quite as much as some rich men trust in their great wealth. "The love of money is the root of all evil," and that love is a common temptation to all, rich and poor alike. "Who then can be saved?" The Lord saw the perplexity of his apostles; he felt for them in his sacred heart. He looked at them; those holy eyes were fixed upon them with an earnest, loving, sympathizing look a look full of human tenderness and Divine compassion. "With men this is impossible," he said; "but with God all things are possible." The disciples were right; they might well say, "Who then can be saved?" Man cannot save himself; he is too weak, too sinful. "With men this is impossible with all men alike, whether they are rich or poor, whatever may be their advantages or their temptations; they cannot save themselves; the thing is impossible. But (we may well thank God as we read the words, and fall down before him in adoring gratitude) it is not impossible with God. And Christ is God; "he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." His incarnation, his blessed death upon the cross, has made that possible which was impossible. "With God all things are possible;" he can bring a clean thing out of an unclean; he can cleanse us from all unrighteousness from the degrading love of money, from the defiling lusts of the flesh, from the subtle temptations of pride and self-righteousness. Only we must trust in him, not in riches, or what seem to be riches, not in our own fancied merits, not in works of righteousness which we have done, but only in the cross. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
III THE REWARD OF THE TRUE DISCIPLE.
1. St. Peter"s question. The apostles had done what the young ruler shrank from doing they had forsaken all. Indeed, they had not so much to give up as he had; but such as it was, it was their all; they had left all, and had followed Christ. The Lord had promised treasure in heaven to his followers. "What shall we have therefore?" Peter said. He was still too eager; there was too much self-assertion; he laid too much stress on the reward that was to come. The highest desire of the soul is to serve Christ for himself. "Not for the sake of gaining aught, Not hoping a reward; But as thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord.
Peter knew afterwards that the love of Christ is its own reward. (1Pe_1:8) Yet he was not wholly wrong; the Lord had promised treasure in heaven; and that blessed hope is an exceeding great help to fainting Christians; it is an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. Moses had respect unto the recompense of the reward. St. Paul looked forward to the crown of righteousness laid up in heaven for all who love the appearing of the Lord. Christ himself, our great Example, when he looked back on his perfect life, said, "Now, O Father, glorify thou me." Peter, perhaps, regarded that heavenly blessedness too much in the light of a reward due to self-denial here; our Lord seems to imply this in the parable of Mt 20, though he now repeats his promise and acknowledges the self-sacrifice of his followers.
2. The Lord"s answer.
(1) The promise to the apostles. He bade them look forward to the great regeneration, the time of restitution of all things. (Act_3:21) The regeneration of individual Christians (of which the Lord speaks in Joh_3:3, Joh_3:5; and St. Paul in Tit_3:5) is the gradual beginning, the preparation for the regeneration of the world, when God will make all things new, when there shall be "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Then shall the Son of man, whose throne on earth was the cross, sit in that new creation upon the throne of his glory. And they who followed him nearest upon earth, who first bore the cross for his Name"s sake, the twelve chosen apostles, they should sit, he said, upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. It may be that we shall not certainly understand the meaning of this promise (and other similar passages, such as Luk_22:30 1Co_6:2, 1Co_6:3) till it is fulfilled in the kingdom of heaven. But perhaps it is safest to adopt the ideal interpretation. Twelve is the ideal number of the apostolic college. Judas went to his own place. By the twelve tribes of Israel we are probably to understand the Israel of God, the great Christian Church in all its branches. As the judges ruled Israel in the days of the theocracy, so shall the twelve apostles rule the Israel of God in the regeneration. They shall be nearest to the King, on his right hand and his left, in the highest places of honour.
(2) The promise to all believers. The circle of promise is widened. The apostles had forsaken all for Christ"s sake; but there were multitudes who would afterwards make the like sacrifice; multitudes more who would be willing to make it if it were required of them. To all such the Lord promises a hundredfold reward hundredfold," "manifold more," St. Mark and St. Luke say, in this present time, and in the world to come, eternal life. "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." That holy joy, that peace of God, which is granted unto those who have yielded up their wills to God"s holy will, passeth all understanding, and altogether outweighs the temporal losses which they may endure for Christ"s sake. Such men, like St. Paul, count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord. To such to live is Christ, and to die is gain. A life of holiness and self-denial for Christ"s sake is very blessed, for it hath the presence of Christ. A holy death is by much far better; for such a death is the gate of everlasting life. They who would live that life and die that death must watch and pray, seeking earnestly the grace of perseverance; for many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Judas was near to Christ when these words were said. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall.
LESSONS.
1. We still ask the same question, "What shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" And still the answer is the same, "Keep the commandments.
2. Let us not say, "All these have I kept from my youth up." Let us imitate the publican rather than the young ruler: "God be merciful to me a sinner.
3. "The love of money is the root of all evil;" "Love not the world;" "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.
4. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." It is a difficult work, beyond the strength of man; but we can do all things through him that strengtheneth us.
5. Let us have respect unto the recompense of the reward; he who by faith discerns the crown may well endure the cross.
Vers. 16-22. The great refusal.
The young man who won the love of Christ by his ardour and enthusiasm, and who grieved our Lord by his refusal to make an unexpected sacrifice, stands before us in vivid portraiture an example, and yet a warning. Let us consider the successive traits of his character revealed by his conduct.
I HIS WISE QUESTION. It is much for a man to have a definite object before him; it is more for him to choose a worthy pursuit. Of all personal things the young ruler chose the very best. He had wealth, but that did not satisfy him. He had the means of acquiring pleasure; but he rose above the idea of making worldly amusement the end and aim of existence. He craved the life of God, which is eternal. Surely we may imitate him in this. Moreover, he did well in inquiring of Christ. Jesus is the Way to life, and we can find its source in him, as he told the woman of Samaria. (Joh_4:14) It is right to come to Christ for this boon.
II HIS MISTAKEN ADDRESS. He called our Lord "Good Master." Jesus takes up the phrase at once, and asks what it means. This was no act of captious criticism. The young man did not really know the deep signification of the word "good." He used language conventionally. There is a great danger for those who are brought up among religious associations that they will employ the greatest words without entering into their true meaning.
III HIS MORAL CONDUCT. Christ began with the first elements of morality. We cannot go on to perfection until we have mastered these elements. It is impossible to be a thief in the world and a saint in the Church. Yet there is a subtle temptation that dogs the footsteps of those who aspire after superior spiritual attainments a temptation to fall away from common morality. The young man had avoided this temptation. He was no hollow sentimentalist. His virtue was solid. Yet it was not enough.
IV HIS NEW DUTY. He is told to renounce his wealth a hard, a startling requirement. Jesus does not give this commandment to all rich men, though he never encourages the acquisition of wealth. But he saw that the young ruler"s snare was his riches. It was necessary, therefore, that the riches should be given up. Now, although it was not his duty before this thus to renounce all he possessed, the word of Christ if he would become a disciple made it his duty. Whenever Christ tells any man to sell all he has and give the proceeds to the poor, that man is under an obligation to obey if he would own the Lordship of Christ. The essential duty is not poverty, but obedience. The duty may take the same form with any of us if we are convinced on good grounds that Christ desires us to make the same sacrifice. But whether absolute poverty be required or not, whatever we own is only ours subject to the bidding of Christ to use it as he directs and he is not altogether an easy Master to serve.
V HIS SAD FAILURE. The young ruler could not rise up to the sacrifice. His wealth was his undoing. It was not a golden key opening the kingdom of heaven, but a golden bar holding the gate shut. The young ruler might have become a great Christian leader, saint, or martyr. His refusal dropped him into obscurity. We cannot but pity him, for his was a hard test. Could we stand it? Have we shrunk back from even a milder test? W.F.A.
Vers. 16-22. The perfection of goodness.
To attain to this should be the aim of every rational being. In quest of it we should be willing to do anything and to sacrifice anything. "Who will show us any good?
I CHRIST IS THE IMPERSONATION OF PERFECT GOODNESS.
1. The ruler, in a sense, discerned this.
(1) He addressed him as "good Master". (cf. Mar_10:17 Luk_18:18) He also evinced his veneration by "kneeling," as stated in Mark.
(2) He sought to Jesus for instruction as to how he might attain to "eternal life," viz. by finding that perfect goodness of which eternal life is the reward. His question was, in effect, "How may I become like thee?" Note: What the young man calls "eternal life," Christ calls "life," for eternal life is the only true life. Without this, "in the midst of life we are in death.
2. But he discerned it falsely.
(1) He did not recognize the Divinity of Christ. Hence the question, "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good?" Suppose an emphasis on the word thou. So he proceeds, "One there is who is good;" equivalent to "None is good save One, even God". (Mar_10:18 Luk_18:19)
(2) The rebuke here is for ascribing goodness to Christ without discerning his Divinity as its source. The title is not inapplicable, for our Lord calls himself the "good Shepherd". (Joh_10:11) The fault was that it was improperly applied.
(3) The teaching, then, is that it is vain to seek goodness apart from God. He alone is good. essentially, originally, everlastingly. "God" is "good." Therefore we should transfer to God all praise which is given to us. All crowns must lie before his throne. (see Jam_1:17)
II THE LAW OF GOD IS THE RULE OF GOODNESS.
1. This is expressed in the instruction of Christ.
(1) "If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments." This is not irony, but sober truth. To keep the commandments from a principle of loving faith is undoubtedly the way to eternal life. Those who are justified by faith must keep the commandments before they can enter into life and be finally saved.
(2) Keeping the commandments must, however, include faith in Jesus Christ. (see 1Jn_3:23) Moses gave it amongst his commandments that we should hear the great Prophet to be raised up like unto him.
2. The ruler observed the commandments in the letter.
(1) The inquiry "Which?" was probably occasioned by the confusion introduced by the scribes, who mixed up the traditions of the elders with the precepts of Moses; and who magnified the ritual observances so as to neglect the moral rules the "weightier matters of the Law," justice, mercy, and charity.
(2) The answer put the moral law in the foremost place. The particular commandments which our Lord selects are but adduced as instances of moral, in opposition to ritual, obedience. Nor does he cite the commandments in their order, probably to show, as the Jews themselves express it, "that there is neither first nor last in the Law that every precept is so perfect that it matters not whether it be taken first or last. He mentions only the duties of the second table, summing them up, however, with the precept from Lev_19:18, for the love of God can only be made manifest by love to our neighbour. (cf. 1Jn_4:20, 1Jn_4:21) "Our light burns in love to God, but it shines in love to our neighbour" (Henry).
(3) "All these things have I observed". (cf. Php_3:6)
3. He failed to keep them in the spirit.
(1) "What lack I yet?" He was convinced that he yet needed something. He had too much of that boasting which is excluded by the law of faith, and which excludes from justification. (Luk_18:11, 14 Rom_3:27)
(2) The Lord soon discovered to him the covetousness and earthliness of his heart. He found how he over-estimated his obedience when he was unwilling to part with his possessions for the benefit of the poor, and preferred earthly to heavenly treasure. Note: Worldly men prefer heaven to hell; Christians prefer heaven to earth.
(3) We cannot become perfect without becoming spiritual So a man may be free from gross sin, yet come short of the life of grace and glory.
III THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS THE WAY OF GOODNESS.
1. It promises eternal life in Christ. "Thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
(1) In the school of Christ we learn the doctrine of justification by faith in his sufficient atonement.
(2) The connection with that atonement of the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart.
(3) His teaching, moreover, shows us the connection between faith and obedience unto the fulfilling of the Law.
2. But it exacts an absolute submission.
(1) "Sell all." This was literally required in the case of the ruler. Christ did not lighten his cross, because "he loved him." Note: This reason should sustain us under our crosses.
(2) Virtually we have to sell all. We must be willing to part with everything that may hinder our salvation.
3. Those who refuse submission accept sorrow.
(1) "He went away sorrowful." What an opportunity he missed! The offer to him was to become one of Christ"s more intimate disciples; to be specially trained by him in the knowledge of spiritual things, and to preach his gospel. (cf. Mat_4:19 Mat_8:22 Mat_9:9 Mar_2:14 10:21)
(2) Many are ruined by the sin they commit with reluctance. What would be the ruler"s sorrow in the sequel to find his wealth gone and eternal life along with it! Mariners act prudently when, to save their lives, they throw overboard rich bales of silk and precious things. J.A.M.
The ruler"s mistakes.
The assumption that this ruler was a youth has no, foundation. The man could not have been a ruler if he had been a youth. He must have been in what we should call the prime of life; but he evidently retained something of the impetuousness of youth. His mistakes suggest the impulsive temperament, that readily yields to emotion, and is wont to act before it thinks. Our Lord skilfully dealt with individuals. "He needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man." He was "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." In the ruler"s abrupt and impulsive question we may trace three forms of mistake.
I A MISTAKE ABOUT CHRIST. He applied the word "good" to him, and yet he had no adequate ideas concerning goodness. If he had really meant anything worth meaning, he would have recognized in Christ the infinitely Good One, the Son of God; for none is good save God. This mistake Jesus corrected in two ways.
1. By reference to God. "None is good save one, that is, God." You do not call God good because he does good, but because he is good.
2. By a severe and searching test, which reveals to the man the imperfectness of his own goodness. He would never be able to get right ideas of God or Christ from himself.
II A MISTAKE CONCERNING HIMSELF. This took a twofold form. He thought he was good; and he thought he could do good, if only he was told what to do. Jesus showed him a good thing that he could not do; and so set his conscience suggesting, that perhaps he was not as good as he had thought. We may think ourselves good while we arrange the forms that our goodness shall take; but we may learn our mistake when God arranges the forms for us. The question betrays the man"s self-righteous spirit. He is indirectly paying a compliment to himself to his own goodness; or, at any rate, to human goodness, that idol which he worshipped with his whole soul.
III A MISTAKE CONCERNING THE FUTURE. Feeling himself well provided for in all that concerned this life, he wanted to be as safely and as well off in the next life. He would inherit eternal life; he would have it as something coming to him; he wanted as much right to it as he had to his worldly possessions. How much he had to learn! A man"s life here "consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesses." A man"s wealth is his character; that is true of this life, but much more true of the life to come. R.T.
Vers. 16-30. The young ruler.
I HIS INTERVIEW WITH CHRIST.
1. His question. Christ was "gone forth into the way"; (Mar_10:17) he was leaving Peraea; his ministry there was ended. But there was a young man, a ruler of the synagogue, a man of large possessions and of blameless life, who came running and kneeled to him. Perhaps he had already felt the supreme goodness of Christ, the holiness of his teaching; hut his position, his Jewish prejudices, had hitherto prevented him from becoming a disciple of the Lord. Now the Lord was departing; if he hesitated longer, he would be too late. He had lived an upright, honourable life, but he felt that there was something lacking yet; there was a void in his heart, a yearning which he could not satisfy. Perhaps this great Teacher might help him. There was no time to lose; he hastily made up his mind, and ran after Christ. Thus far he is an example to us. Earthly rank, earthly riches, will not fill the heart; we need something more we need Christ. We may be late in seeking him; we have wasted much time and lost many opportunities. The Lord is long suffering; he is still near at hand; but it may soon he too late. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near." Come running, kneeling to him in lowly supplication; he will tarry on his way; he will listen to the suppliant"s prayer. So the young ruler came now. "Good Master," he said, "what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" It sounds like the question of the jailor at Philippi, "What must I do to be saved?" But it was not so genuine, so natural, so heart-felt. There was an element of truth, some real desire; but there was something of ostentation, of self-confidence; little of that childlike spirit which the Lord had so highly commended. He thought too much of his past uprightness. He thought, apparently, that eternal life might be earned by some great and noble deed.
2. The Lord"s answer. "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good? One there is who is good!" God only is good. Love him; do his holy will; take him for thy Portion. Eternal life is his gift; it is given to them who walk with God, who live in and for God, who keep his commandments. St. Mark and St. Luke have the words which some ancient authorities read in St. Matthew also, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but One, that is, God." The Lord had forbidden the apostles to tell men that he was the Christ, because the Jews looked for a human Messiah, an earthly king. In the same spirit he would not accept the title "Good" from this ruler, who regarded him simply as a wise Teacher, a great Rabbi. He bade him keep the commandments. The young ruler had been expecting to hear something lofty and extraordinary from so great a Prophet; he was surprised at a direction so simple and commonplace, as he doubtless thought it. He was disappointed again when, in answer to his inquiry, the Lord simply recited five commandments of the Decalogue, adding that general principle in which the whole second table is briefly comprehended, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The Lord. had indicated the first and great commandment of the Law in his first answer. He now mentions those duties towards our neighbour which flow out of our duty towards our God. He would lead the young man to examine himself, to discover his deficiencies, to see for himself that he had not yet entered on the way that leadeth to eternal life.
3. The young rulers rejoinder. He had done all this, he said; he knew it all; he wanted something more than elementary teaching. "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" He spoke the truth according to his light. He had been brought up in the narrow school of the rabbis, and, according to the mechanical interpretations of the scribes, was, like Saul the Pharisee, "touching the righteousness which is in the Law, blameless." He had lived all his days a life of external obedience, and he did not understand the spiritual meaning of these commandments as taught by our Lord in his great sermon on the mount. He did not realize the wide range, the deep reach of that second commandment, which became, when illustrated by our Lord"s example, the new commandment, the mark and test of Christ"s disciples. He had kept the commandments as far as he understood them, as far as he had been taught; but he was conscious of a deficiency. He felt that something, he knew not what, but certainly something higher than this external obedience, was necessary for the attainment of that eternal life which he sought. "What lack I yet?" he said. It was a fine character as far as it went; unspotted moral rectitude joined with aspirations for something better and nobler. The Lord saw the promise of much good. "He beheld him," St. Mark says. It was a deep searching look that read his heart; and he loved him he regarded him with something of that esteem which any degree of real goodness produces in the good. "Goodness," Bishop Butler says, "implies the love of itself, an affection for goodness. The really good recognize any spark of goodness in others, and cannot fail to love it." This special drawing forth of the Lord"s love was a great honour to the young ruler; it showed the natural excellence of his character.
4. The Lord"s commandment. "Go, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor." It is not a counsel of perfection, not advice, but a commandment. This self-sacrifice was necessary for the young man necessary for the attainment of that eternal life which he sought. "One thing thou lackest," the Lord said, according to the report of the conversation given by St. Mark and St. Luke. It must mean that when the Lord read the young man"s soul, he saw much that was lovable; but he also saw that the love of money, which is the root of all evil, was poisoning what should have been a very fine and noble character. It was necessary for him to make this great venture of faith. He perilled his salvation by not doing so at the time; he may have done it afterwards. The Lord had a high reward for him treasure in heaven hereafter, and in this life a place near to himself: "Come, follow me," he said. It may be that the Lord saw in that young ruler the making of an apostle. He might have stood high in the roll of saints; perhaps afterwards he did. Can he have been lost whom the Lord Jesus distinguished with his love? But now he went away. He could not make the sacrifice required of him. He had thought that he might do some great thing, some noble deed, to gain eternal life, and the Lord had taken him at his word; but this was too great, too difficult; he could not bring himself to it. He went away sorrowful, not angry; he felt that the Lord was right. There was something good and noble in his character which responded to the Lord"s invitation. He felt the supreme holiness of Christ, the powerful attraction of his gracious love. He owned in his heart that to be near to Christ the Lord, to follow him, to live in close communion with him, was a privilege exceeding precious, a privilege not too dearly bought at the cost of all earthly riches, all earthly comforts. He knew that the Lord had not asked too much; his heart told him so; but he had not the strength, the courage. He could not part with his large possessions; he could not take up the cross. (Mar_10:21) He was sad at that saying, "Take up the cross." It was a strange and dreadful word; even the apostles could not reconcile themselves to it. And he went away sorrowful, vexed with himself; he had made the great refusal, and he felt that he done a weak and cowardly thing. He had judged himself unworthy of that eternal life which he had sought, and he despised himself. He knew that those riches for which he had turned away from Christ could not compensate him for the tremendous loss. He was not blinded. He felt the value of the love of Christ, and the unutterable preciousness of eternal life. He knew that these great possessions of his were as nothing in comparison with that priceless treasure which Christ had offered him. He sinned against light, and he was miserable. Perhaps his misery brought him afterwards to a better mind. We hope it was so. We cannot but feel a very deep and real interest in a character so touching, so engaging, in one whom the Lord Jesus Christ loved. We are not all called to make the sacrifice which was required of the young ruler. The Lord did not say the like to Nicodemus or to Joseph of Arimathaea. But all true Christian men must be willing to do so if need be. "Not my will, but thine be done" was the Lord"s own prayer in his agony. "Thy will be done" is the Christian"s daily, it should be his hourly, prayer. And that prayer pledges us to the spirit of ready self-sacrifice for Christ"s sake. We must be ready to give freely, liberally, in proportion to our means, for all holy works. We must be ready to take up our cross; for the Lord says that without the cross we cannot be his disciples. It is not enough to have the word often in our mouths, to have the picture of the cross upon our walls, or to wear the cross for an ornament. The mark of the Christian is the real cross, the inner spiritual cross; and that means self-denial for Christ"s sake, self-denial which is real, which is painful, which is hard to bear; even as the cross which the Lord bore for us was hard and heavy and painful exceedingly. But the cross leadeth to the crown. The conditions of eternal life are unvarying; they are the same now, in their real spiritual meaning, as they were when they were presented by the Lord himself to the young ruler in Peraea.
II THE LORD"S CONVERSATION WITH THE APOSTLES.
1. The warning. "A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." It is a hard thing, and his temptations are so great; there is so much to draw him to the world. Indeed, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven as a rich man; he must become poor, that he may be rich indeed. He must become poor in spirit, poor in the willingness to consecrate all his wealth to the service of Christ; he must give largely, denying himself in many things that he may give the more; learning to do God"s will, not his own; and regarding himself simply as the steward of what really belongs to God. For otherwise his danger is exceeding great. The gate of eternal life is always strait; it becomes like the eye of a needle to the rich man who stands before it, burdened with his riches, like a heavily loaded camel. "They that trust in riches" (see Mar_10:24, though the reading is somewhat doubtful) "cannot enter in;" and it is very hard for a rich man to cast off his trust in his riches. Yet the strait gate shall be thrown open wide to them that overcome to the poor who are rich in faith, and to the rich who are poor in spirit, true disciples of him who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.
2. The amazement of the apostles. They were startled, almost terror stricken; it seemed so hard a saying; it seemed to make salvation so very difficult to attain. Perhaps St. Peter was thinking of it when long afterwards he wrote, "If the righteous scarcely be saved". (1Pe_4:18) "Who then can be saved?" they said in their astonishment. All men, they knew, share the like peril; it is not only the rich who are in danger of trusting in riches. The poor often care for money quite as much as the rich. The fault lies, not in the fact of having great possessions, but in the trust reposed in them; and there are poor men who trust in their little store quite as much as some rich men trust in their great wealth. "The love of money is the root of all evil," and that love is a common temptation to all, rich and poor alike. "Who then can be saved?" The Lord saw the perplexity of his apostles; he felt for them in his sacred heart. He looked at them; those holy eyes were fixed upon them with an earnest, loving, sympathizing look a look full of human tenderness and Divine compassion. "With men this is impossible," he said; "but with God all things are possible." The disciples were right; they might well say, "Who then can be saved?" Man cannot save himself; he is too weak, too sinful. "With men this is impossible with all men alike, whether they are rich or poor, whatever may be their advantages or their temptations; they cannot save themselves; the thing is impossible. But (we may well thank God as we read the words, and fall down before him in adoring gratitude) it is not impossible with God. And Christ is God; "he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." His incarnation, his blessed death upon the cross, has made that possible which was impossible. "With God all things are possible;" he can bring a clean thing out of an unclean; he can cleanse us from all unrighteousness from the degrading love of money, from the defiling lusts of the flesh, from the subtle temptations of pride and self-righteousness. Only we must trust in him, not in riches, or what seem to be riches, not in our own fancied merits, not in works of righteousness which we have done, but only in the cross. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
III THE REWARD OF THE TRUE DISCIPLE.
1. St. Peter"s question. The apostles had done what the young ruler shrank from doing they had forsaken all. Indeed, they had not so much to give up as he had; but such as it was, it was their all; they had left all, and had followed Christ. The Lord had promised treasure in heaven to his followers. "What shall we have therefore?" Peter said. He was still too eager; there was too much self-assertion; he laid too much stress on the reward that was to come. The highest desire of the soul is to serve Christ for himself. "Not for the sake of gaining aught, Not hoping a reward; But as thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord.
Peter knew afterwards that the love of Christ is its own reward. (1Pe_1:8) Yet he was not wholly wrong; the Lord had promised treasure in heaven; and that blessed hope is an exceeding great help to fainting Christians; it is an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. Moses had respect unto the recompense of the reward. St. Paul looked forward to the crown of righteousness laid up in heaven for all who love the appearing of the Lord. Christ himself, our great Example, when he looked back on his perfect life, said, "Now, O Father, glorify thou me." Peter, perhaps, regarded that heavenly blessedness too much in the light of a reward due to self-denial here; our Lord seems to imply this in the parable of Mt 20, though he now repeats his promise and acknowledges the self-sacrifice of his followers.
2. The Lord"s answer.
(1) The promise to the apostles. He bade them look forward to the great regeneration, the time of restitution of all things. (Act_3:21) The regeneration of individual Christians (of which the Lord speaks in Joh_3:3, Joh_3:5; and St. Paul in Tit_3:5) is the gradual beginning, the preparation for the regeneration of the world, when God will make all things new, when there shall be "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Then shall the Son of man, whose throne on earth was the cross, sit in that new creation upon the throne of his glory. And they who followed him nearest upon earth, who first bore the cross for his Name"s sake, the twelve chosen apostles, they should sit, he said, upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. It may be that we shall not certainly understand the meaning of this promise (and other similar passages, such as Luk_22:30 1Co_6:2, 1Co_6:3) till it is fulfilled in the kingdom of heaven. But perhaps it is safest to adopt the ideal interpretation. Twelve is the ideal number of the apostolic college. Judas went to his own place. By the twelve tribes of Israel we are probably to understand the Israel of God, the great Christian Church in all its branches. As the judges ruled Israel in the days of the theocracy, so shall the twelve apostles rule the Israel of God in the regeneration. They shall be nearest to the King, on his right hand and his left, in the highest places of honour.
(2) The promise to all believers. The circle of promise is widened. The apostles had forsaken all for Christ"s sake; but there were multitudes who would afterwards make the like sacrifice; multitudes more who would be willing to make it if it were required of them. To all such the Lord promises a hundredfold reward hundredfold," "manifold more," St. Mark and St. Luke say, in this present time, and in the world to come, eternal life. "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." That holy joy, that peace of God, which is granted unto those who have yielded up their wills to God"s holy will, passeth all understanding, and altogether outweighs the temporal losses which they may endure for Christ"s sake. Such men, like St. Paul, count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord. To such to live is Christ, and to die is gain. A life of holiness and self-denial for Christ"s sake is very blessed, for it hath the presence of Christ. A holy death is by much far better; for such a death is the gate of everlasting life. They who would live that life and die that death must watch and pray, seeking earnestly the grace of perseverance; for many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Judas was near to Christ when these words were said. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall.
LESSONS.
1. We still ask the same question, "What shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" And still the answer is the same, "Keep the commandments.
2. Let us not say, "All these have I kept from my youth up." Let us imitate the publican rather than the young ruler: "God be merciful to me a sinner.
3. "The love of money is the root of all evil;" "Love not the world;" "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.
4. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." It is a difficult work, beyond the strength of man; but we can do all things through him that strengtheneth us.
5. Let us have respect unto the recompense of the reward; he who by faith discerns the crown may well endure the cross.
Vers. 16-22. The great refusal.
The young man who won the love of Christ by his ardour and enthusiasm, and who grieved our Lord by his refusal to make an unexpected sacrifice, stands before us in vivid portraiture an example, and yet a warning. Let us consider the successive traits of his character revealed by his conduct.
I HIS WISE QUESTION. It is much for a man to have a definite object before him; it is more for him to choose a worthy pursuit. Of all personal things the young ruler chose the very best. He had wealth, but that did not satisfy him. He had the means of acquiring pleasure; but he rose above the idea of making worldly amusement the end and aim of existence. He craved the life of God, which is eternal. Surely we may imitate him in this. Moreover, he did well in inquiring of Christ. Jesus is the Way to life, and we can find its source in him, as he told the woman of Samaria. (Joh_4:14) It is right to come to Christ for this boon.
II HIS MISTAKEN ADDRESS. He called our Lord "Good Master." Jesus takes up the phrase at once, and asks what it means. This was no act of captious criticism. The young man did not really know the deep signification of the word "good." He used language conventionally. There is a great danger for those who are brought up among religious associations that they will employ the greatest words without entering into their true meaning.
III HIS MORAL CONDUCT. Christ began with the first elements of morality. We cannot go on to perfection until we have mastered these elements. It is impossible to be a thief in the world and a saint in the Church. Yet there is a subtle temptation that dogs the footsteps of those who aspire after superior spiritual attainments a temptation to fall away from common morality. The young man had avoided this temptation. He was no hollow sentimentalist. His virtue was solid. Yet it was not enough.
IV HIS NEW DUTY. He is told to renounce his wealth a hard, a startling requirement. Jesus does not give this commandment to all rich men, though he never encourages the acquisition of wealth. But he saw that the young ruler"s snare was his riches. It was necessary, therefore, that the riches should be given up. Now, although it was not his duty before this thus to renounce all he possessed, the word of Christ if he would become a disciple made it his duty. Whenever Christ tells any man to sell all he has and give the proceeds to the poor, that man is under an obligation to obey if he would own the Lordship of Christ. The essential duty is not poverty, but obedience. The duty may take the same form with any of us if we are convinced on good grounds that Christ desires us to make the same sacrifice. But whether absolute poverty be required or not, whatever we own is only ours subject to the bidding of Christ to use it as he directs and he is not altogether an easy Master to serve.
V HIS SAD FAILURE. The young ruler could not rise up to the sacrifice. His wealth was his undoing. It was not a golden key opening the kingdom of heaven, but a golden bar holding the gate shut. The young ruler might have become a great Christian leader, saint, or martyr. His refusal dropped him into obscurity. We cannot but pity him, for his was a hard test. Could we stand it? Have we shrunk back from even a milder test? W.F.A.
Vers. 16-22. The perfection of goodness.
To attain to this should be the aim of every rational being. In quest of it we should be willing to do anything and to sacrifice anything. "Who will show us any good?
I CHRIST IS THE IMPERSONATION OF PERFECT GOODNESS.
1. The ruler, in a sense, discerned this.
(1) He addressed him as "good Master". (cf. Mar_10:17 Luk_18:18) He also evinced his veneration by "kneeling," as stated in Mark.
(2) He sought to Jesus for instruction as to how he might attain to "eternal life," viz. by finding that perfect goodness of which eternal life is the reward. His question was, in effect, "How may I become like thee?" Note: What the young man calls "eternal life," Christ calls "life," for eternal life is the only true life. Without this, "in the midst of life we are in death.
2. But he discerned it falsely.
(1) He did not recognize the Divinity of Christ. Hence the question, "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good?" Suppose an emphasis on the word thou. So he proceeds, "One there is who is good;" equivalent to "None is good save One, even God". (Mar_10:18 Luk_18:19)
(2) The rebuke here is for ascribing goodness to Christ without discerning his Divinity as its source. The title is not inapplicable, for our Lord calls himself the "good Shepherd". (Joh_10:11) The fault was that it was improperly applied.
(3) The teaching, then, is that it is vain to seek goodness apart from God. He alone is good. essentially, originally, everlastingly. "God" is "good." Therefore we should transfer to God all praise which is given to us. All crowns must lie before his throne. (see Jam_1:17)
II THE LAW OF GOD IS THE RULE OF GOODNESS.
1. This is expressed in the instruction of Christ.
(1) "If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments." This is not irony, but sober truth. To keep the commandments from a principle of loving faith is undoubtedly the way to eternal life. Those who are justified by faith must keep the commandments before they can enter into life and be finally saved.
(2) Keeping the commandments must, however, include faith in Jesus Christ. (see 1Jn_3:23) Moses gave it amongst his commandments that we should hear the great Prophet to be raised up like unto him.
2. The ruler observed the commandments in the letter.
(1) The inquiry "Which?" was probably occasioned by the confusion introduced by the scribes, who mixed up the traditions of the elders with the precepts of Moses; and who magnified the ritual observances so as to neglect the moral rules the "weightier matters of the Law," justice, mercy, and charity.
(2) The answer put the moral law in the foremost place. The particular commandments which our Lord selects are but adduced as instances of moral, in opposition to ritual, obedience. Nor does he cite the commandments in their order, probably to show, as the Jews themselves express it, "that there is neither first nor last in the Law that every precept is so perfect that it matters not whether it be taken first or last. He mentions only the duties of the second table, summing them up, however, with the precept from Lev_19:18, for the love of God can only be made manifest by love to our neighbour. (cf. 1Jn_4:20, 1Jn_4:21) "Our light burns in love to God, but it shines in love to our neighbour" (Henry).
(3) "All these things have I observed". (cf. Php_3:6)
3. He failed to keep them in the spirit.
(1) "What lack I yet?" He was convinced that he yet needed something. He had too much of that boasting which is excluded by the law of faith, and which excludes from justification. (Luk_18:11, 14 Rom_3:27)
(2) The Lord soon discovered to him the covetousness and earthliness of his heart. He found how he over-estimated his obedience when he was unwilling to part with his possessions for the benefit of the poor, and preferred earthly to heavenly treasure. Note: Worldly men prefer heaven to hell; Christians prefer heaven to earth.
(3) We cannot become perfect without becoming spiritual So a man may be free from gross sin, yet come short of the life of grace and glory.
III THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS THE WAY OF GOODNESS.
1. It promises eternal life in Christ. "Thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
(1) In the school of Christ we learn the doctrine of justification by faith in his sufficient atonement.
(2) The connection with that atonement of the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart.
(3) His teaching, moreover, shows us the connection between faith and obedience unto the fulfilling of the Law.
2. But it exacts an absolute submission.
(1) "Sell all." This was literally required in the case of the ruler. Christ did not lighten his cross, because "he loved him." Note: This reason should sustain us under our crosses.
(2) Virtually we have to sell all. We must be willing to part with everything that may hinder our salvation.
3. Those who refuse submission accept sorrow.
(1) "He went away sorrowful." What an opportunity he missed! The offer to him was to become one of Christ"s more intimate disciples; to be specially trained by him in the knowledge of spiritual things, and to preach his gospel. (cf. Mat_4:19 Mat_8:22 Mat_9:9 Mar_2:14 10:21)
(2) Many are ruined by the sin they commit with reluctance. What would be the ruler"s sorrow in the sequel to find his wealth gone and eternal life along with it! Mariners act prudently when, to save their lives, they throw overboard rich bales of silk and precious things. J.A.M.
The ruler"s mistakes.
The assumption that this ruler was a youth has no, foundation. The man could not have been a ruler if he had been a youth. He must have been in what we should call the prime of life; but he evidently retained something of the impetuousness of youth. His mistakes suggest the impulsive temperament, that readily yields to emotion, and is wont to act before it thinks. Our Lord skilfully dealt with individuals. "He needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man." He was "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." In the ruler"s abrupt and impulsive question we may trace three forms of mistake.
I A MISTAKE ABOUT CHRIST. He applied the word "good" to him, and yet he had no adequate ideas concerning goodness. If he had really meant anything worth meaning, he would have recognized in Christ the infinitely Good One, the Son of God; for none is good save God. This mistake Jesus corrected in two ways.
1. By reference to God. "None is good save one, that is, God." You do not call God good because he does good, but because he is good.
2. By a severe and searching test, which reveals to the man the imperfectness of his own goodness. He would never be able to get right ideas of God or Christ from himself.
II A MISTAKE CONCERNING HIMSELF. This took a twofold form. He thought he was good; and he thought he could do good, if only he was told what to do. Jesus showed him a good thing that he could not do; and so set his conscience suggesting, that perhaps he was not as good as he had thought. We may think ourselves good while we arrange the forms that our goodness shall take; but we may learn our mistake when God arranges the forms for us. The question betrays the man"s self-righteous spirit. He is indirectly paying a compliment to himself to his own goodness; or, at any rate, to human goodness, that idol which he worshipped with his whole soul.
III A MISTAKE CONCERNING THE FUTURE. Feeling himself well provided for in all that concerned this life, he wanted to be as safely and as well off in the next life. He would inherit eternal life; he would have it as something coming to him; he wanted as much right to it as he had to his worldly possessions. How much he had to learn! A man"s life here "consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesses." A man"s wealth is his character; that is true of this life, but much more true of the life to come. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John A. Broadus1886 · Public DomainOn v16Mat 19:16-22.
Mat 19:16-22.
The Rich Young Ruler
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Found also in Mar 10:17-22 Luk 18:18-23.
Jesus has left the house in which he blessed the babes (Mat 19:15; Mar 10:10), and is going forth into the road, (Mar 10:17) doubtless on the way towards Jerusalem (Mat 20:17) for the last Passover. The place is still pretty certainly in Southern Perea. (Mat 19:1, Mat 20:29)
Mat 19:16. One came. ’One’ may be taken loosely (see on "Mat 8:19"), as we in English often use it, to mean some one, a certain one; but is perhaps better taken strictly—not now a crowd, (Mat 19:2) only a single person, but a very interesting and important case. Matthew tells us that he was a young man (Mat 19:20-22), Luke that he was a ’ruler’, (Mat 18:18) not probably meaning one of the Sanhedrin, (Joh 3:1) but a ruler of the local synagogue; (Mat 9:18) all three state that he was very wealthy. The theory of Plumptre that this was Lazarus of Bethany, rests entirely upon certain resemblances, as wealth, high standing, and the fact that Jesus is said to have loved him, and it must be regarded as a pleasant, homiletical fancy, rather than even a probable historical fact. The resurrection of Lazarus was almost certainly before this time. For ’came to him,’ Mark says vividly, Rev. Ver., ’ran to him, and kneeled to him.’ Finding that Jesus had left the house, and eager not to miss the desired instruction, he runs to overtake him, and then kneels in profound reverence. Good Master, i. e., teacher (didaskalos), see on "Mat 8:19". ’Good’ is wanting in the earliest and best documents, and was manifestly brought in by copyists from Mark and Luke. The same early documents, with many others of great importance, read Mat 8:17 as in Rev. Ver., which, especially as the meaning is not obvious, would be readily changed to agree with Mark and Luke.[1] What good thing shall I do? He has done many good things, what else? (Mat 19:20.) That I may have eternal life, compare on Mat 25:46. He is sincerely and deeply desirous of gaining it, as he has shown by his conduct heretofore, and shows now by his eagerness to learn from the Galilean teacher who is passing by. Contrast the lawyer of Luk 10:25, who quibbled. (Mat 19:29.)
[1] The other readings need not have been placed in the margin of Rev. Ver., for there can be no question that they are wrong. We cannot imagine any reason for changing an easy reading which agreed with Mark and Luke into an obscure one which strikingly differs, while the change into assimilation is precisely such as we constantly find in MSS. and versions. Origen expressly points out and dwells on the difference between the text of Matt. and that of Mark end Luke.
Mat 19:17. It is possible (Aug.) that Jesus used first the expression in Mark and Luke, and afterwards that in Matt. (Rev. Ver.) But the Evangelists often report a saying in different terms. (See on "Mat 3:17".) Both forms here express truth, and they substantially agree. To call him ’good’ (Mark and Luke), was a sort of flattery to one approached only as a Rabbi, perfectly good—keep that word for him. No religious teacher would really like to be accosted as "a good man." So here, to ask a teacher concerning that which is good, what good thing shall be done, must not be with the notion that any mere human teacher is of himself qualified to give the desired instruction. Only God is perfectly good; and lessons of goodness are not lessons of mere human ethical wisdom, but of divine instruction. This is a surpassingly important truth. Men in every age and country are prone to think of mere human instruction in morals and religion, and to forget that the highest religious wisdom must come from him who alone is perfect wisdom and perfect goodness. But if thou wilt, or wishest to (compare on Mat 15:32, Mat 16:24), enter into life (comp on Mat 5:20), keep the commandments. Bengel: "Those who feel secure Jesus refers to the law; the contrite he consoles with the gospel."
Mat 19:18 f. Which, if strictly translated, would be what sort of, what kind of commandments, not inquiring as to particular precepts, but classes. Yet this Greek pronoun is used somewhat loosely in New Testament, and may here mean simply which. In Modern Greek it has that meaning always. The ruler may have expected new commandments, or a special selection from those existing. The Rabbis would have prescribed stricter attention to traditional observances. Jesus did not propose new commandments, but a new spirit and motive. The sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments are given, then the fifth, and then Matt. alone adds the general precept (Lev 19:18) which sums up all the second table of the law; compare on Mat 22:39. Luke quotes the same five commandments as Matt.; Mark, likewise, but inserting ’do not defraud,’ equivalent to the tenth commandment. Thou shalt do no murder (Rev. Ver., shalt not kill). So also Com. Ver. in Mat 5:21 Mar 10:19 Luk 18:20; and Rom 13:9. The Old Testament Revisers, on the contrary, have changed ’thou shalt not kill’ into ’thou shalt do no murder,’ Exo 20:13 Deu 5:17. The Hebrew and Greek verbs are frequently used for unlawful killing, murder, but not uniformly.
Mat 19:20. All these things has the emphasis here (according to the probable text) on ’all’; in Mark and Luke it is on ’these things.’ Have I kept. Rev. Ver. gives observed. So Tyn. and Gen. here, and all early English versions in Mar 10:20, while all give ’kept’ for the same word in Luk 18:21. In Luk 18:17 above, ’kept’ represents a different word. From my youth up is spurious in Matt., but genuine in Mark and Luke, and so was really said.[1] The speaker was still a ’young man,’ but it is quite common for young men to look back to their youth, viz., boyhood, and as a very remote period. He must have been sincere in his profession, and really blameless in outward conformity to law, for ’Jesus looking upon him loved him.’ (Mark.) What lack I yet? Mark and Luke give as the beginning of the Saviour’s reply, ’One thing thou lackest.’ So the question here must not be regarded as a mere self-righteous expression. The only observance he had ever thought of was external and superficial; in regard to this, he had been very careful and correct. The Talmud repeatedly mentions persons as having kept the whole law, in one case "my holy ones, who have kept the whole law, from Aleph to Tau," like Alpha to Omega. The Great Teacher does not stop for distinctions between the external and the spiritual which the young ruler would have found it difficult to appreciate, but cuts through all his self-delusion and self-complacency by an extraordinary demand.
[1] It was easily added in Matthew by copyists, just as in Mark some documents add to Mat 10:20, ’what lack I yet,’ (which Mark really has just after in another shape), and to Mat 10:21, ’if thou wishest to be perfect.’ Such patent errors show the habits of copyists, and help us to group documents.
Mat 19:21. If thou wilt be, wishest to be, as in Mat 19:17. Perfect, so as to lack nothing, see on "Mat 5:48". Go, go along, go promptly, as in Mat 4:10, Mat 5:24, Mat 13:44, Mat 18:15. Sell that thou hast, (compare Mat 13:46) a comprehensive expression, strengthened in Mark by ’whatsoever,’ in Luke by ’all.’ To the poor. Here again (see on "Mat 5:3"; Mat 11:5) the notion of ’beggars’ is quite out of place; the wisest giving is not always to beggars. The Talmud (Wet.) speaks of a rabbi as saying to some Gentiles who sought instruction, "Sell all that you have, and moreover you ought to become proselytes."—This was a special test, exactly suited to the young ruler, as appears from his sorrowful failure to meet it. The principle involved is supreme devotion to Christ. The test of this is different for different people. Some find it harder to renounce hopes of worldly honour and fame for Christ’s sake, than to renounce wealth; and for others the hard trial is to abandon certain gratifications of the various appetites or of taste. Abraham left his native country at God’s command, but became rich and famous. Moses gave up the distinction and refined pleasures of court life, and tried patiently to rule a debased and intractable people. Elisha left his property at the call of God through Elijah. Paul abandoned his ambitious hope of being a great rabbi. All should be willing even to die for Christ, (Mat 16:24, ff.) though not many are actually required to do so. The Romanists build on this passage their theory that for all persons and times voluntary and absolute poverty is a chief means of securing the highest spiritual attainments. But there is no intimation that Jesus requires this of all his followers. He said nothing of the kind to any but the Twelve, and a few who, like them, were called to leave home and travel about the country with him. Treasure in heaven, see on "Mat 6:20". And come, follow me, see on "Mat 4:19". Many documents in Mark, and one or two in Matthew add ’taking up thy cross,’ borrowed from Mar 8:34 Mat 16:24.
Mat 19:22. He went away sorrowful Mark prefixes ’his countenance fell,’ he looked gloomy,’ dark-faced; compare a similar expression in Luk 24:17 (correct text). It was a painful disappointment; his eager longing and hope gave way to gloom—he could not give up his great possessions. Among all nations, but especially among the Jewish higher classes, the idea of falling from great wealth to utter poverty would be extremely painful. He went away, and appears no more in the history. One would incline to the hopeful persuasion that he afterwards became a true Christian, since Jesus loved him. But the story ends very sadly. And its lesson applies very closely to many whose, possessions’ are by no means ’great.’
Homiletical And Practical
Mat 19:17-21. We need no new commandments, but a new motive, supreme devotion to Christ. So in Rom 8:1-17, there is presented the same old law, but a new revelation of forgiveness (Mat 19:1), a new moral force (Mat 19:2), a new motive (Mat 19:15).
Rom 8:16-22. The young ruler. (1) There may be much religious earnestness, and a lovable sincerity, without true Christian piety. (2) To become a thorough Christian requires no new precepts, but a new spirit. (3) A complete Christian character and life cannot exist without complete submission to Christ. (4) The tests of submission to Christ will be very different in different cases, but must in every case be squarely met. (5) Turning away from Christ with regret and gloomy sadness, is yet turning away.
Mat 19:17. (latter part). If thou wishest to enter into life. (1) The wish. (a) None enter who do not wish. (b) None who wish to enter need fail. (2) The way. (a) The commandments must be kept not only outwardly, but inwardly, spiritually. (b) This can be done through help of Christ and of the other Comforter. (c) That help is received only where there is supreme devotion to Christ.
Mat 19:20. What lack I yet? (1) He might seem to others to lack nothing; he has wealth, honour, a blameless outward life, and a deep sincerity and earnestness. (2) He is conscious of lacking something, and eager to supply the lack. (3) He really lacks everything; for he has only kept the commandments outwardly, and thus altogether imperfectly. (4) He lacks one thing, (Mar 10:21) without which all is inadequate, and with which all will work toward perfection and eternal life; and that one thing is supreme devotion to Christ.
Mat 19:22. He went away sorrowful. (1) He went away sorrowful. (2) He went away sorrowful.
John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (American Baptist Publication Society, 1886) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv16, 19And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good…
Mat_19:16-22
And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do?
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Formal obedience insufficient
It is certainly the doctrine of Scripture that moral integrity alone can never benefit us with God; that even the offering of our prayers is accounted worthless except as it is perfumed with love. Evidently, then, his confidence is false and dangerous indeed who, because he keeps unbroken the great laws of social morality, imagines his claim to mercy and salvation secure. Besides being unscriptural, such a theory is not rational.
I. It ignores the very design of mans creation, viz., the glory of God. Social morality is at best a very inferior virtue. It is only the submission of one part of mans nature to an inferior series of Gods laws. If this world were all, that might be enough. Man is endowed with faculties which can only be exercised toward the unseen world. As well might the planet, obeying the one law of its propulsion around the earth, break away from the other which binds it to the sun, and yet hope to escape, as he who, fulfilling his duty to man, neglects his duty to God.
II. It is founded on a false idea of religion. God seeks not mere abject obedience, but the devotion of the heart. Without a distinct movement of the will and affections towards Him, all religious observances are worse than naught. They are the casket without the diamond-the body without the sustaining, invigorating, glorifying life.
III. It makes the sacrifice of Christ an unnecessary thing. If man by being honest and upright and humane and gentle could merit heaven, no need for Calvary. Yet Jesus laid aside the robes of His Deity and came to earth, and offered Himself a sacrifice on the cross. To rely for salvation on natural morality is, then, to mock Christ in His sufferings; it is to go up, as it were, upon the blood-stained slopes of Calvary, and, beholding Him in His agony, to cry aloud, We need not Thy blood, we despise Thine aid! (W. Rudder, D. D.)
Coming to Jesus
A right thing to come to Jesus, in a right way, for a right thing, in a right spirit. This last element of coming rightly was here left out.
I. How he came.
1. Publicly.
2. Eagerly-running.
3. Humbly-kneeling.
4. Respectfully-good Master.
II. Why he came: inherit eternal life.
1. Belief in a future state.
2. Concern to obtain it; in this he differed from many.
3. Thought something must be done; many think not of this, and
consequently do nothing.
4. Thought he was willing and able to do anything needful; but did not know himself; had not counted the cost.
III. Learn-
1. Salvation not by works.
2. Works an evidence, not a cause of grace. (The Hive.)
The rich youths application to Christ
I. The character and pretensions of the youthful applicant who approached our Lord. Something in his character exceedingly favourable, interesting external appearance, air of sweetness about his address, correct in morals, of ample means, fair reputation, he entertained proper views of our Lord; he had serious regard for religion. But-
1. He was ignorant of his moral inability.
2. He displays an ignorance of his actual guilt.
3. He was ignorant of the prevailing disposition of his heart.
II. THE manner in which the application was diet.
1. Our Lord repels his adulatory address.
2. Our Lord shows the imperfection of his obedience.
3. The youth went away sorrowful.
III. Those important lessons which naturally arise out of this interesting case.
1. Learn the danger and prevalence of self-deception.
2. The great responsibility which the ministerial office involves.
3. The dangerous situation which the rich occupy. The subject guards us against the following: Low thoughts of God, high thoughts of ourselves, slight thoughts of sin, and mean thoughts of Christ. (J. Thorp.)
Mens persuasions of their own obedience
Whence this ariseth.
1. Ignorance of the total, deep, and universal pollution of our natures.
2. Ignorance of the spiritual exactness and obligation of the law.
3. Attention only to the negative commandments.
4. Not understanding either positive or negative precepts in their comprehensive sense.
5. Neglecting self-reflection and self-examination.
6. From the abominable self-love, and self-flattery, which cleaveth to every man.
7. Fear of guilt makes men hoodwink their eyes that they may neither look into the law, nor into their hearts.
8. Ignorance of regeneration and the necessity for being born again.
9. The devil hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.
10. Every man is naturally destitute of the Spirit, without which we are all devoid of light and life. (Anthony Burgess.)
The rich young ruler
I. Examine the young mans roast. He boasted that his obedience was:
1. Extensive.
2. Exact.
3. Constant.
II. Answer his question. He lacked:
1. A new heart.
2. A sense of guilt and sin.
3. Faith in Christ.
4. Spirituality and self-denial. (G. Brooks.)
I. How entirely even an intelligent man may misapprehend his own spiritual attainment.
II. And his willingness to attain.
III. Between our present attainment and perfection there may be a sacrifice equivalent to cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye.
IV. The one thing essential, if we are to attain perfection, is the following of Christ.
V. Other things may also be lacking, as, for example, determination to be holy. Conclusion: The lack of one thing may make all other attainments useless. (M. Dods, D.D.)
The young ruler
I. A hopeful meeting. It was-
1. A young man-special promises to the young.
2. A meeting with Christ-patient and physician.
3. One who was in earnest. Mark says, he came running.
4. One who had many rare qualities. Jesus loved him.
5. One who was bold (compare Nicodemus); yet reverent, for he kneeled.
II. An important conversation. It reveals:
1. Our simpleness-unable to keep the law.
2. Our pride-trusting to our own works.
3. Our idolatry-loving other things better than Christ.
4. Our only hope of salvation-willing to leave all, take the cross and follow Christ.
III. A sorrowful parting.
1. It was parting with Christ, therefore no hope.
2. It was a deliberate parting-not a sudden step.
3. It was a final parting.
IV. Important lessons. How far some may advance and yet not be saved. Abandon at once that which keeps us from Christ. (D. Macmillan.)
Morality made a snare
Take heed that thy morality be not thy snare. The young man in the gospel might have been a better man if he had not been so good. (Gurnall.)
Youths obstructions in their way to Christ and eternal life
I. Self-conceit, This young man thought that he had kept all the law. Young people with a smattering of knowledge soon imagine themselves competent judges of all truth and conduct. They have righteousness to recommend themselves to Gods favour.
II. The pleasures and vanities of youth; especially when they are fed by great possessions. These unreasonable sordid pleasures are not to be compared with the exalted substantial delights that are to be found in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
III. A false prejudice, as if the ways of Christ were nought and melancholy. Thus the young man thought when Christ told him to take up his cross and follow Him. Grace would give new tastes and make the burden easy. Christ will never let you be a loser by Him.
IV. An inconsiderate, heedless temper. To be heedless about small matters is a blemish; about essential, a reproach without excuse.
V. A presumptuous, daring rashness of spirit. Young persons are most sanguine, even to foolhardiness.
VI. The companions of youth.
VII. An apprehension of long life, They have a long day before them and can put away the thought of death. (John Guyse, D.D.)
A sorrowful departure
1. He was sorry at the thought of giving up those large possessions of which he was naturally proud.
2. He was also grieved at the idea of losing heaven.
3. Thus opened to the young mans mind some of the difficulty which there always is in the attainment of everything which is really worth having.
4. Part of his sorrow was the discovery which he was making at that moment of his own heart.
5. But he was most sorrowful of all in the wretched sense he had of his own guilty hesitation and inexcusable weakness. Many worldly people are sorrowful in the midst of their worldliness; it indicates life and struggle. In any state of life the characteristic of the Christian is self-renunciation. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Jesus answer to the young rulers address
I. What we may infer from our Lords question.
1. That our Master was not fond of flattering titles.
2. The language affords a remarkable instance of our Lords modesty and humility.
3. Our Lords question contains a proof of His reverence for His Father.
II. Explain and enforce our Lords answer.
1. There is none good in comparison of God; and consequently, our sentiments of regard and devotion should not stop short of Him.
2. God alone is absolutely good. His goodness is from Himself, independently of all others.
Application-
1. Our Lord hath set us an example for our imitation.
2. Our Lord will not finally approve of any pretended reverence and respect paid to Himself which in the least lessens the glory due to His Father. (Thomas Twining.)
The way to happiness
I. We have the example of one who was solicitous and inquisitive after his future condition, and desirous to know upon what terms he might hope for happiness,
II. We have the ordinary way to happiness marked out to us.
III. In some extraordinary cases God does require some extraordinary things of particular men, which are not generally necessary to the salvation of all men.
IV. We have the sad example of one that went far towards happiness, and yet fell short. (Samuel Johnson.)
W/mr are the senses in which none is good but God?-
I. God is the only necessarily good being.
II. God is the only originally good being.
III. God is the only self-subsistently good being.
IV. God is the only immutably good being.
1. If God is alone supremely good, He alone is to be glorified and adored.
2. If He alone is supremely good, it is sin, and the very essence of it, not to glorify Him. (Dr. Shedd.)
What he lacked
1. A sense of guilt. He was self-complacent. He had obedience, self-respect, morality. He rested in these and boasted of them. He did not know the estimate which heaven places upon the righteousness which is of the law. He was under condemnation, and thought himself justified.
2. Faith in Christ. As the only Saviour. He did not know that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness.
3. A new heart. An essential. He loved the world, etc. This shows the old heart.
4. Self-denial. He loved ease and riches. He had no heart to give these up for Christ. He had much to give up, and the surrender would be hard; but a Christian spirit is willing to give up all; even life if needs be for Christ, and the needs be is Christs word. (Anon.)
A new years personal inquiry
I. There may be many excellences, and much that is amiable in man, without true religion. Morality, benevolent and social virtues, orthodoxy, reverence for Divine ordinances, etc.
II. There are various evils which keep men from being entirely the Saviours. Self-complacency, favour of the world, attachment to riches, unwillingness to deny self, etc.
III. The inquiry of the text is one which is worthy of personal consideration. Ask the question as in Christs presence, with all possible seriousness, with perfect deference to Gods word, in the spirit of prayer and with a resolution to obey the answer. (J. Burns, LL. D.)
Good things to do
Sidney Smith tells us that he cut the following from a newspaper, and preserved it for himself: When you rise in the morning, say that you will make the day blessed to a fellow-creature. It is easily done; a left-off garment to the man who needs it; a kind word to the sorrowful; an encouraging expression to the starving-trifles as light as air-will do at least for the twenty-four hours. And if you are young, depend upon it, it will tell when you are old; and, if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of tiptoe to eternity. By the most simple arithmetical sum, look at the result. If you send one person away happily through the day, that is three hundred and sixty-five in the course of a year. And, suppose you live forty years only after you commence that course of medicine, you have made fourteen thousand six hundred persons happy-at all events, for a time.
Heaven won by being, not doing
Very likely the question involved a mass of confusions. The young man thought, perhaps, that heaven was to be won by external actions and quantitative merit. He did not understand that we must enter into heaven by being, not by doing. He held perhaps the vulgar notion that eternal only means endless, so that eternity becomes the infinitude of time instead of its antithesis. He very likely did not know that every holy soul has entered already into eternal life; that to all who are in Christ it is now as the invisible bright air they breathe. He certainly did not realize that this is life eternal, to know Thee, the only God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. But yet, because the question was sincere and noble, and did not spring from Pharisaism-the one thing which the Lord detested most-but from the Divine dissatisfaction of a struggling soul which God alone can fill, Christ answered it. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
Man not left in doubt as to the good
Why dost thou ask Me about the good? that seems to have been our Lords answer, not Why askest thou Me? as it is often read-for whom else should the young man ask? but Why dost thou ask Me about the good? Has God left you in any doubt as to what is good? Have you in your heart no voice of conscience? Has duty never uplifted within you that naked law of right, so imperial in its majesty, so eternal in its origin, which you know that you ought to follow even unto death? If not, and if experience has had no lessons for you, and history no teaching, was there no Sinai? Do not the cherubim of your temple veil with their golden wings the tablets-alas! the shattered tablets of your moral law? And there Jesus might have stopped. But, being unlike us, being infinitely patient with mans irritating spiritual stupidity, not loving, as we do, to be cautious and reticent, and to steer through the channel of no meaning between the Scylla and Charybdis of yes and no, He added, but, if thou wouldst enter into life, keep the commandments. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
The first step towards righteousness
Christ did not begin with the injunction, Go, sell all that thou hast. He began very much lower; He said, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Let us learn to flutter as sparrows, before it is worth considering whether we ought also to soar as eagles. Let us cease to be very guilty before we can be righteous. Let us be righteous before we can attain to the greatness of good men. Let us be but ordinary good men before we ask Christ for His counsels of perfection, or attempt to attain to the stature of His saints. Christ knew this well. We come to Him, and say, O Saviour, whom I love, tell me what I must do to inherit eternal life. And so long as we are all standing ankle-deep, chin-deep, in the worlds mire, would it be of any use for Him to point to some shining cloud in the deep blue, and say, You must stand there? Ah, no! He says to you, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Until you have learnt to plant firm feet on the green lower slopes, how can you breathe the difficult and eager air, or stand in the glory of the sunrise on the splendour of the snowy heights? (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
The commandment regarded as ordinary
The young ruler, not being so familiar as we are with those accumulated cobwebs of two thousand years which priests, and churches, and sects, and theologians, and theorists, and system-mongers, and schoolmen, have spun over wellnigh every simple word of Christ; the young ruler, whose natural instincts were not crushed under hundreds of ponderous folios of human doctrines and commandments of men, which, with inconceivable arrogance and a bitterness which has become universally proverbial, would fain palm themselves off as infallible theology; the young ruler, hearing the answer from the lips of Jesus, in all its bare, naked, unqualified, unmistakable simplicity, was quite frankly amazed. He was like the child Charoba in the poem, who, having been talked to about the majestic glory of the sea, and being led to the shore, innocently exclaimed, Is that the mighty ocean? Is that all? Keep the commandments. Is that all that Jesus has to tell him? Surely there must be some mistake! It did not need a prophet to tell us that! This youth had gone to Christ seeking for some great thing to do, and secret thing to know. The great Teacher could not mean anything so commonplace, so elementary, so extremely ordinary, as those old ten words which He had learned to lisp, ever so many years ago, when He was a little child, at His mothers knee? (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
Self-satisfaction
This young man thought himself somewhat beforehand, and that God, perchance, was in his debt. Truly, many nowadays grow crooked and aged with over-good opinions of themselves, and can hardly ever be set right again. They stand upon their comparisons-I am as good as thou; nay, upon their disparisons, I am not as this publican. No, for thou art worse; yea, for this, because thou thinkest thyself better. This arrogant youth makes good that of Aristotle, who, differencing between age and youth, makes it a property of young men to think they know all things, and to affirm lustily their own placits. (John Trapp.)
What lack I?-
I. Examine his boast. His obedience was:
1. Exact.
2. Extensive.
3. Constant.
II. Show his deficiencies.
1. A sense of guilt.
2. Faith in Christ.
3. A new heart.
4. Self-denial. (Pulpit Germs.)
This query must not be regarded as an expression of satisfied self-righteousness, as if it implied, In that case I lack nothing. It is, indeed, true that the young man was still self-righteous. He had no conception of the spirituality, the depth, or the height of the commandments of God. Taking only the letter of the law, he considered himself blameless, and perhaps even righteous, before God. Yet his heart misgave him, and he felt that he still lacked something. Under this sense of want, he put the question to the Saviour, as if he would have said, What is it then that I yet lack? All these things have not given me peace of mind. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
Self-righteousness
The various forms of self-righteousness.
1. Of the head and of the heart (of doctrine and of sentiment); or, Pharisees in the strictest sense.
2. Self-righteousness of the heart with orthodoxy of the head, as in the case of some in the Church who seem to be zealous for soundness of doctrine.
3. Self-righteousness of the head, combined with a deep sense of spiritual need, although its grounds may not be fully understood, as in the case of this young man and of many Christian legalists. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
Why wealth is to be renounced
What did our Lord mean by this reply? Did he mean that the mere giving up his wealth to the poor would make this man acceptable with God? Certainly not. The cattle on a thousand hills are His. He asks no sacrifice from human hands. Man can give Him nothing that is not His already. This, therefore, could not have been His meaning. Did He, then, mean that the voluntary poverty caused by this distribution of his wealth would render him meritorious with God? Poverty in itself is no more a merit than riches. To this question, therefore, we must say, as to the other, certainly not. Well, then, what did He mean? Evidently this: that whatever may be our moral excellence; however exactly we may fulfil the law toward our neighbour; unless there is, besides this and behind all this and originating all this, an ardent love of God-a love fulfilling the first and great commandment, and fastening upon God with all the heart and soul and mind; a love born of faith, and yet increasing faith-unless there is such a love as this seated on the very throne of our being, originating all our motives and our acts; making our purpose not expediency, but the glory of God; causing us to be ready if need be to sell all that we have-unless there is such a love ruling in our hearts, our moral excellences, however great, are, in the sight of God, of no account. This unquestionably was His meaning; this was the doctrine which He designed to teach. (W. Rudder, D. D.)
The true spirit of renunciation
To the question What lack I yet? Christ answers in substance, This: the temper that counts property worthless beside true life. You come to me with your money, with)our sense of complacency, of consequence, of power, and you want to bring these with you into the kingdom of God. You are not indeed satisfied with things as they are. How can you be, so long as you are vainly striving to feed your immortal nature upon husks and chaff? You want to be enlarged into a life nobler, fuller, worthier of your better self. But you would come as Dives, not as Lazarus. What you have, you think, ought to be reckoned in with what you are. You and your estate are in your own conception too entirely identified to be separated. Believe me, my young brother, the kingdom of Jesus can not know you upon any such terms. It is not necessary that you should be stripped bare of all your belongings in order to enter it. But you should be willing to be stripped bare. You must come to look upon what you call yours as though it mattered not, when you set your face toward the kingdom of God, whether it were yours or no. The spirit of renunciation must be so deep in you that you must be ready to give up all for Christ. And this not from any arbitrary reason, but simply because a human heart is not large enough to hold two thrones. If Christ is to be in it at all, He must be king of the whole domain; and if He is to be king, the money power, the sense power, the brain power must go to the rear. There will be a place for each of these in every sanctified life, but it must be a subordinate place. Go, or at least, if it be a question between your securities and your Saviour, be ready to go, and sell all that thou hast, and follow Me! (Bishop H. C. Potter.)
Obedience to this command not necessarily literal
It is not to be hastily concluded from this, that the rich man is to give all that he has to the poor. If, in deference to any narrow and superficial interpretation of Christs language, a man should take his wealth and distribute the whole of it in largesses to the poor to-morrow, he would be doing the poor an incalculable evil and not a benefit. Men ask, Why do not you, as a believer in Jesus Christ and the Sermon on the Mount, make common cause in the things of this world with the destitute around you, and trust for the needful food and raiment to Him who feeds the birds and clothes the lillies? Why not, indeed! Is it merely because such an act would be fanatical and enthusiastic, or because political economy forbids it? Or, because, whatever else I ought or ought not to do, I ought not to do my brother man a wrong? Is anybody ignorant of the fact that every human life needs the discipline of forethought and self-denial, of responsibility and self-help; and that if I by my ill-judged kindness enable another to escape things, I am degrading and hurting him as well as abusing my own power? What would be the effect of the announcement that half a dozen rich men had disinherited themselves, and that to-morrow morning fifty millions of dollars would be distributed to the poor? Does anybody care to contemplate the pandemonium that New York would become-the idleness, the licentiousness, the fierce hatreds, the bitter discords, the mad license that would be engendered: and ought a Christian man to do an act that would make his brother men incalculably worse instead of better? (Bishop H. C. Potter.)
Great possessions a hindrance in the way to heaven
How nimbly does that little lark mount up, singing, towards heaven in a right line! whereas the hawk, which is stronger of body and swifter of wing, towers up by many gradual compasses to his highest pitch. That bulk of body and length of wing hinder a direct ascent, and require the help both of air and scope to advance his flight; while the small bird cuts the air without resistance, and needs no outward furtherance of her motion. It is no otherwise with the souls of men in flying up to their heaven. Some are hindered by those powers which would seem helps to their soaring up thither: great wit, deep judgment, quick apprehension, send about men with no small labour, for the recovery of their own incumbrance; while the good affections of plain and simple souls raise them up immediately to the fruition of God. Why should we be proud of that which may slacken our way to glory? Why should we be disheartened with the small measure of that, the very want whereof may (as the heart may be affected) facilitate our way to happiness? (Salter.)
The worth of heaven
Far beyond the treasures of Egypt, which yet is called Rahab because of the riches, power, and pride thereof. Oh! get a patriarchs eye to see the wealth and worth of heaven, and then we shall soon make Mosess choice. In the year of grace 759, certain Persian magicians fell into that madness, that they persuaded themselves and sundry, others that if they sold all they had and gave it to the poor, and then afterwards threw themselves naked from off the walls into the river, they should presently be admitted into heaven. Many were cast away by this mad enterprise. How much better (if without superstition and opinion of merit) Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, who being asked by certain ambassadors that came to his court what hounds he had, for they desired to see them, showed them next day a pack of poor people feeding at his table, and said, These are the hounds wherewith I hunt after heaven. (John Trapp.)
Deteriorating influence of riches
Many a Christian do you find among the rich and the titled, who, as a less encumbered man, might have been a resolute soldier of the cross; but he is now only a realization of the old Pagan fable-a spiritual giant buried under a mountain of gold. Oh! many, many such we meet in our higher classes, pining with a nameless want, pressed by a heavy sense of the weariness of existence, strengthless in the midst of affluence, and incapable even of tasting the profusion of comfort which is heaped around them. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The danger and misery of self-deception
I. The state and character of the person who here addresses the Lord.
1. We discover many circumstances which are calculated at first sight to impress us with very favourable sentiments of his state and character. He was young; engaging manners; amiable disposition. He exhibits a pleasing combination of many attractive qualities.
2. How inadequate his conception of the corruption of his own heart. What good thing can he do?
3. The defective views which he entertains of his own guilt.
4. He is not better acquainted with the secret bias of his affections than with his depravity and guilt.
II. The conduct of our Lord on this occasion.
1. He does not promote the self-deception and thus augment the danger. He does not compliment the young man on his moral attainments. He acts the part of a true Physician and Friend; palliatives will only increase the disorder.
2. Compassionate regard.
3. Admirably suited to the peculiar circumstances of his case. Christ mentions the law as a corrective to his pride and self-sufficiency.
4. Eminently calculated to prove in the highest degree beneficial to his most important interests.
(1) The misery of a state of self-deception.
(2) That in removing the specious covering which self-deceit imposes, and in disclosing the sinner to himself, consists one important part of the duty of a minister.
(3) Reflect on that disposition of heart which Christ requires of His people. Follow Me. (E. Cooper.)
The Christians life-long work after confirmation
What lack I yet?
1. A thorough devotion to Gods service.
2. A spirit of prayer.
3. A due appreciation of the work that God has appointed you to do.
4. You may lack patience.
5. You require to be incited to perseverance. (J. H. Norton, D. D.)
The great question answered
The path a soul treads when it comes to Christ is one of beauty. To come to Jesus is a noble and manly act. It is a soul drawn by the good; rising above sinful forces which have enslaved it; of special interest to see the young come to Christ. The conditions necessary to such an approach are illustrated in the young man-
1. He believed that the character of this life determines that to come.
2. He believed that obedience to God was the first principle of religion.
3. He desired to exhaust his powers in perfecting his character.
4. He had faith that Christ would show him the way of salvation. What lack I yet?
I. Self-renunciation. Sell that thou hast. This embraces a recognition of the supreme right of God over the soul. God gave all; this leads to an abandonment of selfish pursuits. Why religion makes this demand.
1. Selfishness is deceitful and delusive; it does not see mans real interests; it does not comprehend the Divine relations of man;it looks only at things seen.
2. Selfishness and self-love dwarf manhood; narrow the thought and corrupt the affections; they shut out noble sentiment which leads men to deeds of daring.
3. There must be this self-abandonment to allow a higher ideal of life to possess the soul. That man who is full of himself can contain nothing beside. He must forget himself who would live after the pattern shown him on the mount.
II. Religion demands Christ consecration.
1. Supreme affection for Christ. The heart must be first given to Him.
2. The purposes of the heart must be turned to Christs cause.
3. The influence must be for God.
4. Human passions must be at Gods disposal. Is the demand too rigorous, and does it embrace too much?
It may encourage us to yield full submission to call to mind a few precious facts.
1. It assimilates us to a likeness of Christ. His soul exceeded all bounds and barriers, and poured out its life an immortal benediction upon His enemies. The widowed mother, whose midnight toil earns bread and raiment for her darling ones, is embalmed in poetry and song; the artist weaves a crown of glory about her brow. But such labour and consecration is yet only that of a true heart and human impulses. But he who is consecrated to Christ is Godlike.
2. It brings peace to the heart. Men who are vacillating are unhappy. No soul rests so perfectly at ease as that one which has its home on Gods altar.
3. It centralizes and makes the man strong. Scattered men are weak. A consecrated man is a felt man.
4. It enlivens and sets the life on fire. Men go to sleep and are frozen, as the fairy city celebrated in story. God breathes on the powers of the man consecrated; he is set on fire by the breath of Jehovah. Such a life will have given back to it from God, in its new realm, a better being. The curtains are now withdrawing. See, yonder the field is fairer and the sward is all green! There that life runs on and on and on for ever! It gathers to itself all that was of possible value on earth in the years of its pilgrimage, and, having yielded obedience to the conditions of its noble being, enters upon that higher life of love and joy for which it has been fitted by a faithful stewardship. (J. W. Holt.)
Christ and good people
The gospel indicates three particulars in regard to their mutual relations.
I. There is a point which attracts them to each other. A noble young man; although surrounded by great wealth, he has not yielded himself to youthful frivolities, but has kept his spirit intent on higher aims than earthly qualifications. He is modest enough to be conscious of imperfection, and to make inquiry where there is an opportunity to learn. He retains enthusiasm, and the object of his enthusiasm is no inferior one. Such people must feel the attraction of the person of Jesus Christ. They love the good, and Christ is the good One. All their ideals are realized in Jesus. The rich young man felt this. But this attraction was mutual. Jesus came to seek the lost and to save the sinner; much more would the purity of this naturally noble heart receive His recognition. Neither is this mutual attraction for a moment merely; the attraction remains, though the discipline required is hard to understand; an inner impulse draws us to Him.
II. There is a point which separates them from each other. At the very point where the Lord exerts the strongest power of attraction upon the naturally noble, their separation begins. It is a necessity of the case. Our Lords word about the good, and the mention of the commandments, had been designed to awaken distrust of self. Then comes the unheard-of demand, Sell all, etc. He was touched in his hearts core. Christ exposes the point in which this good person was not good. Christ wants complete persons for His followers; it takes a complete person to win the prize of eternal life. If you want to be perfect you must renounce the secret reservations you oppose to the rigour of the Divine commands, put away the lusts which hamper the inner man. Renew your heart; put a new object in its centre. But for the sake of one thing you will turn away from your Saviour, in spite of all your noble efforts and ideal endowments.
III. This separation must be realized in order truly to find the Lord. When the physician performs an operation, it is because he wants to heal; and when our Lord seems to discourage nearer approach it is because He wants to deepen the reason for it, so that after they unite nothing shall be able to separate them. Hence we believe this young mans separation was not final. He will return, no longer fiery and with a surplus of power; for with God all things are possible. It was necessary that he should be impressed with the requirements of Christ, for as long as he can say, All these things have I kept, a Redeemer is superfluous-a Moses or a Socrates would suffice. But when he learns to despair of his own strength, then he arrives before the gate of salvation and stretches imploring hands for a Redeemer. Therefore Christ first destroys this young mans merit; and this is the more difficult from his high virtue. In the light of Jesus little sins becomes great. To sacrifice for Him for love is to lose nothing. His yoke is easy. (E. Dryander, D. D.)
What lack I yet?
This young man was hungry for improvement; that was all right. But there were other things for which he had a stronger hunger. Morality is the endeavour according to a mans power to obey laws, and I will divide moralities into five different kinds.
1. We call that physical morality which consists in the knowledge of men, and of those physical laws which surround them. Thus a man is immoral who violates law in eating and drinking and sleeping.
2. Next is social morality. Men are obliged to obey those laws which connect them with their fellow men; also as members of the household; as neighbours.
3. Next comes civil morality. Men are organized into states and nations.
4. Business morality.
What is the relation of obedience in these different spheres to the nature and character of men?
1. All these observances are external. They are not in their nature internal at all. They leave out entirely the vital question of character. A man may be obedient to physical law, and yet be proud. Man is a creature of two worlds; so that when he is called to the other sphere the physical elements which he has accumulated here drop off. The spiritual only he carries with him.
2. This lower morality leaves out of view the higher human relations to God. A man may be an atheist and yet good in lower respects; but it is not fair to measure his genial qualities by his atheism as he has been brought up amidst Christian influences. A man has an immortal self as distinguished from his physical, social, and civil self; what about that part of him which is to live for ever? Are there no laws higher than those which belong to secular affairs, which apply to the higher reason and the moral sense. Are there no laws for faith, imagination in its dealings with religion, which connect a man with the invisible, universal, and infinite? Is there no morality which reaches beyond the earthly sphere? Morality is not complete without religion. There are practical uses in the inferior forms of morality; from them we learn the typical forms of the higher religion. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar, etc. The lower moralities are schools, as it were; it is a great preparation for religion. Generally speaking the higher you go the more difficult is the achievement. Few men are competent to be eminent artists. In realizing the higher conceptions of religion there are inherent difficulties: but some make it harder than they need. The sun may shine on a slate roof for ever, and yet the garret beneath it may be dark; but make the roof of glass and the sun Will shine through. Let your higher life have the best care. (H. W. Beecher.)
The centred principle of character
There are multitudes of men who live moral lives, generous lives, lives that are good in a thousand respects; but it does not come to this, that their whole being is centred in God and spiritual things. It is centred, rather, in the possession of wealth. (H. W. Beecher.)
Selfishness may be associated with many virtues
I remember watching, last summer, spiders that burrowed in the crevicess of a trellis where the wind had borne much dust. I noticed that the hole where they lay lurking looked dark and ugly. I also noticed, as I sat one day watching, a vagrant spider taking a morning glory, in full blossom, and spin his web over the mouth of it. And there never was a prettier nest in this world-a nest more richly gemmed with beauty-than this was. But, after all, it was the same spider, whether he lay in the dark hole at the corner of the trellis, or in the blossom of that exquisite flower. Now, selfishness may weave its web in the dusky places, or in the hideous-looking recesses of a mans disposition, or about the mouths and graces of sweet affections; but it is the same selfishness after all. The place is changed, and the appearance of the surroundings is changed, but the spider is not changed. So, the point to be remembered is that in every man there is a centre around about which his life really swings. There is a balance-point, and it preponderates one way or the other. The great influences of life weigh down toward the flesh, or else they go toward the spiritual. You may change the circumstances of a mans life, and it may be modified one way or the other; but after all there is a predominant force in his character, and that controls all the minor forces. (H. W. Beecher.)
Morality not to be despised
Again, a selfish-centred man, clothing himself with all manner of Christian graces and aspirations, is not to be condemned as if these graces and aspirations were of no account. Here is a point where ministers have trouble in preaching to men. When we see men embowered under external moralities, and attempt to teach that morality is not enough, the impression arises that we undervalue morals. I do not undervalue morals any more than the taxcollector undervalues a hundred dollars, when I go to pay my taxes, and offer him that amount, when my bill is five hundred. He says: I will not take it. It is not enough. He does not despise the hundred dollars. He merely says: You must put more with it. And I do net despise morality because I say that it does not rise high enough. It is good as far up as it goes. So is a grape-vine good as far up as it goes, when it is two or three feet high: but it does not arrive at what it was planted for until it reaches that point where it has blossoms and clusters. It is the cluster that determines its value. (H. W. Beecher.)
Refined selfishness
A man may love poetry and music, and have generous impulses which draw him toward a higher range of life; but after all, it is only a polished form of selfishness, or selfness that is manifesting itself in him. It is self that is at the bottom. I do not say that it is not better that a man should be refinedly selfish than coarsely selfish. It is a great deal better. It is better that man should be intellectually selfish than coarsely selfish. It makes social intercourse easier. It makes it easier for men to get along with each other. And if the centre of a mans disposition is selfish, and at the same time he has aspirations and refinements, and generosities and kindnesses, I do not say that he is no better for having these things: I say that as a member of society he is a great deal better. He energizes society. He adds something to those elements which take away attrition and harshness and rudeness from society. But he is not inwardly better; for nothing makes a man better within until the centre of his life and character are changed. Every blossom that you put upon a man who is radically selfish, and is going to be selfish, the worse you make it for him. The prettier you make a mans selfishness, the more music there is that accompanies it, the more flowers there are that decorate it, the more balm there is along with it, the more sunlight there is shed upon it, the more it is painted with glowing colours, the better is it for society; but the worse it is for him, because these things delude; because they are satisfying; because they bide the mischief; because they do not let him see what an unforgiveable and what a demoralizing quality selfishness is. (H. W. Beecher.)
The need of an inner spiritual change
What is that change? It does not consist in doing a few more things, or in adding a few more excellences, as the young man thought it did. Good Master, what new thing shall I do? What new prayer shall I say? What extra morality shall I take on? What other charities and bounties shall I bestow for mans relief? I should be glad to add to my stock of excellences. That was the purport of the young mans inquiry. The Master said to him, in substance: Your whole character is wrapped up in your position. You are rich, you have large estates, and you know it and you stand centred in them. And now, with this centre, you want to add various excellences. Go sell all these, give them away, and take up)our cross and follow Me. That brought him to a decision instantly. Choosing between the higher and the lower, he took the lower, and went away sad and grieved. And Christ everywhere brought men to this choice. If you are to be Christians, Christianity does not mean having some few things on a selfish basis. You must change the foundation of your life. You must pass over from the animal, up from the lower, away from the predominantly self-seeking life that is in all of us by nature. You must come into the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of love. Beneficent love, love for others, and not for yourself, must be the predominant, the governing tendency. (H. W. Beecher.)
Religion more than an outward addition
Being possessed of all that could gratify his senses, he did not mean to be over-indulgent in it, but he did not want to give it up. Being in this position, he wanted, not to exchange it for anything else, but simply to have sprouting up around about him, over-arching him, and embowering him, flowers of spiritual and poetical aspirations, and all manner of Divine feelings, so that he should have both things-his feet rooted in this earth, and his head placed in the other life. He wanted to take this world first, and then superadd the kingdom of God as a polish to it. He wanted all spiritual excellence to sit, as it were, in the clouds above him, like an orchestra, and play sweet music to him, while he sat below, on a level with the earth, sensuous, and indulging himself selfishly. (H. W. Beecher.)
The spiritual must supplant the physical life
Men have wanted, in every age, to have both worlds-a thing which Christ said was impossible. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Our Saviour taught this young man that the spiritual life must supplant the physical life. The two can co-exist; but the spiritual life must be in the ascendency, and must control the lower physical life. Our Saviour taught all the way through His life that spirituality cannot be simply the complement of secularity. It cannot be a parasite growing on the boughs of worldly prosperity. If a man is to have the kingdom of God, he must make that first, and that must be supreme. Or, to change it to a more psychological statement, if a man is to be truly a Christian, his spiritual nature must predominate and bear rule over everything else that is in him. You cannot have the temporal, lower nature strongest, and then expect the spiritual nature to please it and play down to it. And yet, that is what men are attempting to bring about everywhere. Every person has some dominant point. There is no uncentred character anywhere. There is a point in every mans character which rules, and to which everything is brought for comparison and settlement. This point often seems to shift and change; but, after all, there is some point in a mans character which you may say is the dominant point, and before which all things above it and below it have to come into judgment. It is this that gives character to a man, and determines whether he is high or low, good or bad.
Religious impressions soon shaken off
After a shower in the night, if you go out in the morning, it is scarcely safe for you to go near a bush or a tree, because if you touch it, there will rain down such multitudes of drops on you. I sometimes think this church is like a tree that has stood out in the open air, and collected the dew. Every leaf is covered with it. If you shake the tree, down comes a shower of drops. I see you moved to tears every Sunday. I know that you follow and enjoy the service of prayer and of song and of preaching. You have much deep religious feeling, and a great deal of thought. The pews are full of young men and young women who are going to Christ and saying: Master, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Christ says, by me, to-day, to every one of you, It is not adding one good thing to another that you need but that you should rise from the centre of selfishness, and go over to the centre of true Divine benevolence, by the power of the Holy Ghost, without which power no man can rise to the higher level. (H. W. Beecher.)
The price of a great ambition
Yours is a great ambition, and, withal, a very noble ambition: are you prepared to pay the price for your great ambition? You are a man of the very finest impulses, but you live in a fine house and know nothing of hardship, and while these things may do for your old life, the new to which you aspire demands sacrifice and surrender. Sell up all, and let us know how much is due to an impulsive temperament and how much to inherent nobility. If it be due to that no change of circumstances will matter. It was a Spartan-like call to duty, but did he not look, like a Spartan youth, equal to it? (J. W. Thew.)
Nobility worthy of the highest culture
I apprehend that here lay the chief reason of our Saviours great demand upon him. Is it not precisely because he is so good that that demand is so great? Is it venturesome to say the Master would not have made such a demand upon an inferior mind to his? That was not simply because, being a young man, he was better able to bear it: it was because, standing already, as he does, so high, occupying such a vantage ground-shall I put it this way-the Masters ambitions are fired, He sees him on such a level, and He would have him, at one grand stride, take the highest level of all. As when you have a lad at school of more than ordinary promise, you keep him longer there, you say the lad shows signs of genius, and the opportunity of becoming a genius shall not be wanting. Here are signs of uncommon goodness and greatness, and the opportunity should be afforded for accomplishing good. This view is borne out by the story. Sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, is not given in answer to the question, What good thing shall I do? but in answer to the question, What lack I yet? It is not, If thou wouldst be saved, sell all that thou hast; it is, If thou wouldst be perfect. It is not merely a question of eternal life, but of eternal distinction. It is not a mere matter of getting through the curriculum, but of getting through it with honours. (J. W. Thew.)
The whole surrender
I. There is a certain spurious sort of religion which because it is not complete (or perfect) is useless. A vessel may look very well, but if it have a hole in the bottom, it will hold nothing-useless for want of being perfect.
II. The whole surrender. The decisive act which consecrates all to the kingdom:-must be done by the man himself. Not even God can do it for you. It was useless for Christ to say Follow Me as He was, for his body only could have followed, his anxieties would still have been with his possessions. It was also a prudent provision against approaching persecution.
III. How can I go and sell? By a full consecration to God. Like the whole burnt-offering, every portion must be consumed on the altar.
IV. It is an awful consideration that the word of life itself is powerless to persuade a covetous will, (W. I. Keay.)
On being right in the main.
1. He displayed a degree of moral earnestness.
2. He employed the language of veneration.
3. He was well instructed in Biblical ethics.
4. He was inordinately attached to worldly possessions.
Christs conduct showed:
1. That He compels men to look at the logical consequences of their own admissions.
2. That personal regard may be entertained where full moral approbation cannot be expressed.
I. The necessary limitations of the most careful religious training.
II. That the final attainment of education is the conquest of the heart.
1. That Christ-following involves self-abnegation.
2. That Christ-following must be the expression of the souls supreme love.
3. That Christ-following means self-giving.
III. That lack of one thing may be lack of everything.
IV. That the sincerity of men must be tested according to their peculiar circumstances. What is a test to one man may be no test to another. A man must be prepared to surrender what he values most. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The lack of one thing the lack of all
The garden is beautifully laid out: the straight lines and the curves are exact; the terraces are arranged with artistic taste; but no seed is sown,-and the summer says, One thing thou lackest. The machinery is perfect: cylinder, piston, valve, are in excellent order; no flaw is in the wheel, no obstruction in the flue; finer engine never stood on the iron way; everything is there but steam,-and the intending traveller says, One thing thou lackest. The watch has a golden case, the dial is exquisitely traced and figured, the hands are delicate and well-fixed; everything is there but the mainspring-and he who inquires the time says, One thing thou lackest. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Sins as great possessions
There are sins so rooted, so riveted in men, so incorporated, so consubstantiated in the soul, by habitual custom, as that those sins have contracted the nature of ancient possessions. As men call manners by their names, so sins have taken names from men, and from places; Simon Magus gave the name to a sin, so did Gehazi, and Sodom did so. There are sins that run in names, in families, in blood; hereditary sins, entailed sins; and men do almost prove their gentry by those sins, and are scarcely believed to be rightly borne, if they have not those sins. These are great possessions, and men do much more easily part with Christ than with these sins. But then there are less sins, light sins, vanities; and yet even these come to possess us, and separate us from Christ. How many men neglect this ordinary means of their salvation, the coming to these exercises, not because their undoing lies on it, or their discountenancing, but merely out of levity, of vanity, of nothing, they know not what to do else, and yet do not this. You hear of one man that was drowned in a vessel of wine, but how many thousands ill ordinary water! And he was no more drowned in that precious liquor than the)-in that common water. A gad of steel does no more choke a man than a feather or a hair. Men perish with whispering sins, nay with silent sins, sins that never tell the conscience they are sins, as often as with crying sins. And in hell there shall meet as many men that never thought what was sin, as that spent all their thoughts in compassing sin; as many who, in a slack inconsideration, never cast a thought upon that place, as that by searing their conscience, overcame the sense and fear of that place. Great sins are great possessions, but levities and vanities possess us too; and men had rather part with Christ than with any possessions. (J. Donate.)
Estimate of the ruler
He was not a spiritual man; there was really nothing spiritually good and loveable in him: nothing truly gracious, as a Puritan divine would call it. He was but a natural man after all-a beautiful specimen of the natural man, as Dr. Chalmers said of some one, but still only a natural man. Nature had indeed done much for him, all it could for him; it had endowed him with riches, power, a high moral nature, an amiable, warm, frank, loving, loveable disposition. See here what nature can do; she can raise her favourites very high in the scale of humanity, so as to compel the homage even of the Saviours love and admiration. See here what nature cannot do; she cannot carry any one across the boundary that separates the kingdom of God from the world; she can bring him to the very threshold, but there she leaves him; there she is powerless; there her weakness is made known. (A. L. R. Foote.)
Giving up all for Christ
The words are terribly clear, sharp, and stern. Francis of Assisi heard them once. Straying into a church, they were in the lesson for the day which was read. The words seized on his conscience; they haunted him, they tormented him. He sold everything but the bare garment which clothed him. Still the obedience seemed to fall short of the Saviours command. So he stripped himself even of his poor raiment; and they clothed him there in the church, for very shame, in a peasants tunic, which he wore on till death. (J. B. Brown.)
Human perfectibility
It is as if our Lord had said, Thou aimest at perfection and on the footing of this thou art looking for eternal life; thou indulgest the dream of human perfectibility. Well, I will put thee here to the test: sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor. What! dost thou hesitate? What, then, becomes of thy favourite doctrine of perfectionism? Ah! thy fond idol is dashed to pieces, and by thine own hand, too; and wilt thou still indulge in such a golden dream? Is this all the length thy doctrine of human perfectibility can carry thee? If-an important qualification this-if thou wouldst be perfect! Who can fail to see a delicate yet severe irony here? The Saviour is not teaching the doctrine of perfection in any sense, but is trying to wean him from a theory which was deeply rooted in his mind, and which was exercising so prejudicial an influence over him. (A. L. R. Foote.)
Possessions that possess
Every man hath some such possessions as possess him, some such affections as weigh down Christ Jesus, and separate him from Him, rather than from those affections, those possessions. (Dr. Dotage.)
Not wise to go from God
That no man that ever went from Him went by good way or came to good end. There is none good but God; there is centrical, visceral, gremial gold, goodness in the root, in the tree of goodness, God. (Dr. Dotage.)
The regulation of conduct
Conduct may be regulated in two ways:-
1. By the hand.
2. By the heart: as with a watch so with the life. The face of the watch may be made to represent the truth by simply altering the hands, or it may be corrected by touching the interior works. Here is a young man who says, What shall I do to make my watch tell the hour accurately? He is answered, Thou knowest the great clocks by which time is kept in the city. He replies, All these have I observed. He is then told to open his watch and correct the regulator. So is it with human life: many seek to correct it by the outside; they search for models, they inquire for foot-prints; but they neglect the life-spring within, and consequently never get beyond the affectation of artificialism, or the stiffness of Pharisaic conceit. (Dr. Parker.)
But how is this spiritual lack to be supplied?
How is this hiatus in human character to be filled up? How shall the fountain of holy and filial affection towards God be made to gush up into everlasting life, within your now unloving and hostile heart? There is no answer to this question of questions, but in the person and work of the Holy Ghost. If God shall shed abroad His love in your heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto you, you will know the blessedness of a new affection, and will be able to say with Peter, Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. You are shut up to this method and this influence. To generate within yourself this new spiritual emotion which you have never yet felt is utterly impossible. Yet you must get it, or religion is impossible, and immortal life is impossible. (W. G. T. Shedd, D. D.)
The remorse occasioned by enlightened reason on the rejection of Christ
There is no misery comparable to that which follows after a near access to happiness; nor any sorrow so quick and pungent as that which succeeds a preconceived, but disappointed joy. Neither was the proposal unreasonable, because usually practised, even by the most worldly, it being frequent with men to sell an estate in one place to buy another in a more convenient. We may observe in this passage these four things considerable-
1. The person making the address to Christ, who was one whose reason was enlightened to a solicitous consideration of his estate in another world.
2. The thing sought for in this address, viz., eternal life.
3. The condition upon which it was proposed, and upon which refused; viz., the sale and relinquishment of his temporal estate.
4. His behaviour upon this refusal. He that deliberately parts with Christ, though for the greatest and most suitable worldly enjoyment, if but his natural reason is awakened, does it with much secret sting and remorse.
I. I shall show whence it is that a man actuated by an enlightened reason finds such reluctancy and regret upon his rejection of Christ. It may proceed from these causes-
1. The first may be taken from the nature of conscience, that is apt to recoil upon any error, either in our actions or our choice. After a good action, though never so difficult, so grim, and unpleasant in the onset, yet what a lightsome, refreshing complacency does it leave upon the mind! What a fragrancy, what a cheerfulness, upon the spirits! So, on the contrary, an action morally evil and irregular. A man no sooner displeases God but he presently displeases himself. No sooner is the action past but conscience makes the report. As soon as David cut off a piece of Sauls robe how quickly did his heart smite him! An impure heart, like a foul gun, never vents itself in any sinful commissions but it recoils. It is impossible to sequester and divide sin from sorrow. That which defiles will as certainly disturb the soul. As when mud and filth is cast into a pure fountain, it is not so much said to pollute, as to trouble the waters. And do you think that this young man had not the experience of this? He departed indeed, but it was sorrowful, his conscience ringing him many sad peals within, hitting him in the teeth with the murder of his soul; that he had foolishly and irrationally bartered away eternity for a trifle, and lost a never-returning opportunity, in its improvement invaluable, and in its refusal irrecoverable.
2. The second cause of this trouble and reluctancy that men find in the very instant of their rejecting Christ is taken from the usual course of Gods judicial proceeding in this matter, which is to clarify the eye of reason to a clearer sight of the beauties and excellences of Christ in the very moment and critical instant of his departure. God can affect it with a sudden, instantaneous view of a good. It is like a sudden lightning that flashes in the face, but alters not the complexion; it is rather vision than persuasion; it struck his apprehension, but never changed his resolution. This is another cause that whets the sting, that enhances the vexation, and sends him away sorrowful.
3. The third and last cause of the anxiety that a sinner feels upon his relinquishment of Christ, if his reason be enlightened, is because there is that in Christ and in the gospel, even as they stand in opposition to the best of such enjoyments, that answers the most natural and generous discourses of reason. For the proof of which I shall produce two known principles of reason into which the most severe, harsh, and mortifying commands of the gospel are by clear and genuine consequence resolved.
(1) The first is that the greatest calamity is to be endured rather than the least sin to be committed.
(2) A second principle is this, that a less good is to be forsaken for a greater-an aphorism attested to by the natural, untaught, universal judgment of reason. Now to reduce this principle to the case in hand we are to demonstrate two things. 1st. That the good promised by our Saviour to the young man was really greater than that which was to be forsaken for it. Christ opposed eternal life to the young mans possessions, and what comparison is there between these upon terms of bare reason? 2nd. The second thing to be demonstrated is that the good promised by our Saviour was not only greater in itself, but also proposed as such with sufficient clearness of evidence, and upon sure, undeniable grounds.
II. To show the causes that, notwithstanding all this remorse of conscience, the soul is not brought in the issue to reject and shake hands with Christ.
1. The first cause is from this, that the perceptions of sense overbear the discourses of reason. The young man desired eternal life; but he had no notion of the pleasure of it, what kind of thing it was; but he knew and found the sweetness of an estate, so that the sensible impressions of this quickly overcame and swallowed up the weak and languid conceptions that he had of the other.
2. The second cause or reason of this final rejection of Christ is from the prevailing opposition of some corrupt affection, which being predominant in the soul, commands the will and blears the eye of the judgment, showing it all things in its own colour by a false and partial representation. Come to the sensual and voluptuous person and convince him that there is a necessity of his bidding farewell to all inordinate pleasure in order to his future happiness; perhaps you gain his reason, and in some measure insinuate into his will; but then his sensual desire interposes and outvotes and unravels all his convictions. As when by much ado a vessel is forced and rowed some pretty way contrary to the tide, presently a gust of wind comes and beats it further back than it was before.
3. The third cause, inducing men to relinquish Christ contrary to the judgment of their conscience, is the force and tyranny of the custom of the world. And amongst other dissuasives from following Christ the young man could not but be assaulted with such as these: What! part with all for a new notion of another world? Sell land to buy hope, be preached out of my estate, and worded out of such fair farms and rich possessions? He would do like the world though he perished with it; swim with the stream, though he was drowned in it; rather go sociably to hell than in the uncomfortable solitude of precise singularity to heaven-the jollity of the company made him overlook the broadness and danger of the way. Now the inferences and deductions from the words thus discussed are these:
(1) We gather hence the great criterion and art of trying our sincerity, which is by the test of such precepts as directly reach our peculiar corruptions.
(2) The issue of the whole action in the young mans not closing with Christs proposals about eternal life, and his sorrowful departure thereupon, lays before us a full account of that misery which attends a final dereliction of Christ.
(a) Of that which is eternal.
(b) But it bereaves even of temporal happiness also, even that which it promises, and which only it designs, and for the retaining of which it brings a man to part with his hopes of that which is future and eternal. (R. South, D. D.)
Man ruled by his affections
In sum, the economy of the soul in this case is like a public council sitting under an armed force; let them consult and vote what they will, yet they must act as the army and the tumult will have them. In this sense every soldier is a commander. In like manner, let both the judgment and the will be for Christ, yet the tumult of the affections will carry it; and when they cannot out-reason the conscience, they will out-cry it. (R. South, D. D.)
If Christ ever wins the fort of the soul, the conquest must begin here: for the understanding and will seem to be like a castle or fortified place; there is strength indeed in them, but the affections are the soldiers who manage those holds, the opposition is from these: and if the soldiers surrender, the place itself, though never so strong, cannot resist. (R. South, D. D.)
The evil temper varied
Now, as in a tree, it is the same sap and juice that spreads itself into all that variety of branches: some straight, some crooked, some of this figure, some of that: so it is the same stock and furniture of natural corruption that shoot forth into that great diversity of vices, that exert such different operations in different tempers. And as it is the grand office of judgment to separate and distinguish, and so to proportion its applications; so herein is the great spiritual art of a prudent ministry, first to learn a mans proper distemper, and then to encounter it by a peculiar and suitable address. Reprehensions that are promiscuous are always ineffectual. (R. South, D. D.)
Sincerity tested
Observe the excellent method that Christ took to convince this person. Had he tried him by a precept of temperance, chastity, or just dealing, He had never sounded the bottom of his heart: for the civility of his life would have afforded a fair and satisfactory reply to all these: but when He came close to him, and touched upon his heartstring, his beloved possessions, the man quickly shows himself, and discovers the temper of his spirit more by the love of one particular endeared sin, than by his forbearance of twenty, to which he stood indifferent. (R. South, D. D.)
Every mans sincerity is not to be tried in the same way. He that should conclude a man pious, because not covetous, would bring but a short argument; for perhaps he may be lustful or ambitious, and the stream be altogether as strong and violent, though it runs in a different channel. (R. South, D. D.)
Sins of omission
When the archer shoots at the target, he as really fails to strike it if his arrow falls short of it, as when he shoots over and beyond it. (Dr. Shedd.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson1891 · Public DomainOn vv16–1816. Behold, one came and said. Compare Mark 10:17–27,…
16. Behold, one came and said. Compare Mark 10:17–27, and Luke 18:18–30. We learn from verse 20 that he was a young man; from Luke 18:18, that he was a ruler, probably of a synagogue, although these were usually elderly; from verse 22 (Matthew) that he was rich, which probably accounts for his holding office, at an unusual age; and from Mark 10:17, that he came running to Jesus and kneeled to him. Good Master, what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life? Whether he had before heard Christ or not, he had learned that eternal life belonged to heirs, the heirs of God, his children, and had to be inherited.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v16Mat_19:16. Good Master.—The better MSS. omit the adjective, and…
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat_19:16. Good Master.—The better MSS. omit the adjective, and it has probably been added here by later copyists to bring the passage into a verbal agreement with the narrative of St. Mark and St. Luke. From the prominence given to it in the form of our Lord’s answer, as reported by them, we may reasonably believe that it was actually uttered by the questioner (Plumptre).
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Mat_19:17. Why callest thou me good?—Here again the older MSS. give a different form to our Lord’s answer (See R.V.). Keep the commandments.—The questioner is answered as from his own point of view. If eternal life was to be won by doing, there was no need to come to a new Teacher for a new precept (Plumptre).
Mat_19:20. From my youth up.—Omitted in R.V., as in oldest MSS., but not in the parallel passages.
Mat_19:21. If thou wilt be perfect.—If thou wishest to be characterised by full-orbed “goodness” (Morison).
Mat_19:23. Hardly.—I.e., with difficulty (see R.V.).
Mat_19:24. It is easier for a camel, etc.—It has been suggested that the needle’s eye was an expression in common use for a narrow gate into a city intended for foot-passengers only, and through which, if a camel could squeeze at all, it would first need to be unladen and entirely stripped of trappings and encumbrances. Very possibly this explanation may be right, but it is not necessary to scrutinise closely what is so obviously the language of hyperbole. The object is to stamp on the mind and memory the idea of extreme difficulty, and it has been shown by Dr. John Lightfoot that a Talmudist used for the same purpose a phrase still more hyperbolical: “an elephant going through the eye of a needle” (Fraser).
Mat_19:25. Who then can be saved?—Since everyone has more or less of the same love of the world (De Wette). The question shows that the disciples took their Master to be referring not to men of great wealth alone, but to a much larger class (Canon Duckworth).
Mat_19:27. What shall we have therefore?—There is something in Peter’s question that abundantly betrays his spiritual imperfection. There was too great eagerness for reward. Arnot somewhat plainly says, “His eye was on the main chance.” But still there was transparency of character and ingenuousness manifested by the question which he put. And then, too, it must be borne in mind that regard to reward is right in its own place; although, assuredly, its place ever has been, and must for ever be, as it deserves to be, in a very subordinate sphere of moral motives (Morison). The answer of Christ shows that all true sacrifice shall have its reward, but all that looks like sacrifice is not really such; therefore “many that are first shall be last.” Among the Twelve there was a Judas (Carr).
Mat_19:28. The regeneration.—“The renewal of things,” “the return to a perfect state,” otherwise called “the restitution of all things,” nearly = the kingdom of God (cf. Mat_17:11) (Carr). There is to be a “new birth” for mankind as well as for the individual (Plumptre). Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones.—What approximations to a literal fulfilment there may be in the far-off future lies behind the veil (ibid.). In at least one instance the words, absolute as they were in their form, failed of their fulfilment. The guilt of Judas left one of the thrones vacant. The promise was given subject to the implied conditions of faithfulness and endurance lasting even to the end (ibid.).
Mat_19:30. Many that are first, etc.—See on Mat_19:27.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_19:16-30
The perils of wealth.—Long as this passage is, it will be found to turn on one topic throughout, viz., on that “love of money” of which the Apostle tells us that it is the possible “root” of all ill. It will be found also to tell us, in regard to this evil, almost all we require—its special malignity, e.g. on the one hand, and its only cure, on the other.
I. Its special malignity.—We may see this, first, in the kind of cases attacked by this evil. They are often such as appear to be proof against everything else. See this exemplified in the “young man” who here comes to the Saviour (Mat_19:16). How earnest and right his desires! How perfect his aim! “That which was good” (Mat_19:16). How well ordered his life! Even if we suppose his testimony about himself (Mat_19:20) to refer only to externals, what a record it was! No impurity, no falsehood, no dishonesty, no failure in duty towards his parents; nothing, in short, for which even the Saviour could, so far, reprove him! How simply lovely, in short, such a life! We can hardly wonder at what we are told about it in Mar_10:21. What we do wonder at is that there was yet “one” form of excellence in which this young man was “lacking” (Mat_19:21)—one form of evil before which he was found to succumb. How deadly an evil, therefore, this form of evil must be in itself! We may see this, also, in the next place, in the kind of results it produced. Consider what was actually done by this subtle evil in this, so far, eminent case. This is very soon told. When things were put here to the test—when this most exemplary youth (in so many respects) was invited to be “perfect” indeed, and to show that he was ready to do anything rather than fail in his aim in any direction—then he fell at a stroke. Then his inward faith in the all-surpassing importance of worldly gain came out of its secret hiding place, and stood, as it were, in his way (Mat_19:22). From one point of view, he was asked, no doubt, to do much. But he was promised still more. He was to part with treasure on earth. But he was to gain treasure in heaven. He was asked to do, therefore, what he knew in his heart to be both the “good” and the “wise.” But he was unable to do it. The “deceitfulness of riches” bewildered his judgment and benumbed his desires, so that he could not do, therefore, what it yet made him bitterly “sorrowful” to be unable to do. See the effect, therefore, in this most pitiable sorrow, of this wide fountain of evil. Never, surely, were fairer hopes more disastrously shattered. Never, surely, goodlier vessel wrecked so near to its port! What evil, therefore, can be greater than that which brought about such an end?
II. The only cure of this evil.—Where alone, for example, on the one hand, an available remedy can be found, viz., in something, of course, which should be of greater strength than the greatest strength of mankind. The Saviour will be found to bring His disciples to this conclusion by degrees. How hard it is, He says first, for those who have riches at all to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mat_19:23). How hard it is because of the fact that, where this is the case, the man who has once, in consequence, tasted their sweetness and seen their effect is always tempted to “trust” in them too (Mar_10:24); and to think of them, therefore, as this “young man” did, as though nothing could stand in their place. In which case, of course, it becomes “impossible” for him to suppress the love of them in his heart (Mat_19:24). How should a man be able to give up that which he believes to be all? Only God Himself can bring his bewitched steps into the pathway of life (Mat_19:26). How alone, next, the benefits of the remedy in question can be secured by ourselves. We see this by the way in which, in this passage, in the case of some who had overcome the evil in question (Mat_19:27), the Saviour strengthens them in their decision. He does so, on the one hand, by solemnly assuring them that all shall be well with such in the end; that a time is coming in which there shall be a wholly altered condition of things on the earth, in which He Himself shall be seated on the throne of His glory, and all those who have truly followed Him shall have their share in the same (Mat_19:28). He does so, on the other hand, by assuring them that, even meanwhile, things shall be for their real good in a most pre-eminent way, all that they may so have to lose in this life for His sake being made up to them a “hundredfold” more (Mat_19:29). This is, therefore, how He would have us resist this temptation, viz., by working at these counterbalancing gains. To avoid thinking too much of the present and transitory, think more of the future and permanent. To avoid being deceived by earthly riches, fix your eyes on the true. “Set your affections,” in a word, “on things above,” where they “ought to be fixed.” Nothing else is so sure! Nothing else so safe! Nothing else so transcendently gainful in the very best sense! And nothing else, therefore, so able to deliver us from this most insidious and most fatal of snares!
One other thought, to conclude. These solemn cautions are not addressed to rich men, but to poor. The love of money is not a danger to those only who possess it. To no men, probably, does affluence sometimes seem more alluring than to those who see it afar off. Does not the last commandment also teach us the same? It is not to those who have, but to those who desire to have, that its language is addressed. Let all men, therefore, beware of covetousness, whoever they are!
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat_19:16-22. A sad story.—We have here one of the saddest stories in the Gospels. It is a true soul’s tragedy. The young man is in earnest, but his earnestness has not volume and force enough to float him over the bar. He wishes to have some great thing bidden him to do, but he recoils from the sharp test which Christ imposes. He truly wants the prize, but the cost is too great; and yet he wishes it so much that he goes away without it in deep sorrow, which perhaps, at another day, ripened into the resolve which was too high for him then. There is a certain severity in our Lord’s tone, an absence of recognition of the much good in the young man, and a naked stringency in His demand from him, which sound almost harsh, but which are set in their true light by Mark’s note, that Jesus “loved him,” and therefore treated him thus. The truest way to draw ingenuous souls is not to flatter nor to make entrance easy by dropping the standard or hiding the requirements, but to call out all their energy by setting before them the lofty ideal. Easy-going disciples are easily made—and lost. Thorough-going ones are most surely won by calling for entire surrender.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mat_19:16-26. The requirements of the King.—I. We have the picture of a real though imperfect moral earnestness, and the way Christ dealt with it.—Matthew tells us that the questioner was young and rich. Luke adds that he was a ruler,—a synagogue official, that is—which was unusual for a young man, and indicates that his legal blamelessness was recognised. Mark adds one of his touches, which are not only picturesque, but character-revealing, by the information that he came “running” to Jesus in the way, so eager was he, and fell at His feet, so reverential was Hebrews 1. His first question is singularly compacted of good and error. The fact that he came to Christ for a purely religious purpose, not seeking personal advantage for himself or for others, like the crowds who followed for loaves and cures, nor laying traps for Him with puzzles which might entangle Him with the authorities, nor asking theological questions for curiosity, but honestly and earnestly wanting to be helped to lay hold of eternal life, is to be put down to his credit. He is right in counting it the highest blessing. Where had he got hold of the thought of “eternal life”? It was miles above the dusty speculations and casuistries of the Rabbis. Probably from Christ Himself. He was right in recognising that the conditions of possessing it were moral, but his conception of “good” was surface, and he thought more of doing than of being good, and of the desired life as payment for meritorious actions. In a word, he stood at the point of view of the old dispensation. “This do, and thou shalt live,” was his belief; and what he wished was further instruction as to what “this” was. He was to be praised in that he docilely brought his question to Jesus, even though, as Christ’s answer shows, there was error mingling in his docility. Such is the character—a young man, rich, influential, touched with real longings for the highest life, ready, so far as he knows himself, to do whatever he is bidden, in order to secure it. We might have expected Christ, who opened His arms wide for publicans and harlots, to have welcomed this fair, ingenuous seeker with some kindly word. But He has none for him. We adopt the reading of the Authorised Version, in which our Lord’s first word is repellent. It is in effect, “There is no need for your question, which answers itself. There is one good Being, the Source and Type of every good thing, and therefore the good, which you ask about, can only be conformity to His will. You need not come to Me to know what you are to do.” He relegates the questioner, not to his own conscience, but to the authoritative revealed will of God in the law. On another occasion He answered a similar question in a different manner (see Joh_6:28-29). Why did He not answer the young ruler thus? Only because He knew that he needed to be led to that thought by having his own self-complacency shattered, and the clinging of his soul to earth laid bare. The whole treatment of him here is meant to bring him to the apprehension of faith as preceding all truly good work.
2. The young man’s second question says a great deal in its one word. It indicates astonishment at being remanded to these old, well-worn precepts, and might be rendered, “What sort of commandments?” as if taking it for granted that they must be new and peculiar. The craving for more than ordinary “good works” shows a profound mistake in the estimate of the ordinary, and a fatal blunder as to the relation between “goodness” and “eternal life.” So Christ answers the question by quoting the second half of the Decalogue, which deals with the homeliest duties, and appending to it the summary of the law, which requires love to our neighbour as to ourselves. Why does He omit the earlier half? Probably because He would meet the error of the question by presenting only the plainest, most familiar commandments, and because He desired to excite the consciousness of deficiency, which could be most easily done in connection with these.
3. There is a touch of impatience in the rejoinder, “All these I have kept,” with more than a touch of self-satisfaction. The law has failed to accomplish one of its chief purposes in the young man, in that it has not taught him his sinfulness. Still he was not at rest.
4. His last question is a plaintive, honest acknowledgment of the hungry void within, which no round of outward obedience can ever fill.
II. Now comes the sharp-pointed test, which pricks the brilliant bubble. Mark tells us that Jesus accompanied His words with one of those looks which searched the soul, and bore His love into it. “If thou wouldst be perfect” takes up the confession of something “lacking” and shows what that is. The principles involved in the precept is medicine for all, and the only way of healing for any.
III. Then comes the collapse of all the enthusiasm.—His earnestness chills at the touch of the test. One sign of grace he does give, in that he went away “sorrowful.” He is not angry nor careless. He cannot see the fair prospect of the eternal life, which he had in some real fashion desired, fade away, without a pang. If he goes back to the world, he goes back feeling more acutely than ever that it cannot satisfy him. He loves it too well to give it up, but not enough to feel that it is enough. Surely, in coming days, that godly sorrow would work a change of the foolish choice, and we may hope that he found no rest till he cast away all else to make Christ his own. A soul which has travelled so far on the road to life eternal as this man had done, can scarcely thereafter walk the broad read of selfishness and death with entire satisfaction.
IV. Christ’s comment on the sad incident.—He has no word of condemnation, but passes at once from the individual to the general lesson, of the difficulty which rich men (or, as He explains it in Mark, men who “trust in riches”) have in entering the king dom. The reflection breathes a tone of pity, and is not so much blame as a merciful recognition of special temptations which affect His judgment, and should modify ours.—Ibid.
Mat_19:17. The goodness of God.—The notion of goodness is inseparable from the notion of a God. We cannot own the existence of God, but we must confess also His goodness.
I. What this goodness is.—
1. The bounty of God.
2. The goodness of God comprehends all His attributes. All the acts of God are nothing else but the effluxes of His goodness, distinguished by several names, according to the objects it is exercised about; as the sea, though it be one mass of water, yet we distinguish it by several names, according to the shores it washes and beats upon. When He confers happiness without merit, it is grace; when He bestows happiness against merit, it is mercy; when He bears with provoking rebels, it is long-suffering; when He performs His promise, it is truth; when He commiserates a distressed person, it is pity; when He supplies an indigent person, it is bounty; when He succours an innocent person, it is righteousness; and when He pardons a penitent person, it is mercy; all summed up in this one name of goodness.
II. The nature of this goodness.
1. He is good by His own essence.
2. He is the prime and chief goodness.
3. This goodness is communicative.—Without goodness He would cease to be a Deity, and without diffusiveness He would cease to be good (Psa_119:68).
4. God is necessarily good.
5. He is also freely good.—It would not be a supreme goodness, if it were not a voluntary goodness. It is agreeable to the nature of the highest good to be absolutely free, to dispense His goodness in what methods and measures He pleaseth.
6. This goodness is communicated with the greatest pleasure (Psa_21:3).—It is the nature of His goodness to be glad of men’s solicitations for it.
III. The manifestations of this goodness.
Conclusion:
1. If God be so good, how unworthy is the contempt or a buse of His goodness (Jer_2:5).
2. It is matter of comfort in afflictions.
3. Imitate this goodness of God (Mat_5:44-45).—Anon.
Mat_19:21. Christ’s demand of the young ruler.—Commentators stumble over the difficulty of this command. But it came to others, and they stood the test. It came to Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, when Christ bade them leave all to follow Him, to become fishers of men. It came to Paul, when Christ bade him crucify his pride, and go into Damascus, and take his instructions from one of the despised and persecuted Christians, who would tell him what he should do. It came to Luther, when Christ bade him forsake the church of his fathers and of his childhood; to Coligny, when Christ bade him abandon wife and home and peace; to William of Orange; to the Puritans; to John Howard; to David Livingstone. In one form or another it comes to every Christian; for to every would-be Christian the Master says: “Give up your property, your home, your life itself, and take them back as Mine, and use them for Me in using them for your fellow-men. He who cannot, does not, do this, is no Christian. He can do naught but go away sorrowful: in this life, if he is keen of conscience; in the life to come, if a false education has lulled his conscience into uneasy slumber, but slumber so deep that only the judgment day can awaken it.—L. Abbott, D.D.
Christ’s demand.—There seems to be a twofold danger.
1. On the one hand, lest while trying to explain the words of Christ, we should find ourselves to be only explaining them away.
2. On the other hand, lest by insisting on their literal and universal application, we should destroy Christian liberty, should put the letter for the spirit, rules for principles, and so degrade the gospel into a system of purchase in which a certain outlay secures unfailing return.—Canon Duckworth.
A surgical case.—Clearly it is a surgical case; the medicine of the commandments will not do; there must be the insertion of the knife, “Go and sell,” etc.—J. M. Gibson, D.D.
St. Anthony.—It was from the story of the rich young man in the gospel that the famous Anthony, the very patriarch of Monachism, inferred that it was his duty to abandon his ancestral estate and live in solitude and poverty. There is no question of the ardour and sincerity of the man; but as we read what history has to tell of the moral and social effects of Monachism, we cannot but reflect how much better it would have been for all Christendom if Anthony had lived on the estate which he inherited, and used his means and position for the honour of Christ and the gospel among the ignorant peasantry around, rather than have passed his life in the desert, injuring his own body by gratuitous hardships, maintaining mysterious combats with fiends, and so leading hundreds and thousands of misguided men into a similar pursuit of an illusive, ascetic perfection.—D. Fraser,D.D.
Hindered by one thing.—It is the things which are apparently the smallest that prevent the greatest results. A slight defect in the finest bell and it ceases to sound, a lost key and the richest money-chest is useless. The day of battle has arrived, the troops are admirably disposed, the despatches of the general fly here and there; suddenly the horse of the adjutant stumbles on a stone; he arrives a quarter of an hour too late, and the battle is lost. So it is in spiritual matters. Many a man who has got safely over the Rhine has been drowned in a little brook. Sin has no more dangerous delusion than to convince a man that he is safe if only he avoids the so-called flagrant transgressions.—A. Tholuck, D.D.
Mat_19:20-21. Christ’s test.—The rich young ruler presented fine certificates—of his own composition. Christ didn’t tear them up, but He did what you tradesmen do with an applicant for a vacancy; He gave him a bit of work to try his hand on. The gentlemanly commandment-keeper wrote no more certificates.—John McNeill.
Mat_19:22. Self-inflicted sorrow.—I. Who was He?—
1. A young man.
2. A well-to-do young man.
3. A young man of considerable Mark 4. A pre-eminently virtuous young man.
5. A young man who was anxious about the life to come.
II. Where had he been of late?—He went away. From whom, or from what place? Christ has answered the man’s interrogation; Christ has responded to his entreaty; Christ has given him a definite and conclusive answer. He came running, he goes lagging. He came complacently; he goes resentfully. He came as one who would lay a giant’s hold upon eternal life; he goes with no shadow of a hold upon eternal life. He was sorrowful as he went away; but go away he did, right clean away. And Jesus, looking intently after him, as he went, intimated to His disciples that he was gone for good and all; that of his ever entering into the kingdom of God there was little hope now. In vain his acknowledged moral excellence. In vain his religious anxiety. In vain his fellowship with the good Master. In this, the momentous crisis of his being, something had interposed which had marred and ruined all. What could it be?
III. Why had he gone away?—
1. Had Christ’s behaviour to him been unkindly? Some teachers are morose, ungenial, supercilious, austere.
2. Had Christ’s treatment of the case been inconsiderate?
3. Had Christ’s direction to him been unreasonable? Then, why did he go away? Alas! he loved his possessions more than he loved his soul! He would not forego the present for the future. He would not cease to be what he was that he might become something better. Whatever his solicitude about eternal life, that solicitude was secondary, not supreme. And what a thing it was to let go! what a thing it was to determine to let go! You are struck with the infatuation of the man! But mind that you are not infatuated too! Think now.
1. In character you resemble him.
2. In procedure you resemble him.
3. In disposition you resemble him.—W. Brock, D.D.
Going away from Christ.—“He went away.” What more, what else could he do? He faced alternatives stubborn and fixed when that reply came to him from Jesus. He must decide for himself now. He did decide.
I. Why did he go? He had great riches, and the alternative seemed hard. But this was not a reason; it was only a test. Jesus did not want his money. He said, “And give to the poor.” No, there were two reasons why the young man failed.
1. What Jesus required involved the entire revolution of his life. He was a member of the Sanhedrin; he must now become instantly a true Christian. He must immediately avow Jesus as the Messiah, and become a defender of the faith which that whole nation hated. All this involved a sudden change in his history. He was not ready for it.
2. The other reason, however, was probably the critical one; it was his unregenerate heart that lay at the bottom of the refusal.
II. How did he go?
1. In low dejection of heart. This young ruler, under pressure of spiritual need, had come to find a path out from his sense of guilt and leading to eternal salvation. He only met heavier admonitions laid on his already sore conscience. Formerly he imagined he had done his entire duty, and still he had wondered why he was not safe and easy in his mind; now he saw that he was as hollow as a hypocrite, and his trouble of heart was explained by the fact that he might have known bettor; so the trouble was worse.
2. He went away thoroughly unsettled as to his future. There remains for him nothing possible except a religious compromise, and that will never give him rest.
3. He went away pitied and mourned by those who loved him.
III. Where did the young ruler go?
1. He went back to the world. It would be a question whether he idolised his old treasures as he once did, whether he was as amiable or as popular as he had once been. Men who stifle their best emotions, and try to hush their noblest convictions, are sure to get soured after a while, and grow unhappy and cynical; and then they are not agreeable. He went back to his old companions. It would be likely to sting in his mind a little, this recollection of the time when he went forth to find Jesus, and actually kneeled down in the road before Him. Some of his Jewish comrades would taunt him, too, with having once set out to become a Nazarene.
2. He went on to his grave. It was to be expected that there should be a proud funeral at his abode some while after this, and that he should be laid with his fathers ostentatiously, with much pomp and attention of social show.
3. He went on to the judgment. The will that refused, the heart that was hard, the pride that was unsubdued, the avarice that was imperious, the determination which fixed his future destiny where he is now, never were put into his coffin for a moment, never had any place whatsoever in the ashes of his tomb.
4. He went “to his own place.” Character decides destiny. If any one is ready to turn away from the Lord where is he going next?—C. S. Robinson, D.D.
Christ left sorrowfully.—It was, we may suppose:
1. The sadness of loss. “And cannot I have eternal life? Is the way so hard? Are the terms so difficult? Must I relinquish so great a prize, bear so heavy a cross?”
2. The sadness of disappointment. “Must all I sought and thought I saw in prospect vanish thus?”
3. The sadness of self-conviction. “Ah! He is right. I did not know myself. It is I, not He, that is to blame,” etc.
4. The sadness of shame. “And I have gone to Him, and He has seen me through. Oh! that look of gentle pity; those tender tones; that hard but loving invitation. He said not “go,” but “come.” And I have left Him, declined His offer, spurned His precepts,” etc. But the sorrow did not prevent his going; did not make Christ relent; did not keep Him from saying, “How hardly,” etc. There are special times when we may be said to leave Christ; when we are brought very near to Him, and have to make an election, and perhaps for ever. Such a time is that of deep religious conviction. Such a time is that when we are obliged by outward circumstances to take a stand. A new position in life compels us to come out afresh, and either as His servants or His foes. Some painful enterprise of sin forces on conscience a decision. A companionship promising pleasure and advantage, requires by its rejection that we honour, or by its acceptance that we renounce, the Saviour. It matters not what we leave Him in spite of, if we leave Him. The greater the difficulties in leaving Him the more sad and fearful the forsaking. And in leaving Christ we leave all.—A. J. Morris.
Hindrances to inquirers.—Sometimes the inquirer may not himself suspect just what the hindrance is until he is probed. In some cases it is a besetting sin that has got a mastery of the heart. In other cases it is an evil habit, or a course of sinful practices or secret sensualities, or dishonest methods in business, or something else’ that must go out before Jesus Christ will come in. Dr. Charles G. Finney tells us that he once had a man on his knees beside him, and the man promised to surrender everything to God until it came to his “business.” The man bolted at that test point, and said: “I can’t give that to God, for I am a liquor seller.”—T. L. Cuyler, D.D.
Mat_19:23. The perils of wealth.—“Who ever heard,” exclaims Paulus de Palacio, “such theology? It was unknown,” he adds, “to the Stoics. It was unknown to the Platonics. It was unknown to the Peripatetics.” It is true theology, nevertheless. It is one of the most difficult things in the world to deal conscientiously with riches—that is, to keep a good conscience and be rich. It is easy to be rich and honest in the human plane of things. But to take up riches to the higher plane, in which the will and wish of God are recognised and adopted as the rule of life, and consequently as the rule of giving and of keeping, is one of the severest possible tests to which the human heart can be subjected. Happy is the man of opulence who does not shrink from ascending to that platform.—J. Morison, D.D.
Mat_19:25. The great question.—“Who then,” etc.? an admission that all men share the same guilt and love of the world. How may a rich man enter heaven?
I. It is always difficult in his peculiar circumstances.
II. It is impossible, if in mind and heart he cleaves to his wealth—the Pharisees.
III. It becomes possible by a miracle of Divine grace—Joseph of Arimathea.—J. P. Lange, D.D.
Mat_19:27-29. “What shall we have therefore?”—
1. Albeit it be little that we suffer for Christ, yet we think much of it.
2. Howsoever it be not worthy to speak of what we do or suffer for Christ, yet the least thing done in sincerity is not despised by Christ, but highly esteemed and richly rewarded, for Christ promiseth a reward.
3. Christ doth not narrowly mark the infirmitics of His own, but doth cherish the smallest beginnings, and fomenteth the smoking flax, as here may be seen in His answer to Peter. Peter’s speech smelleth of pride, yet He passeth it over, saying, “Verily I say unto you,” etc.
4. Although Christ doth not always answer His people’s expectation by giving them the very thing which they look for, yet He will not fail to give them a better thing; as here the Apostles dreamed of an earthly kingdom and of earthly honours to be given unto Christ and themselves. This He will not give them, but He leadeth them higher, showing them that what they loved to have in this life should be given them in substance, and in a more eminent way, in the life to come.
5. The day of judgment shall be a sort of regeneration, wherein our bodies and souls shall be renewed perfectly, for glory and immortality.
6. At that day Christ, even in His human nature, shall be seen to reign in glory, suitable to His Divine majesty.
7. Such as follow Christ must be resolved for Christ’s sake to be deprived of what is dear unto them in this life, if He shall be pleased to put them to trial. That is imported in “Every one that forsakes houses,” etc.
8. What men do lose for Christ shall breed them gain a hundredfold even in this life, because the comforts and privileges of Christ’s kingdom are a hundredfold better than anything they can be deprived of.
9. Besides what spiritual gain is gotten in this life to such as suffer for the gospel, life eternal is also given for an inheritance in the world to come, which is able to make up all losses sustained for Christ.—David Dickson.
Mat_19:29. The hundredfold.—What is the meaning of the promise, that which gathers into itself all its various senses and aspects, and reconciles them? Perhaps it may be summed up and expressed under these three heads:—
I. We find in Christ, in loving and serving Him, all that makes our natural kinships and our possessions of real worth to us.—Our kinships and possessions are valuable to us and reach their true end only as they minister to our welfare and culture, as they develop our various faculties and powers, as they furnish us with opportunities of serving our fellows, and both enable and incline us to avail ourselves of them.
II. We find in Christ corresponding, yet superior, relationships and pos sessions to those which we resign for His sake.—Houses and lands, kinsfolk and friends, are intended for our culture in virtue and righteousness and charity; they are also the express types of higher kinships which are open to us, and of more enduring riches. From the father of our flesh we derive our first and best conception of the Father of our spirits. The love of woman helps us to apprehend and trust the love of Christ. The obedience and simplicity of childhood speak to us of the wiser simplicity and nobler obedience of discipleship. The corruptible treasure on earth symbolises, in many ways, the immortal treasure in heaven. And if we leave, or lose, any of these typical relationships and possessions for Christ’s sake, we gain that which they typify.
III. In virtue of our oneness with Christ we possess all things and persons in a deeper, truer way.—Strictly speaking, a man’s property is exactly what he can appropriate; that, and not a jot more. But on what does the power of appropriation depend? Obviously on the kind of life that is in us, on its volume and quality, on the vigour and variety of its faculties, and on the manner in which these faculties have been trained and developed. He who has most life in him, and in whom this life has been best cultivated, will infallibly possess himself of most that is really valuable and enduring. He will see farther into men, and be able both to do more for them and to get more from them, than those can do in whom there is less life, or a life less cultivated and accomplished. All events and all changes, all kinships and possessions, will have more to say to him, and will more variously and profoundly minister to his culture and to his welfare. And it is precisely this great blessing which the Lord Jesus offers to us. He offers us life of the highest quality, in the richest abundance.—S. Cox, D.D.
Self-denial and its reward.—I beg leave to think that only a hearty recognition of the Divinity of Jesus Christ can save both the claims and the promises from the charge of absurdity and blasphemy.
I. What Christ demands from us.—He seems to divide the thing into two, and between them He places all the more sacred and precious things of life—family ties, brother and sister, wife and children, and all these He says we are to surrender—for His sake. Well, if there is any one thing that modern Christianity does not need to be taught it is that the New Testament is not to be translated literally, as people say. It is a vast deal easier for a man outwardly to abandon than to abandon in his heart and desire. Christ explains the words of my text in another of His sayings. If any man loves so and so more than Me he is not My disciple. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. The life is the man.
1. The inward abandonment of everything we possess.—That is to say that honestly we shall put all these things of which we can say, “I have them”—houses, lands, mills, factories, balances at our bankers, pictures, home, honestly we shall put all these second, and put Jesus Christ first.
2. An inward abandonment of all the people that we love is as imperative as an inward abandonment of all the possessions that we have, and just in the same position as in regard to the former so in regard to this. A mother’s tenderness; a father’s care; a wife’s self-sacrifice; children’s love; all these are to be rigidly subordinated to the supreme love of Christ and all these are to be put aside, to be put aside gently and tenderly, with a very loving hand, but yet with a very firm one, to be put aside if they would at all avail to cross the path along which our eye should travel, and our heart with our eye, unto Him.
II. The great and wonderful promise which our Lord sets forth.—It falls into two parts. A hundredfold they shall receive; eternal life shall inherit.
1. How, in regard to the thought shall receive a hundredfold?—I suppose the ordinary interpretation given to such a promise as that is something like this, which is perfectly true and very beautiful—to point out how after a man does keep earthly brethren or earthly love second, and make Christ first, all the things He so gives away become more precious; how religion puts a new spirit into everything; how the love of home held in subordination to the love of Christ, and all illuminated and irradiated by that love, derives a higher sweetness than under any other circumstances, etc. And in like manner outward things—houses and lands and so on, held as from Him and subordinated to Him, used according to His will and for His sake—how they all become to be enjoyed with a higher power and blessedness, and how better is the dinner of herbs with God there than great revenues without Him; and all that is wonderfully and beautifully true. But that I do not think goes to the bottom of the words here, and it would be a self-contradictory assertion to a man to say, “Do not care so much about the world, because if you will only do that you will make a great deal more out of it.” I think, therefore, we must go a great deal deeper than that thought and see what is the hundredfold compensation that the text promises to us. What? Jesus Christ. If you will give up houses and lands for Me, you will get Me, and I am a hundredfold or, as it is in some places, manifold, I am infinitely more than you would give up.
2. And “shall inherit everlasting life.”—As I take it, the language of my text points rather to the everlasting ages inherited beyond the grave. There is one point that strikes me as significant, and that is the variety of the expressions of these two clauses, “shall receive a hundredfold; shall inherit everlasting life.” “Receive,” as the result of a certain course of conduct, “inherit,” not as the result of a certain course of conduct. The Bible does not represent that eternal life is given to a man by reason of anything that he does. The Bible represents to us that eternal life is given to us by reason simply and solely of God’s great love in Jesus Christ, and that all we have to do is simply to take the gift which is freely given to us.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
The joy of giving up all for Christ.—A friend once told me what had been the happiest time in his life. It was soon after his conversion from infidelity; but that conversion involved the loss of friends and fortune. For all, however, he found amends in Christ; in Christ who had saved his soul, who had awakened in him the hope full of immortality, and with whom he could walk and talk the live-long day, telling Him all that was in his heart, and feeling his own being refined and exalted by the ennobling fellowship. And the happiest hour was in the city of Paris, when he sat down on a stone in the Champs Elysées, with no friend in all the place, and with just two sous in his pocket. “For now,” he felt, “Christ is all to me. I have no other friend; I have no other joy.” The equipages rolled past; the gay people shouted and laughed, but none of them all felt so rich or so happy as the stranger who, there on the stone, sat under Christ’s shadow with great delight; not another friend in all the place, but the Saviour at his side; just a penny in his pocket but so rich in his new friendship, that happiness flowed from every feature, and he felt “I have all and abound.”—The Church.
The power of supreme love to Christ.—There is no way of getting away from the tyrannous dominion of the world except by having given ourselves to our dear Lord and letting His love rise up in our souls, and then just as the electric light in our streets makes the gas we thought to be so bright look red and smoky and dim, so this better light in our hearts will dwarf the beauty and dim the brightness of all other lights by reason of its purity and strength.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mat_19:30. Reversals.—I. Enforce this saying with respect to the final judgment.—
1. In the judgment of reason many things that were first come to be last, and the last first.
2. The judgment of life also illustrates the text.
3. Our text is still more confirmed by the judgment of history.
4. We turn for the chief illustration of our text to the judgment of eternity. The final judgment will in many cases be the opposite of human judgment, because of the difference of its rule, and because of the difference of its manner of judgment.
II. A few practical inferences.—
1. In view of this first judgment, we may be patient in the midst of the inequalities and injustice of the present time.
2. Let us be prepared, through Christ, for this strict and just judgment.
3. In view of such a judgment how intensely true we should be.
4. Let us beware how we seek to be first at that day. He is most likely to be first who seeks not to be first, who forgets such seeking in the anxiety of his desire to be and to do good.—A. Goodrich, D.D.
The last shall be first.—I. Consider some illustrations of this truth.
1. Historical.—Jews cast out, etc.
2. From social life.—Those with religious disadvantages often go to the front.
3. With regard to mental acquisitions.—The last in Bible knowledge often the first in rich experience and Christian usefulness.
4. From human character.—The worst become the best, while the good often make but little progress.
II. Make an application of this truth.
1. It may check presumption.—Let not those boast who think themselves first now.
2. It may prevent despair.—Let those who feel themselves among the last persevere.—J. C. Gray.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey1900 · Public DomainOn v16Mat 19:16-30; Mar 10:17-31; Luk 18:18-30. Mark: “And He,…
THE RICH YOUNG MAN
Mat 19:16-30; Mar 10:17-31; Luk 18:18-30. Mark: “And He, traveling along the road, one running and kneeling clown asked Him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One; God.” This statement of our Savior is generally woefully misunderstood and erroneously construed, even preachers, standing up in the pulpit, having the audacity to look the people in the face and find here an unanswerable argument against holiness, alleging that even Jesus refused to be called good, deducing the conclusion, with an air of triumph, that nobody can be good, much less holy. May the blessed Holy Spirit now flash the light through your mind, and give you the true exposition of this passage! Jesus was almost constantly turning the edge of His opponent’s argument into the admission of His own Divinity. The high and primitive sense of the adjective “good” is only applicable to Go. The word “God” is a contraction of “good,” because God is the very essence, quintessence, and concentration of all good. Now when the young man calls Jesus good, instead of correcting him, He accepts the situation: “You call Me good, and so I am. Now since God alone is good, you call Me God, which is right,” thus turning the admission of the young man into the substantial affirmation of His Divinity; not only for his benefit, but that of the multitude who followed Him from day to day. While in the primitive sense, God alone is good, and all goodness emanates from Him (as John says, “God is light; yet the sun shines, but he shines by the light which God gives him); and while no man is good in a primary sense, because a good man would mean one who had never sinned; yet we may be righteous, because a righteous man is simply a justified sinner; and it is equally true that we may be holy, because a holy man is nothing but a sanctified sinner. The term good is variously used in subordinate senses, and not only applied to saints, but in common parlance even to sinners, animals, and things without life; however, in those cases, all the good they have has emanated from God.
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“You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor thy father and thy mother.” Matthew says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” “And he, responding, said to Him, Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth. Jesus looking on him loved him, and said to him, One thing is wanting unto thee.” Here Matthew says, “If thou dost wish to be perfect, go, sell as many things as you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven.” This interview took place out in Perea, east of the Jordan.
Though our Savior is constantly surrounded by the Pharisees, you must not conclude that this young man is one of them. The truth of the matter is, he is far from them, even at the opposite pole of the battery. While the Pharisees were full of pride, haughtiness, and self-righteousness, this young man is very humble, as we see him come kneeling down before Jesus, and making earnest inquiry, “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Luke tells us he is a ruler of the people. He certainly shows up a very beautiful, moral, and religious character, in the fact that he has kept the commandments of the Decalogue from his youth. No wonder Jesus loved him. The simple solution of the whole problem recognizes this young man as a paragon Old Testament saint, walking in all the commandments of the law and the prophets blameless. He evidently has lived up to all the light of his day and dispensation. So he has nothing to do but receive Jesus, and move forward into the gospel dispensation — i.e., the kingdom of God whose normal standard is perfection, as you here see specified. Jesus responds to him, “If you wish to be perfect,” illustrating the fact that His dispensation requires perfection i.e., spiritual manhood, the standard of the old dispensation being spiritual infancy. There was no trouble in the case of this amiable and promising young ruler till he declined to accept the Savior’s condition of discipleship, thus halting in the old dispensation after it had expired and become null and void. He was certainly a very fine subject of gospel grace, having nothing to do but meet the condition, which is Christian perfection, and pass from the law and the prophets into the kingdom of heaven.
“And he, being grieved at the word, went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.” Jesus knew his heart, and went for his idol unhesitatingly. Adam the First must die before you can become a perfect Christian, with Adam the Second enthroned to reign without a rival. All the unsanctified have their besetting sin, in which the diversified appetites and passions, constituting the members of old Adam, concentrate their forces, make a general rally, and turn loose all the impetuosity of earth and hell to break the power of grace and ruin the soul, world without end. While this young man, having kept all of these commandments faithfully from his youth, living in beautiful harmony with his dispensation, exhibits the irreproachable character of a paragon Old Testament saint, yet that phase of inbred sin which he was weakest to resist, as it held a tighter grip on him than any other, was the love of money, which had been augmented and intensified by his vast possessions.
When the contractors began the Queen & Crescent Railway, they went to King’s Mountain, because they had a solid mile of tunnel to excavate, by far the heaviest job on the route of fifteen hundred miles. A wise general, invading a country, always attacks the chief citadel first. Jesus knew that money-love was the serious trouble of this young man, and if he yielded there, victory flashed all along the embattled line, and He could rely on him as a paragon disciple. O how many preachers studiously avoid those things against which they feel assured their people will kick! Jesus, our only Exemplar, gives the trumpet no uncertain sound. This young man would have yielded outright if He had not put the sword to the throat of his idol. Luke says, “He went away very sad.” O how wonderfully history repeats itself! This young man lost his justification because he refused to consecrate all his possessions, the necessary antecedent to Christian perfection. Multitudes of the Jewish Church, in a similar attitude, enjoying justification before God because they walked in all the light they had, keeping all of the commandments, living under the law, without reprehension, faithfully anticipating the coming Messiah, forfeited their justification because they did not walk in the new light thrown on their way by the Shiloh of prophecy. If this young man had not met Jesus, doubtless he would have lived and died an irreproachable Old Testament saint and made his way to Abraham’s bosom.
God holds us responsible for all the light we receive. If we do not walk in it appreciatively, we invariably backslide. Therefore Jesus is called “the Stone of stumbling,” because multitudes, like this young man, stumbled over Him and fell, and they are still doing the same. God raised up Luther to pour new light upon the Church in his day and time. While his reformation was a blessing to many, it was the occasion of many stumbling and falling. The same is true of every great revival. While the present holiness movement is a God-send to myriads, it is the death-knell to multitudes, who unfortunately reject the light it brings, like this man stumbling over entire consecration.
“Jesus, looking round, says to His disciples, How shall those having riches with difficulty enter the kingdom of God! But the disciples were amazed at His words. Jesus again, responding, says to them, Children, how difficult is it for those having put their confidence in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished exceedingly, saying to one another, Indeed who is able to be saved? And Jesus, looking on them, says, With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” So far as the record warrants, there is not a presumption in favor of the salvation of this amiable young man, who is not only a member, but an officer in the Church, and, most consolatory of all, his religious character utterly irreproachable. It is a simple case of stumbling over perfection, and thus failing to pass from the dispensation of the law and the prophets into that of Christ — i.e., the kingdom of heaven whose standard is perfection. I believe, the reason why the disciples were so astonished over the utterances of Jesus, in reference to the difficulty in the way of salvation to the rich, was because the patriarchs in many instances were very wealthy; e.g., Abraham and Job, millionaires. There has been an awful squirming and dodging, twisting and floundering, especially on the part of the popular clergy, to evade and explain away these plain statements of Jesus relative to the difficulties in the way of saving the rich. Some have said that “camel” means rope, used about a ship, which of course could go through the eye of a large needle. Kamilos means “rope.” Though that word looks much like kamelos, “a camel,” you see they are entirely different words. Hence there is no truth in the exegesis. It is a miserable dodge to evade a square issue.
Again, I have heard, over and over, that there are small gates entering through the wall of Jerusalem, called the “Needle’s-eye.” This is utterly untrue. I have made two visits to Jerusalem — the one ten days, and the other seven — in which I was very active, running all over it and round it repeatedly, so that I am this day better acquainted with Jerusalem than any other city in the world. As it symbolizes heaven, whither I am a pilgrim journeying, I studied it with a flaming enthusiasm, diligently investigating everything that could throw light on the Word of God. The city has but eight gates leading through the wall: The Joppa gate, on Mount Zion, looking westward, opening through the west wall, a short distance from the northwest corner. Then, as we proceed, turning eastward, we next come to the New Gate, leading through the north wall. Then, proceeding eastward, we come to the Damascus Gate, looking toward the north. Pursuing the north wall, we next arrive at Herod’s Gate. Now, passing the northeast corner and turning southward, we come to St. Stephen’s Gate, so called because it is said that the mob dragged him out through that gate when they stoned him to death. It is known in Scripture as the Sheep Gate. (John 5.) Proceeding southward, we next arrive at the Beautiful Gate. (Act 3:2.) This gate has been closed twelve hundred and sixty years, since the Mohammedans captured the city, on account of a Moslem prophecy that they can hold the city no longer than that gate is kept closed. Now the wall is on the high summit of Mount Moriah, the deep and impassable Valley of Jehoshaphat yawning beneath. Consequently there are no gates in this region, as there could be neither egress nor ingress. Pursuing the wall southward, turning the corner, we now travel westward, along the south wall, still on the summit of Moriah, till we reach a high valley between Moriah and Zion, where we arrive at the Excrement Gate, which leads out into the deep Valley of Jehoshaphat, and is used to carry, the offal out of the city; hence its name. Now the wall ascends Mount Zion westward, with a number of angles and offsets southward, by way of accommodation to the trend of the mountain. High up on the summit, in the City of David, we come to David’s Gate. These are the only entrances through the wall, with the exception which was made in 1898, when the emperor of Germany visited the city. They actually removed a section of the wall near the Joppa Gate for his convenient royal ingress and egress. Hence, you see, the report about the Needle’s-eye and the camel, ex necessitate divested of his burden in order to enter, is a fond fabrication to comfort the rich, but utterly untrue.
I hope you have no sympathy with any attempt to explain away the plain Word of God. What an insult to Jesus thus utterly to emasculate, eviscerate, and excoriate His Word till it is utterly divested of all its force! Remember you have to meet it at the judgment-bar precisely as it is. So I entreat you to take it now, without addition or subtraction, and never encourage any attempt to explain it away. I emphasize this point because I have heard more preaching on this subject than any other; i.e., a labored effort to explain away the plain and unmistakable Word of God. All such evasion is foolish, fanatical, and Satanic. Jesus specifies in this paragraph that, while the salvation of the rich is impossible with man, with God all things are possible. What is the solution of this? God can give the millionaire grace to consecrate all on His altar, unreservedly and eternally to be used for His glory. In that case the millionaire becomes as poor as Lazarus. “Without the sanctification no one shall see the Lord.” (Heb 12:14.) Hence, as God is no respecter of persons, we all stand on the same platform. If we do not consecrate all to God, we can not “be perfect,” as Jesus here tells the young man. Heaven is a perfect world, consequently nothing imperfect can enter there. In this statement we do not mean Divine perfection, which belongs to God only, nor angelic perfection, which belongs to angels alone; but Christian perfection, which means a complete work of grace in the elimination of all evil out of the spiritual organism. As Jesus alone can do this, we must unreservedly consecrate all to Him, in order that He may sanctify us wholly. As Jesus here says, the impossibility is with man, in case he does not make a perfect consecration, which God can not do for him, as that would ignore his free agency; but He can and will give him all the grace he needs to do it himself, of his own free will and accord. Then, when man puts all on God’s altar, there is no trouble about sanctification, as that is the work of Omnipotent Grace. This whole subject, as delivered by the Savior, is perfectly lucid and consistent. O how many, like this rich young Church officer, hesitate to put all their possessions on God’s altar, and go away sorrowing! Happy is the poor man who has s~ little to consecrate! Yet multitudes of them fail just like the rich. Jesus saves none but beggars. If you own a gold-mine, and do not turn it over to God to be used for His glory, you can not be saved.
Mat 19:27. “Then Peter, responding, said to him, Behold, we have left all things, and followed Thee; what then shall be to us? Jesus said to them, Truly I say unto you, that you who have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son of man may sit upon the throne of glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The regeneration here mentioned does not mean that personal spiritual birth peculiar to all the children of God, but it is a continuation of the subject under consideration with reference to this rich young Church officer, whose life was so beautiful under the law and the prophets; and his qualification to pass out into the new dispensation, receiving his own Christ with joyful enthusiasm, and becoming a citizen of His kingdom, a bona fide member of the gospel Church, had all failed because of his delinquency in meeting the condition, i.e., consecrating all his vast wealth to God — and thus getting in position for the fiery baptism to sanctify him gloriously at the Pentecost then speedily coming on. So the regeneration here means the transition out of the old into the new dispensation. As Peter well knew that he and his apostolical comrades had forsaken their fishing-boats, nets, companions, homes, employment, and everything to follow Jesus, and now having seen the sad failure of this eminently promising young man, at the very point of total abandonment where Peter knew that he and his brethren had succeeded, he proceeds to interview the Savior in reference to what is coming. There, amid the contrast of the two diametrically opposite attitudes the faithful disciples, on the one side, meeting the condition; and the young ruler signally failing and going away — our Lord proceeds to answer Peter’s inquiry by the thrilling assurance that when He shall sit upon the throne of his glory, they shall all sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. We know that our Lord was soon glorified when He ascended from Mount Olivet; and in due time these apostles did divide up the world, and go to their diversified fields of labor — the Jameses taking Judea; Matthew, Ethiopia; Mark, Egypt; Matthias, Judas’s successor, Abyssinia; Thomas, India; Jude, Tartary; Bartholomew, Phrygia; Philip, Syria; Simon Zelotes, the British Islands; Andrew, Armenia; John, Ephesus; Peter, Rome; and Paul, Western Asia and Eastern Europe. Of course, they all enjoyed episcopal supremacy in their diversified fields of labor.
But you must bear in mind that this wicked world did not let them live very long till they all suffered martyrdom, John being miraculously delivered, and, as we believe, finally translated. Hence this was but a preliminary fulfillment of our Savior’s glorious promise, whose verification is evidently reserved for the Millennial Theocracy, when the saints will rule with Christ (Rev 20:6), the apostles in their normal attitude enjoying the supremacy, and Israel populating the whole earth, Satan having been removed, and the glory of the Lord inundating the world, and, as He says here, when He shall sit upon the throne of His glory, then shall you “sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel;” i.e., ruling them. Christ came the first time, in His humiliation, to suffer and to die; but He comes the second time, on the throne of His glory, to conquer and to reign. Here we certainly do see a recognition of apostolical supremacy in the rulership of the world. There are now just about twelve national divisions on the globe. So the world seems to be getting ready for these twelve apostolical thrones. Of course, our Lord must come in His glory, cast out Satan, raise the dead members of the bridehood, and reunite soul and body and translate the living. The first resurrection, at the pre-millennial coming of our Lord, will prepare the way for His glorious kingdom, when He shall sit on the throne of His glory, and the saints will judge the world (1Co 6:2); i. e., rule the world. I am so glad that I believe the whole Bible. Therefore I am looking for wonderful things.
“And every one, whosoever has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife, children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundred fold, and inherit eternal life. But many first shall be last, and last shall be first.” Here you see again that the Jews are coming into the kingdom after all of the Gentiles. One of the cheering omens of the Lord’s near coming is the rapid gathering of the Jews into the Holy Land, and their conversion to Christianity in all the world. Luke says that the one leaving all and following Jesus shall receive a hundred-fold at this time, and in the age to come eternal life. We find some people certifying that there is no coming age after the present. Here, in Luk 18:30, we have it positively specified. You find the same in Heb 6:5, and also in Mat 12:32. I am satisfied it occurs elsewhere in the New Testament, but certainly three clear and unequivocal witnesses are sufficient. In these passages, the E. V. says “world to come;” but the Greek used by our Savior is not cosmos, “world,” but aion, “age.” Hence these are certainly plain allusions, not only to the coming millennium, which will be the Edenic Age of the world restored back, but the Celestial Age, that shall follow the final glorification of the earth subsequently to its purification by the great fiery baptism simultaneously with the final judgment, the glorification following, transforming it into a new earth and a new heaven, or firmament
(Revelation 21), and finally conferred, as a soldier’s bounty, on the glorified saints, here to enjoy an eternity of heavenly bliss with myriads of unfallen angels, with whom, as our loving escorts, we will wing our flight from world to world, admiring the glory of Omnipotence, bespangling millions of bright celestial spheres which never knew sin nor sorrow. At the same time, with our angelic escorts, and accompanied by our sainted friends, always delighted to visit the New Jerusalem, the celestial metropolis, honored with Jehovah’s throne, and the center of universal gravitation, around which all celestial worlds speed their flight, and which this world, on her final restitution and celestialization, will so approximate as to enjoy a grand and conspicuous view, and to receive the copious illuminations of the Divine glory. (Rev 21:9-27.)
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant1903 · Public DomainOn v16Section 6. (Mat 19:16-30; Mat 20:1-16.)
Section 6. (Mat 19:16-30; Mat 20:1-16.)
Human limitation, and how overcome.
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The sixth section shows us man in his creature place, limited necessarily because of this, but still more as fallen and in his sins; but it shows us also how God, who alone can; overcomes for him the straitness of his condition, and brings him out (as the psalmist says) into a large place.
This is developed in two ways, which are in beautiful connection, while yet very different: as regards the salvation of the sinner, and as regards the reward of a saint. For rewards there are, in which divine love sovereignly displays itself, for they are "mercy" (2Ti 1:18) and not a claim of right; as the Lord has emphatically taught us to say, when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants: we have done but that which it was our duty to do.
Creature merit is thus impossible, - a doctrine which destroys at once not only the supererogatory works and merits of the saints as Rome teaches them, but very much else held quite outside of Rome; while it makes eternal life for the sinner (such as we all are) only possible to grace.
But, alas! we are as naturally self-righteous, as we are absolutely without the least true claim to righteousness. If we will look around, we may quite easily find the Pharisee in the felon’s coat; and nearer still, in our own hearts, the spirit of Pharisaism ready to spring out from under the shadow of the Cross itself; its God-ordained condemnation.
Here we have the beginning and the end of it, as we may say, the self-assertion of the sinner and of the saint; and in the last case creeping, if it might be, into heaven itself in the abuse of the truth as to rewards. In the glimpse of heaven which immediately follows we shall have at last a scene from which it will be perfectly and forever banished. The victory of divine grace over us will then be fully accomplished.
1. We begin here with a question addressed to the Lord, not, as so often, by one tempting or caviling, but, on the contrary, earnestly seeking the way of life: "Teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"
It is "what good thing:" he does not doubt at all that some good thing is what is needed. Too many are on that road to allow him to doubt its being the right one. At the same time he is conscious of a lack, -not self-satisfied, and yet, as we see directly, with no conviction of sin; no thought of inability to attain his goal, if only the means were pointed out to him. Yet there were many instructors on such points whom he must, with the anxiety that he has, have sought out, but had not gained satisfaction from them. He confesses himself ignorant of the way of life, and has confidence, as it seems, that Christ can teach him. All this is encouraging, and yet he is on the broad way still with the multitude (no sign for good, that) and expecting God to give eternal life to the doer of "some good thing."
The Lord meets him, therefore, where he is: not as we might have expected, perhaps, with the gospel and the declaration of His grace, for he has as yet no need of grace. Law must do its work with him, for "by the law is the knowledge of sin." Yet He does, at the same time, intimate the result, and so had the law itself done with its unrent veil, Cod in the darkness, - whether men realized it or not: witness and warning on God’s part can never be wanting, and so here: "Why askest thou Me about that which is good? there is One good," and only One.
That blocks the way for the legalist entirely; which yet in a sense the Lord opens directly, that one who must learn by experience may do so: "but if thou desirest to enter into life, keep the commandments."
There was nothing fresh to be pointed out as to such a path. The law had long since precisely defined every thing, and not left men to search for some good thing additional or other than this. It is true they had not found life in this way, and hence resulted the uneasiness that prompted such inquiries as that of the young man now. But the law had nevertheless precisely defined all the good required: "the man that doeth these things shall live in them." True, "that which was" thus the way "to life, I found to be to death," says the apostle; and so will all true experience find it, a "ministration of death" (2Co 3:7), - the very thing man needs to shut him up to the grace of God in Christ.
But the young man has not received this ministration of death: he had no "sentence of death in himself, that he should not trust in himself, but God that raiseth the dead." He was unsatisfied; the light of God was not on his path, - that he knew. There was no burden of sin to be lifted. He lacked, but confessedly knew not what he lacked. How many are in just such a condition! rich, and comfortably able to thank God for that; ignorant of such trials as even a Job had to learn before the depths of his heart could be made known to him, but, like him, not at rest. As to "commandments," which did the Master mean? The Lord tests him by the second table of the law, the human side, summing it all up in "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." But he is with Saul of Tarsus, "touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless." There is no shadow upon the honest face with which he turns to Him he is questioning, with the assertion; "All these have I kept; what lack I yet?" And then the bolt falls for him out of a summer sky: "If thou wouldst be perfect, sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
People ask, how could the Lord make that the condition of eternal life for him? But it was the law that had made that necessary which would have made this easy - that he should love his neighbor as himself: and this he had declared he actually did. Why not, then; sell what he had, and give to the poor? Would it be more to him than giving it back to himself, to give to the neighbor whom he loved as himself?
Evidently the Lord is but searching out a heart that sorely needed it. He does not make it a condition of eternal life; for that is a gift which He Himself had come to acquire for us; but He speaks to the young man according to the character which he professed; adding to it that tender assurance of a heart open to him, which was ready to give him a place among His followers and intimates. "Jesus, beholding him, loved him," says Mark in connection with these very words. And this love, may we not hope, might, even spite of present failure, wake up to consciousness of its condition the heart that could now, alas! turn from it, though grieved, to enjoy in its now exposed selfishness its "great possessions."
2. But of this we have no knowledge. The Lord makes use of this case now to impress upon His disciples the difficulty, nay, the impossibility, of a rich man entering into the Kingdom of God. The camel may more easily pass through a needle’s eye, He says; and we must leave these words in all their simplicity, - the thing completely passes nature. The camel is, no doubt, the suited figure of one burdened with his possessions, after the manner of the young man here. The things of the world thus claim and control the natural man; and how often is their influence seen upon one who is through grace a Christian! Only the almighty grace of God can change this, that is, can change the nature of man; and so, when in dismay the disciples ask, "Who then can be saved?" the Lord assures them, salvation is not of self, but of God.
3. The question of Peter cannot but suggest how readily in a saint also the spirit of self-seeking can intrude into the most sacred themes and places. The Lord’s answer perfectly recognizes and provides for this, which comes out presently in a more offensive form in the other two of His most privileged disciples. But we may be thankful for that which exposes what is our own need as well as theirs, and has been the occasion of such an answer to it as we find here.
"Peter answered and said unto Him, Behold, we have left all and followed Thee: what shall we have then? And Jesus said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, that ye who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This is found only in Luke and in this Gospel, and in perfect suitability with the character of it. It shows us how literally the reign of the saints with Christ is to be taken; and in the term "regeneration" applied to the millennial Kingdom presents an instructive parallel between the work of God in the individual and in the world at large. That these are, in fact, in correspondence with one another, the first chapter of Genesis has already made us fully aware (see notes). The only other place in which we find this word "regeneration" (paliggenesia) is in the epistle to Titus (Tit 3:5) and it is there applied to the individual state: "according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." In the present state of the world sin not only dwells, but reigns; in the coming Kingdom sin exists but reigns no longer, as in the soul that has truly bowed Christ; then comes the change of the heavens and earth, as for the saint the bodily change into His likeness; and so finally for each, sin neither reigns nor exists. Thus there is a complete parallel between the ways of God in grace with the individual and with the world at large, a unity which is the stamp of the perfect workmanship of the One God in every sphere of His working, whatever may be the variety also which testifies to His infinite resources.
The Lord goes on to assure us that His love can forget nothing of whatever any disciple of His may have renounced for His name. He shall receive a hundredfold and inherit everlasting life. These distinctive rewards, whatever may be the blessing in them, we must remember always to keep apart from what is the common portion of believers, which it is good to realize, as being simply the fruit of Christ’s work for us, must be by far more blessed than anything which even in divine mercy can be accorded to our own. The place of children with God, of membership in the body of Christ, - these and such things as these are to us the fruit of divine grace alone, and have nothing whatever to do with reward of our work. This is so simple that there should be no need even of mentioning it; and yet many Christians confound, more or less, things so different as these; as even the "many mansions" of our Father’s house have been taken to imply different degrees of reward, and to put the children of God at various degrees of distance from their Father, - the very thing which assuredly is most opposite to the Lord’s intention of comfort in it. But, in fact, the legality of the human heart is such as to make the whole matter of reward require the most jealous guarding from abuse; and this the Lord proceeds now to supply in the parable which follows here.
4. The meaning of the parable is given both at the beginning and the close; so earnestly is it pressed upon us. We must not allow ourselves to be carried away from this by any supposed demand of special features, as to which we are cautioned here in the same way as in the case of the previous parable of the unmerciful servant (Mat 18:23). There it is "a man; a king"; here, "a man, a householder." In the application we are bidden to remember that we must distinguish between the ways of men and the ways of God, even where the one may be taken to illustrate the other. God certainly does not "hire" laborers after the manner of men; where work in His vineyard is in question; but this is human misunderstanding of His way. The prodigal still afar off may talk of the "hired servants" of his father’s house; but we are not to take this as a representation of the actual truth. And the very design of the parable here is to warn us by the issue against such perversions. It would seem, therefore, plain that to seek to interpret everything in it as if it stood for absolute truth would be to fall in measure into the very misconceptions from which it is intended to deliver us.
(1) The agreement with the laborers illustrates but the legality of souls who so misconstrue the Lord’s gracious recompense of what is done for Him. Just so far as this is made the end for which we labor, it is clear that the character of what is done is deteriorated, and its value to Him lost. We are living to ourselves, the misery from which divine grace has delivered those that are Christ’s.
We are not, therefore, to conceive of this either, as if any child of God could be a mere hireling. The principle, given broadly in the parable, is by this means put before us in its proper repulsiveness, and the picture is an ideal one solely. Were we to take it as literally exact, we should have to imagine God giving in the day of recompense some stipulated measure of reward to those who have worked for it; which, whether it were saint or sinner, would be positive error. Recognizing it as ideal only, the lesson remains, and with no perplexity.
(2) In those who are called to labor at various hours in the day, we find the thought of a stipulated agreement more and more given up, and those who go into the vineyard becoming correspondingly more dependent upon the goodness of the householder to give to them as he sees fit. To those called at the third hour it is simply said, "Whatsoever is just I will give you." At the sixth and ninth hours, "what is just" becomes a more and more slender hope. In the case of those at the eleventh hour, nothing seems to be said of this at all:* they are left entirely to the owner of the vineyard to give as he please, or not.
{*Though some ancient MSS. add a similar clause but the oldest and the drift of the parable are against it.}
(3) At the end of the day, the laborers are called and paid; and then those called at the eleventh hour receive a whole day’s wages. Of those called at the intermediate hours we are told nothing, but it is implied that they all receive the same: for when the first come, expecting to receive more, they also are paid every one a penny. From this some have deduced the doctrine of an equality of reward for all; but that is not the doctrine of Scripture; and the rewards here are plainly according to the moral of the parable given to us, that the "first shall be last and the last first:" which again is not equality.
(4) It is the first alone who murmur: it would be impossible for any of the rest, one would say, to do so; for they are all, in fact, overpaid. Ah, were we not, how little would we any of us receive! In the day of reward will there be a legalist found to murmur against the amount of his recompense? Surely, not one; all is again only ideal here. And yet even the first can only complain that they have not received more than they bargained for.
(5) The answer of the householder to one of those that murmur brings before us the conditions which have determined that result of which they now so foolishly complain. They cannot say they have not received what they contracted for. They had got what was just; grace they had not trusted nor sought: how can they complain that to those who were dependent upon it it has been shown? - and indeed in the measure in which they were dependent.
For them it was a matter of bounty, not of right; for the giver of it, had he not the right to be bountiful? What I am entitled to must be measured by what I am; what grace shall give can only be measured by what God is. Human measure and divine! put it at the best you can for man, what a difference here!
The more we think of our service, the less must we think of Him to whom the service is done; the more we imagine claim, the less must His grace appear: that the first should thus be last is absolutely simple. Think of it as the Lord once put it, a supper at which the guests take their places as they estimate themselves. No one here, however, says to another, "Give this man place." They are permitted to assign to themselves just the rank they claim. Only, when the King comes in to take His own place among the guests, He takes it at the opposite end of the table from that which they imagined! Then; of course, "the first is last and the last is first;" and yet their places are decided by their own self-measurement.
"For many are the called," says the Lord in closing, "but few the chosen ones:" words which here tell us that among the guests few are they that are according to His mind indeed. Alas! how slow we are indeed in the true judgment of self! how difficult is it for divine grace to obtain full possession of us!
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey1914 · Public DomainOn v16J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [C. The Rich…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [C. The Rich Ruler].
C. THE RICH RULER. PERIL OF RICHES. REWARD OF SACRIFICE. PARABLE OF THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD. (In Peræa.) aMATT. XIX. 16-XX. 16; bMARK X. 17-31; cLUKE XVIII. 18-30.
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b17 And when he was going forth into the way, abehold, bthere ran acame bone ca certain ruler bto him, and kneeled to him, and asked aand said, csaying, bGood Teacher, awhat good thing shall I do, that I may have bmay inherit cto inherit eternal life? [The action of this young man in running and kneeling shows that he was deeply anxious to receive an answer to his question, and also that he had great reverence for Jesus. He seemed to think, however, that heaven could be gained by performing some one meritorious act. He made the mistake of thinking that eternal life is a reward for doing rather than for being, a mistake from which the Roman Catholic Church [543] developed the doctrine of "works of supererogation."] 19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, i even God: aWhy askest thou me concerning that which is good? One there is who is good [To the address of the young man, viz.: "Good Master," Jesus replies, "Why callest," etc., and to his question, "What good thing," etc. Jesus replies, "Why askest," etc. The ruler using the inconsiderate, conventional language of the thoughtless, had taken an unwarrantable freedom with the word "good." Jesus shows that if his language had been used sincerely it would have committed him to a declaration of great faith, for he had addressed Jesus by a title which belongs only to God, and he had asked Jesus the question concerning that of which God alone was fitted to speak. As the ruler had not used this language sincerely Jesus challenged his words. The challenge showed the ruler that he had unwittingly confessed the divinity of Jesus, and thus startled him into a consideration of the marvelous fact which his own mouth had stated. This is done because the young man would need to believe in the divinity of Jesus to endure the test to which he was about to be subjected-- 1Jo_5:5.] but if thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments. [By referring the ruler to the commandments, Jesus not only answered the question as to obtaining life, but he emphasized the confession of his divinity contained in the question, "Why askest," etc. God, who knows what is good, had revealed that good in the commandments which he had given. Yet the ruler had asked Jesus to be wise above God's revelation, and to propound a law or rule of goodness in addition to that already given, and of such a nature as to more fully insure the attainment of life by obeying it. The ruler's question reveals that common weakness in man which prompts him to look to his fellow-men for religious and moral instruction; forgetting that only God can propound the absolute standards of goodness. We should note, too, that the young man, being under the law given through Moses, was bidden to attain life by keeping the law. After the death of Christ a new law [544] was given. Had the man waited until that time, he would have been directed to this new law, and obedience to it would have been required. Compare Act_2:37, Act_2:38, 2Th_1:8, et al.] 18 He saith unto him, Which? And Jesus said, c20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do aThou shalt cnot commit adultery, Do aThou shalt cnot kill, Do aThou shalt cnot steal, Do aThou shalt cnot bear false witness, bDo not defraud, a19 Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [The ruler still sought for some prominent commandment, but was referred to the last six of the Decalogue, these being at that time more frequently violated than the first four. For the last commandment, "Thou shalt not covet," Jesus substitutes its equivalent, "Do not defraud," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," the last being a summary of all the six-- Rom_13:9.] b20 And he a20 The young man saith bsaid unto him, Teacher, cAll these things have I observed from my youth up. awhat lack I yet? [He had kept these commandments as far as he knew his heart and as far as he understood their import.] b21 And Jesus cwhen he heard it, blooking upon him [gazing earnestly and searchingly at him] loved him ["agapan." See Jam_2:10], go, sell that which thou hast, csell all bwhatsoever thou hast, cand distribute bgive cunto ato the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. [The command to sell all is not a general one, but a special precept needed in this case, 1. To dispel the ruler's self-deception. On the negative side his character was good, but on the positive it was deficient. He had done his neighbor no harm, but he had also done him very little good. 2. To show impartiality. The invitation of Jesus shows that the ruler desired to be in some manner a disciple, and hence he is subjected to the same [545] test which the other disciples had accepted, and of which Peter soon after speaks. Paul also was rich in self-righteousness like this man, but cheerfully sacrificed all, that he might follow Christ ( Phi_3:6-9). Moreover, the reference to treasure in heaven and the invitation to follow Christ tested the ruler's obedience to the first four commandments of the Decalogue as condensed in the great summary or first commandment. ( Mat_22:37, Mat_22:38.) Though the ruler perhaps did not fully realize it, those who heard the conversation must afterwards have been impressed with the great truth that the ruler was called upon to make his choice whether he would love Christ or the world, whether he would serve God or mammon. The whole scene forms an illustration of the doctrine expressed by Paul, that by the law can no flesh be justified ( Rom_3:20), for perfection is required of those who approach God along that pathway; those, therefore, who have done all, still need Christ to lead them.] a22 But when the young man heard that saying, cthese things bhis countenance fell at the saying, che became exceeding sorrowful; band he went away sorrowful: cfor he was very rich. bhe was one that had great possessions. [He was not offended at the extravagance of Jesus' demands, for he was not one of the most hardened of the rich. He belonged to that class which hold Christ and their wealth in nearly an even balance. The narrative shows us how uncompromisingly Jesus held to principle. Though the ruler was sorry to turn away, and though Jesus loved him, yet the Lord did not modify his demand by a hair's-breadth to gain an influential disciple.] c24 And Jesus seeing him blooked round about, and saith asaid unto his disciples, bHow hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! aVerily I say unto you, It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. [ 1Ti_6:9, 1Ti_6:10, 1Ti_6:17-19. It should be remembered that Judas heard these words only a few days before he sold his Lord.] b24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in [546] riches to enter into the kingdom of God! [The possession and use of riches is permitted to the Christian, but their possession becomes a sin when the one who owns them comes to trust in them or in any way suffers them to interfere with his duties toward or relations to God.] a24 And again I say unto you, c25 For it is easier for a camel to enter in bto go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. [The needle's eye here is that of the literal needle, and the expression was a proverbial one to indicate that which was absolutely impossible. Lord George Nugent (1845-6) introduced the explanation that Jesus referred to the two gates of a city, the large one for beast of burden, and the small one for foot-passengers. This smaller one is now called "The Needle's Eye," but there is no evidence whatever that it was so called in our Saviour's time. In fact, as Canon Farrar observes, we have every reason to believe that this smaller gate received its name in late years because of the efforts of those who were endeavoring to soften this saying of Jesus.] a25 And when the disciples heard it, they were astonished exceedingly, c26 And they that heard it said, bsaying unto him, aWho then bThen who can be saved? a26 And Jesus blooking upon them saith, c27 But he said, bWith men this is impossible, but not with God: for all things are possible with God. cThe things which are impossible with men aree possible with God. [The Jews were accustomed to look upon the possession of riches as an evidence of divine favor, and the heads of the apostles were filled with visions of the riches and honors which they would enjoy when Jesus set up his kingdom. No wonder, then, that they were amazed to find that it was impossible for a rich man to enter that kingdom, and that, moreover and worse than all, riches appeared to exclude from salvation itself: that even this virtuous rich man, this paragon of excellence, could not have eternal life because he clung to his riches. But they were comforted by the assurance of Jesus that though the salvation of some men might present more difficulties than the salvation of others [547] --might, as it were, require a miracle where others only required simple means, yet the gracious, mighty God might still be trusted to overcome the obstacles. It is impossible for any man to save himself, so that in every case of salvation God is called upon to assist man in accomplishing the impossible. God can so work upon the rich man's heart as to make him a dispenser of blessings.] a27 Then answered Peter c28 And bbegan to say unto him, aand said unto him, bLo, we have left all, cour own, band have followed thee. awhat then shall we have? [The negative conduct of the rich man reminded the disciples of their own positive conduct when confronted with a similar crisis ( Luk_5:11), and the "all" which they had left was by no means contemptible, though perhaps none of them could have been said to have held great possessions. The mention of treasure in heaven, therefore, set Peter to wondering what manner of return would be made to them to compensate them for their sacrifice.] 28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [By the term "regeneration," Jesus in this case means the period in which the process of regenerating men would be in progress; i. e., the period of the mediatorial reign. After his ascension Jesus sat upon his throne ( Act_2:33-35, Heb_1:13, Mat_25:31, 1Co_15:24-28). And on the day of Pentecost next following, he began this process of regeneration. Having enthroned himself, Jesus enthroned the apostles also, not as kings but as judges, having jurisdiction over all questions of faith and practice in the earthly kingdom. During their personal ministry, they judged in person; and since then they judge through their writings. True, we have written communications from only a part of them, but judgments pronounced by one of a bench of judges with the known approval of all, are the judgments of the entire bench. Moreover, the passage must be construed metaphorically, for the apostles are [548] judges in the church of Christ--the true Israel--and not over the literal twelve tribes of Jacob. And again, the twelve who then heard Jesus speak were not all enthroned, Judas having fallen from his position before the day of enthronement, and Matthias and Paul were afterwards added to the group. Jesus here causes the number of the judges to correspond to the number of the tribes, to indicate that there will be a sufficiency of judgment commensurate to the need.] 29 And every one { bThere is no man that ahath left houses, bhouse, cor wife, or brethren, bor sisters, or mother, or father, cor parents, bor children, or lands, for my sake, amy name's sake, band for the gospel's sake, cfor the kingdom of God's sake, 30 who shall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the world to come eternal life. b30 but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come ashall inherit eternal life. [The rewards of Christian self-denial are here divided into two parts--the temporal and the eternal. The earthly joys--the rewards "in this time"--shall outweigh the sacrifices made for the kingdom. The return, of course, will not be in kind, houses for house, and fathers for father, etc., but spiritual relationships and blessings which compensate abundantly for whatever has been resigned ( Mat_12:49, 1Ti_4:8). But these joys shall be mingled with the bitterness of persecution, for no pleasure is perfected in this world, but only in the inheritance which lies beyond-- 1Pe_1:4.] 30 But many shall be last i that are first; and first that are last. b31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first. [The promise of large recompense which Jesus had just given was apt to tempt some to labor not for love, but for the rewards which might be reaped thereby. Jesus corrects this spirit by the statement, and the parable that follows which illustrates it, and which ends with the same sentiment. See Lev_19:13, Deu_24:15], the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward [his overseer], Call the laborers, and pay them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. [Thus following the order indicated by Mar_7:22, 1Sa_18:9, Pro_23:6-8, Pro_28:22, Deu_15:9). The lord had done no wrong to those who had labored longest, for he had paid them what they had bargained for and earned. If he chose to be generous with those whose misfortune had prevented them from being hired earlier in the day, no one had any just cause to murmur.] 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last [The meaning of this parable has often been misunderstood by those who fail to note the maxim with which Jesus begins and ends it. This maxim acts as a safeguard in the interpretation of it; the parable also in turn guards against misunderstanding the maxim. The maxim can not be applied to Judas; for, though he then stood high in honor and afterwards fell into disgrace, yet he stands outside the pale of the maxim as interpreted by the parable, for in the parable both the first and the last were received and rewarded by their master, while Judas was rejected of Christ and received no reward. The term "last," therefore, must be applied to those who were included among the accepted laborers, and not those who were excluded from that class. In the parable, the denarius or shilling stands for the gift of [551] eternal life. The vineyard represents the Lord's field of work in the world. The evening is the close of the Christian dispensation, and the coming of Christ to judgment. The parable as it unfolds and develops suggests that in no case was the reward earned by the inherent merits and toil of the laborers, but was rather bestowed because of a desire on the part of the householder to that effect, just as eternal life is bestowed, not by merit, but by covenant grace ( Rom_2:6, Rom_2:7, Rom_4:3-5, Rom_5:16-21). The main object of the parable is to show that longer labor does not necessarily, as the apostles and others might think, establish a claim to higher reward. Degrees of difference there no doubt will be, but they form no account in the general covenant of grace in which the one great gift is offered to us all. As the gift can be no less than eternal life, there must of necessity be a difference in the ratio of service which is rendered for it, since it will be bestowed on the octogenarian and the child, upon Paul who made good the confession of his faith through years of toil, and the dying thief who passed to his reward while his voice of confession was, as it were, still ringing in the ears of those who heard it ( 1Co_15:8-11, 2Ti_4:6-9). The murmuring and envy of those who had labored longest is merely part of the parabolic drapery, introduced to bring out the answer of the householder, and to make plain the point to be illustrated. There will be no envy among those who inherit eternal life. By thus speaking of the envy, however, and showing how ineffectual it was, Jesus warns us to be prepared not to cherish it. The parable is not intended to teach that the characters of men will be exactly similar in the world to come. Paul will not be Peter, nor will Martin Luther be identical with Hugh Latimer and John Knox. God may award eternal life to the character which we are forming, but we should be careful what kind of character we bring to receive the gift. The lesson is that works are valued qualitatively and not quantitatively. Nor may the parable be rightly used to encourage hope in death-bed repentance. It certainly does teach that, however little the labor which a man does in the Lord's vineyard, he will receive the final reward if only he [552] be really in the vineyard; that is, if he be really a child of God. But whether a man who repents on his death-bed actually becomes a child of God is a different question, and is not touched by the parable. Certainly the eleventh-hour laborer who had stood idle all day only because no man had hired him, and who came into the vineyard as soon as he was called, can not represent the man who has been called by the gospel every hour of his life, but has rejected every call until his sun has sunk so low that he knows he can do but little work when he comes. In order to represent this class of sinners, the eleventh-hour men should have been invited early in the morning, and should have replied, "No, it is too early; we will not go now." Then they should have been invited at the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours, and should have made some equally frivolous excuse each time, then, finally, at the eleventh hour, they should have said, "Well, as you pay a man just the same for an hour's work as for a day's work, and as we are very anxious to get your money, we believe we will now go." Had they acted thus, it is not likely that they would have found the vineyard gates open to them at all. Yet such is the sharp practice which some men attempt in dealing with God.]
[FFG 543-553]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v16The Dangers of Riches.
The Dangers of Riches.
v. 16. And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?
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v. 17. And He said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God; but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
v. 18. He saith unto Him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
v. 19. Honor thy father and thy mother, and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
The evangelist introduces the story in a lively manner: Lo! Christ was on His journey through Perea, and the experience which Matthew had recorded in the first verses of this chapter may have been repeated often. People were always coming with various matters which they wanted to bring to Christ’s attention. In this case, one man came, a ruler, Luk 18:18, probably a rich young ruler of some small synagogue, as some versions imply. Here was a frank, sincere, open heart, weary of the endless disputings of the scribes and Pharisees, earnestly seeking the truth. He is even now more than half convinced that he will find it with Jesus. Good Teacher, he calls out, what good shall I do that I may have eternal life? In order to lead him to the knowledge of all truth, Jesus, first of all, takes up the question as he has put it. He wants to test him as to his understanding of his own request: Why callest thou Me good? He does not mean to decline the title as not being applicable to Him, but to God only, nor as a mere appellation of courtesy. The accent and position of the word "Me" rather implies: Do you know that in calling Me good, you are placing Me on a level with God Himself, and rightly so? Far, therefore, from rejecting the honor, Christ rather joyfully takes up the word and emphasizes its full import and significance. He now proceeds with the second test; So far as your wish to enter eternal life is concerned, you, as a ruler of a school, ought to have the information; the way you yourself have taught is that of the fulfillment of the Law. The young man was sincere enough, but he was suffering with the same amount of self-righteousness that every other person does by nature. In such cases it is necessary to refer to the Law of God and preach complete fulfillment of every commandment. If a person then has his eyes opened and freely acknowledges his insufficiency and sinfulness, then there is a chance for the knowledge of the Savior and for the faith in this Redeemer which alone brings to heaven. Two significant facts: If it were not for man’s natural depravity and his blindness in spiritual things, he could, indeed, get to heaven by fulfilling the commandments. A complete keeping of the Law earns life everlasting, Luk 10:28. Keeping the commandments is also enjoined upon the Christians as an exercise in sanctification. "The commandments must be kept, or there is no life, but only death. For even faith is nothing, where love, that is, the fulfillment of the commandments, does not follow, 1Co 13:2. For Christ, God’s Son, has not come, nor did He die for that reason that we should freely be disobedient to the commandments, but that we might fulfill the commandments through His help and assistance. Therefore as it is said: Works without faith are nothing, so it is also true: Faith without fruit is also vain. For work without faith is idolatry. Faith without work is a lie, and no faith."
In order to open the eyes of the young man, who again frankly asks. What kind? Which do you mean? Those of Moses or those of the elders? Jesus slowly recites the chief commandments of the second table of the Decalogue, placing the summary of the entire table in the last place. He hoped that the mere hearing of the list from the lips of another might cause the man to think, to reflect, to apply the words to himself, to examine his heart properly. But even the last commandment did not so much as stir his conscience.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv16, 18Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Here the scene shifts to a different time when Jesus explains to a rich man what it will cost to follow him.
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Behold
The word "behold" alerts us to a new person in the story. Your language may have a way of doing this.
good thing
This means a thing that pleases God.
Why do you ask me about what is good?
Jesus uses this rhetorical question to encourage the man to think about his reason for asking Jesus about what is good. AT: "You ask me about what is good" or "Think about why you ask me about what is good." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v1719:17 Why ask me? The man, as a Jew,…
19:17 Why ask me? The man, as a Jew, should have known that God’s standard of goodness is clearly reflected in his commandments. The man’s questions (also 19:20) show that he was not trusting in the adequacy of God’s revealed will. • only One . . . is good: The man may have believed he could act with perfect goodness on his own, whereas only God is truly good and thus the source of all goodness. • keep the commandments: Jesus has in mind either leading the man to see his sinfulness by asking him to do the impossible, or more probably, restating that good works are a telling gauge of the truthfulness of a person’s faith (see 7:13-27).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v16 They neither know themselves nor the Law, that seek…
They neither know themselves nor the Law, that seek to be saved by the Law.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–19 16 And, behold, one came and said unto him,…
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Ver. 16. And behold one came] One of good rank, a ruler, Luk 18:18, of good estate, for he was rich, and had great revenue (χρηματα, saith Luke, κτηματα, saith Matthew, Mat 19:22, he had a good title to that he had, and he lived not beside it). He was also a young man, in the prime and pride of his age, and had been well bred; both for point of civility, he came congeeing (bowing) to our Saviour, Mar 10:17. {a} And for matter of piety, he was no Sadducee, for he inquires after eternal life, which they denied. And although but young, he hearkens after heaven: and though he were rich, he comes running to Christ through desire of information; whereas great men use not to run, but to walk leisurely, so to maintain their authority. Lastly, he knew much of God’s law, and had done much; so that he seemed to himself to want work, to be beforehand with God. Christ also looked upon him and loved him, as he was a tame creature, a moral man, and fit to live in a commonwealth.
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What good thing shall I do?] A most needful and difficult question, rarely moved, by rich men especially, whose hearts are usually upon their half-penny, as they say, whose mouths utter no other language but the horse leech’s, Give, give; Who will show us any good? &c.; A good purchase, a good penny’s worth? &c. Howbeit, by the manner of his expressing himself, this gallant seems to have been a Pharisee, and of that sort of Pharisees (for there were seven sorts of them, saith the Talmud) which was named, Quid debeo facere, et faciam illud, Tell me what I should do, and I will do it. They that know not Christ, would go to heaven by their good meanings and good doings; this is a piece of natural popery, that must be utterly abandoned ere eternal life can be obtained.
That I may have eternal life] He had a good mind to heaven, and cheapens it, but was not willing to go to the price of it, that thorough sale of all. Good desires may be found in hell’s mouth, as in Balaam some short winded wishes at least. The spies praised the land as pleasant and plenteous, but they held the conquest impossible, and thereby discouraged the people. Many like well of Abraham’s bosom, but not so well of Dives’ door. They seek to Christ, but when he saith, "Take up the cross and follow me," they stumble at the cross, and fall backward. Their desires after heaven are lazy and sluggish, like the door that turns upon the hinges, but yet hangs still on them: so these wishers and woulders, for all their faint and weak desires after heaven, still hang fast on the hinges of their sins; they will not be wrought off from the things of this world, they will not part with their fatness and sweetness, though it be to reign for ever, Jdg 9:11. Theotimus in St Ambrose would rather lose his sight than his sin of intemperance ( Vale lumen amicum), farewell bright friend, so many, their souls.
{a} γονυπετησας, genibus reverenter inflexis salutavit.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv16–18 This history is reported by Mark, Mar 10:17-23 and…
This history is reported by Mark, Mar 10:17-23 and by Luke, Luk 18:18-25. Mark saith, When he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life? Luke saith, A certain ruler asked him. Our Lord was now in his way from Galilee to Judea and to Jerusalem. There cometh a person, a ruler, whether of some of the synagogues, or in some place of civil magistracy, the Scripture saith not. He runs, he kneels to him, (paying him at least a civil homage, as to his superior), he salutes him with the ordinary title they gave to their teachers, Master, Good Master; he propounds a grave question to him, what he should do that he might get to heaven; but yet he doth not propound the question in those terms, but,
What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? It appeareth by his respect showed to Christ at his coming, and by the question proposed, and by his going away sorrowful when our Saviour’s answer did not satisfy him, that he did not come upon any captious design to entrap our Saviour, but out of a desire to learn; but yet it appeareth plainly that he was a Pharisee, or a disciple of the Pharisees; and thought his life was in his own hands, that he had a power in himself to do some good thing by which he might merit eternal life, or upon the doing of which he might at least obtain everlasting life, though not as a strict reward for his work, without any consideration of a Messias. He grants an eternal state, he declares his desire of an eternal happiness, he declares his readiness to do some good thing that he might obtain it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv16–18 Observe here, A person addressing himself to Christ, and…
Observe here, A person addressing himself to Christ, and propounding an important question to him; namely, What he should do to gain eternal life?
Where, Note, 1. He believes the certainty of a future state.
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2. He professes his desire of an eternal happiness in that state.
And, 3. He declares his readiness to do some good, that he may obtain that happiness.
Learn, That the light of nature, or natural religion, directs and teaches men, that good works are necessary to salvation, or that some good things must be done by men that at death expect eternal life.
What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? It is not talking well, and professing well, but doing well, and living well, that entitles us to eternal life.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–19 And behold, one came,.... The Persic version reads, "a…
And behold, one came,.... The Persic version reads, "a rich man"; and so he was, as appears from what follows: Luke calls him, "a certain ruler"; not of a synagogue, an ecclesiastical ruler, but a civil magistrate: perhaps he might be one of the sanhedrim, which consisted of "twenty one" persons; or of that which consisted only of "three", as in some small towns and villages Mark represents him as "running"; for Christ was departed out of the house, and was gone into the way, the high road, and was on his journey to some other place, when this man ran after him with great eagerness; and, as the same evangelist adds, "kneeled to him"; thereby paying him civil respect, and honour; believing him to be a worthy good man, and deserving of esteem and veneration:
and said unto him, good master: some say, that this was a title which the Jewish doctors were fond of, and gave to each other, but I have not observed it; he seems by this to intimate, that he thought him not only to be a good man, but a good teacher; that he was one that came from God, and taught good doctrine, which induced him to run after him, and put the following question to him:
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what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Or, as in the other evangelists, "inherit eternal life"; a phrase much in use with the Jewish Rabbins (a):
"Judah confessed, and was not ashamed, and what is his end? , "he inherits the life of the world to come" (i.e. eternal life); Reuben confessed, and was not ashamed, and what is his end? "he inherits the life of the world to come".''
This man was no Sadducee, he believed a future state; was a serious man, thoughtful about another world, and concerned how he should enjoy everlasting life; but was entirely upon a legal bottom, and under a covenant of works; and speaks in the language and strain of the nation of Israel, who were seeking for righteousness and life by the works of the law: he expected eternal life by doing some good thing, or things; and hoped, as the sequel shows, that he had done every good thing necessary to the obtaining it.
(a) T. Bab. Sota, fol. 7. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19 And behold one came - Many of the poor…
And behold one came - Many of the poor had followed him from the beginning. One rich man came at last. Mark x, 17; Luke xviii, 18.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16–19 Verse 16. One came] Instead of εις one, several…
Verse 16. One came] Instead of εις one, several MSS., the Slavonic version, and Hilary, read νεανισκος τις, a certain young man.
Good, c.] Much instruction may be had from seriously attending to the conduct, spirit, and question of this person.
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1. He came running, (Mr 10:17,) for he was deeply convinced of the importance of his business, and seriously determined to seek so as to find.
2. He kneeled, or caught him by the knees, thus evidencing his humility, and addressing himself only to mercy. See Mt 17:14.
3. He came in the spirit of a disciple, or scholar, desiring to be taught a matter of the utmost importance to him - Good teacher.
4. He came in the spirit of obedience he had worked hard to no purpose, and he is still willing to work, provided he can have a prospect of succeeding - What good thing shall I do?
5. His question was the most interesting and important that any soul can ask of God - How shall I be saved?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv16–17 Mat 19:16. And behold, one came, &c. — Many…
Mat 19:16. And behold, one came, &c. — Many of the poor had followed him from the beginning. One rich man came at last, and came running, with great earnestness, and kneeled to him with great humility and reverence, Mar 10:17, and said, Good Master — Manifesting by the appellation both a submissive and teachable disposition; his persuasion that Christ was a divinely-commissioned teacher, and his affection and peculiar respect to him as such. What good thing shall I do? — Or, as Mark and Luke express it, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? — By this question he manifested, 1st, That he believed in a future state; that there was an eternal life that might be inherited; he was therefore no Sadducee: 2d, that he was concerned to ensure that life to himself, and was more desirous of it than of any of the enjoyments of this life: thus he differed from many of his age and quality; for the rich are apt to think it below them to make such an inquiry as this, and young people in general are inclined to defer making it to some future period of their lives: 3d, that something must be done; some evils omitted, some duties performed, or divine injunctions complied with, in order to it: 4th, that he was, or at least thought he was, willing to do what was to be done, or to take the steps necessary to be taken for the obtaining of this eternal life. And surely those that know what it will be to enjoy eternal life, and what to come short of it, will be glad to accept it on any terms.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v16 This account is found also in Mar 10:17-31; Luke…
This account is found also in Mar 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-39.
Mat 19:16
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One came - This was a young man, Mat 19:20. He was a ruler (Luke); probably a ruler in a synagogue, or of the great council of the nation; a place to which he was chosen on account of his unblemished character and promising talents. He came running (Mark); evincing great earnestness and anxiety, He fell upon his knees (Mark); not to worship him, but to pay the customary respectful salutation; exhibiting the highest regard for Jesus as an extraordinary religious teacher.
Good Master - The word “good” here means, doubtless, most excellent; referring not so much to the moral character of Jesus as to his character as a religious teacher. It was probably a title which the Jews were in the habit of applying to their religious teachers. The word “Master” here means teacher.
What good thing shall I do? - He had attempted to keep all the commandments. He had been taught by his Jewish teachers that people were to be saved by doing something - that is, by their works; and he supposed that this was to be the way under every system of religion. He had lived externally a blameless life, but yet he was not at peace: he was anxious, and he came to ascertain what, in the view of Jesus, was to be done, that his righteousness might be complete. To “have eternal life” means to be saved. The happiness of heaven is called “life,” in opposition to the pains of hell, called “death,” or an eternal dying, Rev 2:2; Rev 20:14. The one is real life, answering the purposes of living - living to the honor of God and in eternal happiness; the other is a failure of the great ends of existence - prolonged, eternal suffering, of which temporal death is but the feeble image.
Mat 19:17
Why callest thou me good? - Why do you give to me a title that belongs only to God? You suppose me to be only a man, yet you give me an appellation that belongs only to God.
It is improper to use titles in this manner. As you Jews use them they are unmeaning; and though the title may apply to me, yet, you did not intend to use it in the sense in which it is proper, as denoting infinite perfection or divinity; but you intended to use it as a complimentary or a flattering title, applied to me as if I were a mere man - a title which belongs only to God. The intentions, the habit of using mere titles, and applying as a compliment terms belonging only to God, is wrong. Christ did not intend here to disclaim divinity, or to say anything about his own character, but simply to reprove the intention and habit of the young man - a most severe reproof of a foolish habit of compliment and flattery, and seeking pompous titles.
Keep the commandments - That is, do what God has commanded. He in the next verses informs him what he meant by the commandments. Jesus said this, doubtless, to try him, and to convince him that he had by no means kept the commandments, and that in supposing he had he was altogether deceived. The young man thought he had kept them, and was relying on them for salvation. It was of great importance, therefore, to convince him that he was, after all, a sinner. Christ did not mean to say that any man would be saved by the works of the law, for the Bible teaches plainly that such will not be the case, Rom 3:20, Rom 3:28; Rom 4:6; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:9; 2Ti 1:9. At the same time, however, it is true that if a man perfectly complied with the requirements of the law he would be saved, for there would be no reason why he should be condemned. Jesus, therefore, since he saw he was depending on his works, told him that if he would enter into life that is, into heaven - he must keep the commandments; if he was depending on them he must keep them perfectly, and if this was done he would be saved. The reasons why Christ gave him this direction were, probably:
1.Because it was his duty to keep them.
2.Because the young man depended on them, and he ought to understand what was required if he did - that they should be kept perfectly, or that they were not kept at all.
3.Because he wanted to test him, to show him that he did not keep them, and thus to show him his need of a Saviour.
Mat 19:18, Mat 19:19
He saith unto him, Which? - In reply to the inquiry of the young man, Jesus directed him to the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and fifth Exo 20:12-16, as containing the substance of the whole - as containing particularly what he intended to show him that he had not kept. See notes at Mat 5:21, Mat 5:27.
Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder - See the notes at Mat 5:21-26.
Thou shalt not commit adultery - See the notes at Mat 5:27-32.
Thou shalt not steal - To steal is to take the property of another without his knowledge or consent.
Thou shalt not bear false witness - Give testimony contrary to truth. This may be done in a court of justice, or by private or public slander. It means to say things of another which are not true.
Honour thy father ... - That is,
Obey them, keep their commands, Col 3:20; Eph 6:1-3. Respect them, show them reverence. Treat their opinions with respect - do not despise them or ridicule them. Treat their habits with respect. Those habits may be different from ours; they may be antiquated, and to us strange, odd, or whimsical; but they are the habits of a parent, and they are not to be ridiculed. Provide for them when sick, weary, old, and infirm. Bear with their weakness, comply with their wishes, speak to them kindly, and deny yourselves of rest, and sleep, and ease, to promote their welfare.
To this he added another - the duty of loving our neighbor, Lev 19:18. This Christ declared to be the second great commandment of the law, Mat 22:39. A neighbor means:
1.Any person who lives near to us.
2.Any person with whom we have dealings.
3.A friend or relative, Mat 5:43.
4.Any person - friend, relative, countryman, or foe, Mar 12:31.
5.Any person who does us good or confers a favor on us, Luk 10:27-37,
This commandment means, evidently:
1.That we should not injure our neighbor in his person, property, or character.
2.That we should not be selfish, but should seek to do him good.
3.That in a case of debt, difference, or debate, we should do what is right, regarding his interest as much as our own.
4.That we should treat his character, property, etc., as we do our own, according to what is right.
5.That, in order to benefit him, we should practice self-denial, or do as we would wish him to do to us, Mat 7:12.
It does not mean:
1.That the love of ourselves, according to what we are, or according to truth, is improper. The happiness of myself is of as much importance as that of any other man, and it is as proper that it should be sought.
It does not mean that I am to neglect my own business to take care of my neighbor’s. My happiness, salvation, health, and family are committed especially to myself; and, provided I do not interfere with my neighbor’s rights or violate my obligations to him, it is my duty to seek the welfare of my own as my first duty, 1Ti 5:8, 1Ti 5:13; Tit 2:5. Mark adds to these commandments, “Defraud not;” by which he meant, doubtless, to express the substance of this to love our neighbor as ourselves. It means, literally, to take away the property of another by violence or by deceiving him, thus showing that he is not loved as we love ourselves.
Mat 19:20
All these things have I kept from my youth up - I have made them the rule of my life.
I have endeavored to obey them. Is there anything that I lack - are there any new commandments to be kept? Do you, the Messiah, teach any command besides those which I have learned from the law and from the Jewish teachers, which it is necessary for me to obey in order to be saved?
Mat 19:21
If thou wilt be perfect - The word “perfect” means complete in all its parts, finished, having no part wanting.
Thus a watch is perfect or complete when it has all its proper wheels, and hands, and casements in order. Job was said to be perfect (see the notes at Job 1:1), not that he was sinless, for he is afterward reproved by God himself Job 38; 39; Job 40:4; but because his piety was properly proportioned, or had a completeness of parts. He was a pious father, a pious magistrate, a pious neighbor, a pious citizen. His religion was not confined to one thing, but it extended to all. Perfect means, sometimes, the filling up, or the carrying out, or the expression of a principle of action. Thus, 1Jo 2:5; “Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” That is, the keeping of the commandments of God is the proper expression, carrying out, or completion of the love of God. This is its meaning here. If thou wilt be perfect, complete, finished - if thou writ show the proper expression of this keeping of the commandments, go, etc. Make the obedience complete. Mark says Mar 10:21, Jesus, beholding him, loved him. He was pleased with his amiableness, his correct character, his frankness, his ingenuousness. Jesus, as a man, was capable of all the emotions of most tender friendship. As a man, we may suppose that his disposition was tender and affectionate, mild and calm. Hence, he loved with special affection the disciple John, eminently endowed with these qualities; and hence he was pleased with the same traits in this young man. Still, with all this amiableness, there is reason to think he was not a Christian, and that the love of mere amiable qualities was all the affection that was ever bestowed on him by the Saviour.
“One thing,” adds Mark, “thou lackest.” There is one thing missing. You are not complete. This done, you would show that your obedience lacked no essential part, but was complete, finished, proportionate, perfect.
Go and sell that thou hast ... - The young man declared that he had kept the law. That law required, among other things, that he should love his neighbor as himself. It required, also, that he should love the Lord his God supremely; that is, more than all other objects. If he had that true love to God and man - if he loved his Maker and fellow-creatures more than he did his property, he would be willing to give up his wealth to the service of God and of man. Jesus commanded him to do this, therefore, to test his character, and to show him that he had not kept the law as he pretended, and thus to show him that he needed a better righteousness than his own.
Treasure in heaven - See the notes at Mat 6:20.
Follow me - To follow Jesus then meant to be a personal attendant on his ministry; to go about with him from place to place, as well as to imitate and obey him. Now it means:
1.To obey his commandments.
2.To imitate his example, and to live like him.
Mat 19:22
He had great possessions - He was very rich.
He made an idol of his wealth. He loved it more than God. He had not kept the commandments from his youth up, nor had he kept them at all; and rather than do good with his treasures, and seek his salvation by obeying God, he chose to turn away from the Saviour and give over his inquiry about eternal life. He probably returned no more. Alas, how many lovely and amiable young persons follow his example!
Mat 19:23
A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven - Shall with difficulty be saved.
He has much to struggle with, and it will require the greatest of human efforts to break away from his temptations and idols. and to secure his salvation. Compare the notes at 1Ti 6:9-10.
Mat 19:24
It is easier for a camel ... - This was a proverb in common use among the Jews, and is still common among the Arabians.
To denote that a thing was impossible or exceedingly difficult, they said that a camel or an elephant might as soon walk through a needle’s eye. In the use of such proverbs it is not necessary to understand them literally. They merely denote the extreme difficulty of the case.
A camel - A beast of burden much used in Eastern countries. It is about the size of the largest ox, with one or two bunches on his back, with long neck and legs, no horns, and with feet adapted to the hot and dry sand. They are capable of carrying heavy burdens, will travel sometimes faster than the fleetest horse, and are provided with a stomach which they fill with water, by means of which I they can live four or five days without drink. They are very mild and tame, and kneel down to receive and unload their burden. They are chiefly used in deserts and hot climates, where other beasts of burden are with difficulty kept alive.
A rich man - This rather means one who loves his riches and makes an idol of them, or one who supremely desires to be rich. Mark says Mar 10:24 “How hard is it for them that trust in riches.” While a man has this feeling - relying on his wealth alone - it is literally impossible that he should be a Christian; for religion is a love of God rather than the world - the love of Jesus and his cause more than gold. Still a man may have much property, and not have this feeling. He may have great wealth, and love God more; as a poor man may have little, and love that little more than God. The difficulties in the way of the salvation of a rich man are:
1.That riches engross the affections.
2.That people consider wealth as the chief good, and when this is obtained they think they have gained all.
3.That they are proud of their wealth, and unwilling to be numbered with the poor and despised followers of Jesus.
4.That riches engross the time, and fill the mind with cares and anxieties, and leave little for God.
5.That they often produce luxury, dissipation, and vice. that it is difficult to obtain wealth without sin, without avarice, without covetousness, fraud, and oppression, 1Ti 6:9-10, 1Ti 6:17; Jam 5:1-5; Luk 12:16-21; Luk 16:19-31.
Still, Jesus says Mat 19:26, all these may be overcome. God can give grace to do it. Though to people it may appear impossible, yet it is easy for God.
Mat 19:27
We have forsaken all - Probably nothing but their fishing-nets, small boats, and cottages.
But they were their all - their living, their home; and, forsaking them, they had as really shown their sincerity as though they had possessed the gold of Ophir and lived in the palaces of kings.
What shall we have, therefore? - We have done as thou didst command this young man to do. What reward may we expect for it?
Mat 19:28
Verily I say unto you - Jesus in this verse declares the reward which they would have.
They were not to look for it now, but in a future period.
That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration - This word occurs but once elsewhere in the New Testament, Tit 3:5. It literally means a new birth, or being born again. Applied to man, it denotes the great change when the heart is renewed, or when the sinner begins to be a Christian. This is its meaning, clearly, in the passage referred to in Titus; but this meaning cannot be applied here. Christ was not born again, and in no proper sense could it be said that they had followed him in the new birth; but the word also means any great change, or a restoration of things to a former state or to a better state. In this sense it is probably used here. It refers to that great revolution - that restoration of order in the universe - that universal new birth which will occur when the dead shall rise, and all human things shall be changed, and a new order of things shall start up out of the ruins of the old, when the Son of man shall come to judgment. The passage, then, should be read, “Ye which have followed me shall, as a reward in the great day of the resurrection of the dead, and of forming the new and eternal order of things - the day of judgment, the regeneration - be signally honored and blessed.
When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory - That is, to judge the world. “Throne of glory” means glorious throne or a splendid throne. It is not to be taken literally, but is used to denote his character as a king and judge, and to signify the great dignity and majesty which will be displayed by him. See Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64; Act 1:11; Act 17:31.
Sit upon twelve thrones - This is figurative. To sit on a throne denotes power and honor, and means here that they would be distinguished above others, and be more highly honored and rewarded.
Judging the twelve tribes of Israel - Jesus will be the Judge of quick and dead. He only is qualified for it, and the Father hath given all judgment to the Son, Joh 5:22. To be a judge denotes rank, authority, power. The ancient judges of Israel were people of distinguished courage, patriotism, honor, and valor. Hence, the word comes to denote not so much an actual exercise of the power of passing judgment, as the honor attached to the office; and as earthly kings have those around them dignified with honors and office - counselors and judges, so Christ says that his apostles will occupy the same relative station in the great day. They will be honored by him, and by all, as apostles, as having, in the face of persecution, left all; as having laid the foundations of his church, and endured all the persecutions of the world.
The twelve tribes of Israel - This was the number of the ancient tribes. By this name the people of God were denoted. By this name Jesus here denotes his redeemed people. See also Jam 1:1, where Christians are called the twelve tribes. Here it means also, not the Jews, not the world, not the wicked, not that the apostles are to pronounce sentence on the enemies of God, but the people of God, the redeemed. Among them Jesus says his apostles will be honored in the day of judgment, as earthly kings place in posts of office and honor those who have signally served them. Compare the notes at 1Co 6:2.
Mat 19:29
And every one that hath forsaken houses ... - In the days of Jesus, those who followed him were obliged, generally, to forsake houses and home, and to attend him.
In our time it is not often required that we should literally leave them, except when the life is devoted to him among the pagan; but it is always required that we love them less than we do him, that we give up all that is inconsistent with religion, and that we be ready to give up all when he demands it.
For my name’s sake - From attachment to me. Mark adds, “and for the gospel’s;” that is, from obedience to the requirements of the gospel, and love for the service of the gospel.
Shall receive a hundred-fold - Mark says “a hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters,” etc. A hundred-fold means a hundred times as much. This is not to be understood literally, but that he will give what will be worth 100 times as much in the peace, and joy, and rewards of religion. It is also literally true that no man’s temporal interest is injured by the love of God. Mark adds, “with persecutions.” These are not promised as a part of the reward; but amid their trials and persecutions they should find reward and peace.
Mat 19:30
This verse should have been connected with the following chapter
The parable there spoken is expressly to illustrate this sentiment. See it explained in the notes at Mat 20:16.
Remarks On Matthew 19
1. We should not throw ourselves unnecessarily in the way of the enemies of religion, Mat 19:1. Jesus, to avoid the dangers to which he was exposed, left Jerusalem, and passed over to the other side of the Jordan. If duty calls us to remain in the presence of our enemies and the enemies of religion, we should do it. If we can do them good, we should do it. If our presence will only provoke them to anger and bitterness, then we should turn aside. Compare the notes at Mat 10:23.
2. People will seek every occasion to ensnare Christians, Mat 19:3. Questions will be proposed with great art, and with an appearance of sincerity, only for the purpose of leading them into difficulty. Cunning men know well how to propose such questions, and triumph much when they have perplexed believers. This is often the boast of people of some standing, who think they accomplish the great purposes of their existence if they can confound other people, and think it signal triumph if they can make others as miserable as themselves.
3. We should not refuse to answer such persons with mildness, when the Bible has settled the question, Mat 19:4-6. Jesus answered a captious question, proposed on purpose to ensnare him. We may often do much to confound the enemies of religion, and to recommend it, when without passion we hear their inquiries, and deliberately inform them that the question has been settled by God. We had better, however, far better, say nothing in reply, than to answer in anger or to show that we are irritated. All the object of the enemy is gained if he can make us angry.
4. People will search and pervert the Bible for authority to indulge their sins and to perplex Christians, Mat 19:7. No device is more common than to produce a passage of Scripture known to be misquoted or perverted, yet plausible, for the purpose of perplexing Christians. In such cases, the best way, often, is to say nothing. If unanswered, people will be ashamed of it; if answered, they gain their point, and are ready for debate and abuse.
5. We learn from this chapter that there is no union so intimate as the marriage connection, Mat 19:6. Nothing is so tender and endearing as this union appointed by God for the welfare of man.
6. This union should not be entered into slightly or rashly. It involves all the happiness of this life and much of that to come. The union demands:
(1)Congeniality of feeling and disposition;
(2)Of rank or standing in life;
(3)Of temper;
(4)Similarity of acquirements;
(5)Of age;
(6)Of talent;
(7)Intimate acquaintance.
It should also be a union on religious feelings and opinions:
(1)Because religion is more important than anything else;
(2)Because it will give more happiness in the married life than anything else;
(3)Because where one only is pious, there is danger that the religion of the other will be obscured and blighted;
(4)Because no prospect is so painful as that of eternal separation;
(5)Because it is paganish, brutal, and mad, to partake the gifts of God in a family and offer no thanksgiving; inexpressibly wicked to live from day to day as if there were no God, no heaven, no hell;
(6)Because death is near, and nothing will soothe the pangs of parting but the hope of meeting in the resurrection of the just.
7. No human legislature has a right to declare divorces except in one single case, Mat 19:9. If they do, they are accessories to the crime that may follow, and presume to legislate where God has legislated before them.
8. Those thus divorced, or pretended to be divorced, and marrying again, are, by the declaration of Jesus Christ, living in adultery, Mat 19:9. It is no excuse to say that the law of the land divorced them. The law had no such right. If all the legislatures of the world were to say that it was lawful for a man to steal or to commit murder, it would not make it so, and, in spite of human permission, God would hold a man answerable for theft and murder. So, also, of adultery.
9. The marriage union demands kindness and love, Mat 19:6. The husband and the wife are one. Love to each other is love to a second self. Hatred, and anger, and quarrels are against ourselves. The evils and quarrels in married life will descend on ourselves, and be gall and wormwood in our own cup.
10. Infants may be brought to Jesus to receive his blessing, Mat 19:12-15. While on earth, he admitted them to his presence and blessed them with his prayers. If they might be brought then, they may be brought now. Their souls are as precious; their dangers are as great; their salvation is as important. A parent should require the most indubitable evidence that Jesus will not receive his offspring, and will be displeased if the offering is made, to deter him from this inestimable privilege.
11. If children may be brought, they should be brought. It is the solemn duty of a parent to seize upon all possible means of benefiting his children, and of presenting them to God to implore his blessing. In family prayer, in the sanctuary, and in the ordinance of baptism, the blessing of the Redeemer should be sought early and constantly on their precious and immortal souls.
12. Earnestness and deep anxiety are proper in seeking salvation, Mat 19:16. The young man came running; he kneeled. It was not form and ceremony; it was life and reality. Religion is a great subject. Salvation is important beyond the power of language to express. Eternity is near, and damnation thunders along the path of the guilty. The sinner must be saved soon, or die forever. He cannot be too earnest. He cannot press with too great haste to Jesus. He should come running, and kneeling, and humbled, and lifting the agonizing cry, “What must I do to be saved?”
13. We should come young, Mat 19:20. No one can come too young. God has the first claim on our affections. He made us, he keeps us, he provides for us, and it is right that we should give our first affections to him. No one who has become a Christian ever yet felt that he had become one too young. No young person that has given his heart to the Redeemer ever yet regretted it. They may give up the frivolous world to do it; they may leave the circles of the dance and the song; they may be exposed to contempt and persecution, but no matter. He who becomes a true Christian, no matter of what age or rank, blesses God that he was inclined to do it, and the time never can come when for one moment he will regret it. Why, then, will not the young give their hearts to the Saviour, and do that which they know they never can for one moment regret?
14. It is no dishonor for those who hold offices, and who are people of rank, to inquire on the subject of religion, Luk 18:18. Men of rank often suppose that it is only the weak, the credulous, and the ignorant that ever feel any anxiety about religion. Never was a greater mistake. It has been only profligate, and weak, and ignorant people that have been thoughtless. Two-thirds of all the profound investigations of the world have been on this very subject. The wisest and best of the pagans have devoted their lives to inquire about God and their own destiny. So in Christian lands. Were Bacon, Newton, Locke, Milton, Hale, and Boerhaave men of weak minds? Yet their deepest thoughts and most anxious inquiries were on this very subject. So in our own land. Were Washington, Ames, Henry, Jay, and Rush men of weak minds? Yet they were professed believers in revelation. And yet young men of rank, and wealth, and learning often think that they show great independence in refusing to think of what occupied the profound attention of these men, and fancy they are great only by refusing to tread in their steps. Never was a greater or more foolish mistake. If anything demands attention, it is, surely, the inquiry whether we are to be happy forever, or wretched; whether there is a God and Saviour; or whether we are “in a forsaken and fatherless world.”
15. It is as important for the rich to seek religion as the poor, Mat 19:22. They will as certainly die; they as much need religion. Without it they cannot be happy. Riches will drive away no pain on a death-bed - will not go with us when we die - will not save us.
16. It is of special importance that wealthy young persons should be Christians. They are exposed to many dangers. The world - the “happy” and flattering world - will lead them astray. Fond of fashion, dress, and amusement, as many of them are, they are exposed to a thousand follies and dangers, from which nothing but religion can secrete them. Besides, they may do much good; and God will hold them answerable for all the good they might have done with their wealth.
17. The amiable, the lovely, the moral, need also an interest in Christ, Mar 10:21. If amiable, we should suppose they would be ready to embrace the Saviour. None was ever so moral, so lovely, so pure as he. If we really loved amiableness, then we should come to him - we should love him. But, alas! how many amiable young persons turn away from him, and refuse to follow him! Can they be really lovers of that which is pure and lovely? If so, then why turn away from the Lamb of God?
18. The amiable and the lovely need a better righteousness than their own. With all this, they may make an idol of the world; they may be proud, sensual, selfish, prayerless, and thoughtless about dying. Externally they appear lovely; but oh, how far is the heart from God!
19. Inquirers about religion usually depend on their own works, Mat 19:16. They are not willing to trust to Jesus for salvation, and they ask what they shall do; and it is only when they find that they can do nothing - that they are poor, and helpless, and wretched that they east themselves on the mercy of God and find peace.
20. Compliments and flattering titles are evil, Mat 19:17. They ascribe something to others which we know they do not possess. Often beauty is praised where we know there is no beauty - accomplishment where there is no accomplishment - talent where there is no talent. Such praises are falsehood. We know them to be such. We intend to deceive by them, and we know that they will produce pride and vanity. Often they are used for the purpose of destruction. If a man praises us too much, we should look to our purse or our virtue. We should feel that we are in danger, and the next thing will be a dreadful blow - the heavier for all this flattery. They that use compliments much, expect them from others; are galled and vexed when they are not obtained; and are in danger when they are.
21. If we are to be saved, we must do just what God commands us. Mat 19:17-18. This is all we have to do. We are not to invent anything of our own. God has marked out the course, and we must follow it.
22. We are easily deceived about keeping the law, Mat 19:17. We often think we observe it, when it is only the outward form that we have kept. The law is spiritual, and God requires the heart.
23. Riches are a blessing if used aright; if not, they are deceitful, dangerous, ruinous, Mat 19:23-24. Thousands have lost their souls by the love of riches. None have ever been saved by it.
24. It is our duty to forsake all for Christ, Mat 19:27-29. Be it little or much, it is all the same to him. It is the heart that he looks at; and we may as really show our love by giving up a fishing-boat and net, as by giving up a palace or a crown. If done in either case, it will be accepted.
25. Religion has its own rewards, Mat 19:28-29. It gives more than it takes. It more than compensates for all that we surrender. It gives peace, joy, comfort in trial and in death, and heaven beyond. This is the testimony of all Christians of all denominations of all that have lived, and of all that do live that they never knew true peace until they found it in the gospel. The testimony of so many must be true. They have tried the world in all its forms of gaiety, folly, and vice, and they come and say with one voice, Here only is true peace. On any other subject they would be believed. Their testimony here must be true.
26. Those eminent for usefulness here will be received to distinguished honors and rewards in heaven, Mat 19:28. They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as stars in the firmament forever. See the notes at Dan 12:3.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19 Behold one came. St. Luke (xviii. 18.) calls him…
Behold one came. St. Luke (xviii. 18.) calls him a prince or lord. Some conjecture this young man came only in a dissembling way, to try or tempt our Saviour, as the Pharisees sometimes did, and without any design to follow his advice; but by all the circumstances related of him, by the evangelists particularly, when St. Mark (Chap. x. 22.) tells us, he went away sorrowful, he seems to have come with sincerity, but without resolution strong enough to leave his worldly goods and possessions. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v16 C. Property in the Church. Mat_19:16-26
C. Property in the Church. Mat_19:16-26
(Mar_10:17-27; Luk_18:18-27.)
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16And, behold, one came and said unto him,13 Good14 Master, what good thing [τί ἀγαθόν] shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God [Why dost thou ask me about the good? One is the Good, ὁ ἀγαθὸς]Matthew 15 : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder [shalt not kill], Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 20The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from myyouth up16: what lack I yet [do I yet lack]? 21Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that [what] thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22But when the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through17 the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 25When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? 26But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat_19:16. And, behold, one came, εἶς.—From the circumstance that the former two sections are connected together, we infer that Christ was still surrounded by the Pharisees who had come tempting Him. Hence the expression of astonishment: “Behold!” Besides, the special designation of this “one” as an ἄρχων in the Gospel by Luke, is in favor of the supposition that, having partly been gained over by Jesus, he now came forward with the inquiry of the text.
Mat_19:16-17. (Good) Master.—We presuppose that the accounts of Mark and Luke must be regarded as supplementing that of Matthew. In that case, the rejoinder of the Saviour: “Why callest thou Me good?” must be taken as an objection, not to this salutation itself, but to the superficial and merely outward meaning which attached to it in the mind of this scribe. None is good but God: One only is good. Everything good being in and from Him, can only be one, and can only be regarded as good in so far as it is connected with God.
Thus we also account for the reading: “Why askest thou Me about the good? One is the Good.” God alone being good, is the sole source of all goodness. Hence the duty of doing good is not one of many others which has to be ascertained by means of inquiry, or by theological investigation. The one good thing is to live in God and to love God. Of this the commencement is to keep the commandments, which are the legal form in which that which is good has manifested itself. In other words, seek to fulfil the law, or to be righteous before God. When attempting to do this, you will gradually be led onward to repentance and faith; or, in order to arrive at the one good, or to come unto God, you must first be in earnest about His commandments, or the manifold forms under which the good becomes outwardly manifest. Neander is mistaken in interpreting the passage: “Why askest thou Me about that which is good? One is good; address thyself to Him. He has revealed it in His word.” Still more erroneous is the view of de Wette, who explains it as meaning: Why propoundest thou to Me the unanswerable inquiry about the real and highest good? etc. It is certainly strange, that while this critic characterizes such an inquiry as unanswerable, Meyer should style it superfluous. The latter interpreter, however, aptly remarks: “There is one who is good, and one that is good, alterum non datur. But if you really wish (the δέ here in the same sense as the metabatic autem) to apply to your life what I say, so as to become thoroughly conscious of its spiritual import, etc.” The emphasis rests on the words: τίμεἐρωτᾷς. That which is good is not to be treated as the subject of pharisaical ἐρωτᾷν. It is not to be found in the form of any particular commandment contained among Jewish traditions. Hence Fritzsche correctly explains τί ἀγαθὸν ποιήσω by quid quod bonum sit, what good thing. The young man imagined that he had kept all these things; yet he felt that he still sacked something, although he knew not what. Thus the transaction here recorded is closely connected with the interview between Jesus and the scribe recorded in Mar_12:28. In that case the fundamental idea was: One God; and hence, only one commandment. In the present instance: Only one good Being; and hence, also, only one good thing. On both occasions, the Lord alludes to the contrast with Jewish traditionalism and its manifold ordinances, which so frequently impeded and obscured what was good.
Mat_19:18. Which?—ΙΙοίας, “quales, which is not equivalent to τίνας, but implies that he would like to know its characteristic marks.” Meyer. Hence the statement shows that, like the Pharisees generally, he made a distinction between what were supposed to be primary and secondary commandments.
Thou shalt not.—This enumeration of the commandments by the Lord is of some importance, with reference to the distinction between what are commonly termed the first and second tables of the law. In Mat_19:18 four commandments of the second table are mentioned; and it has been asked how this verse stands related to Mat_19:19. But, according to Lev_19:18, the injunction, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” is evidently intended as a summary of the second table. Hence we infer that “Honor thy father and thy mother” is to be taken in a deeper sense, as summing up the commandments of the first table. In other words, 1. Keep sacred the root of life; or, the first table. 2. Keep sacred the tree of which you are a branch; or, the second table.
Mat_19:20. All these things have I kept, etc.: what do I yet lack? τιἔτιν̔οτερω,—The latter query must not be regarded as an expression of satisfied self-righteousness, as if it implied, In that case I lack nothing. It is, indeed, true that the young man was still self-righteous. He had no conception of the spirituality, the depth, or the height of the commandments of God. Taking only the letter of the law, he considered himself blameless, and perhaps even righteous, before God. Yet his heart misgave him, and he felt that he still lacked something. Under this sense of want, he put the question to the Saviour, as if he would have said: What is it then that I yet lack? All these things have not given me peace of mind. That such is the correct view of the passage, appears both from the statement in Mark, “Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him,” and from the great struggle through which he afterward passed.
Mat_19:21. If thou wilt be perfect.—In its connection with the preceding context, the expression can only mean: If thou wilt have the one good thing, and thus do the one good thing, so that spiritual fear and want may give place to peace and love, etc. The Lord admits the supposition of the young man, that he was now beyond the many commandments, or the way of the law. Well, then, granting this to be the case, proceed to the one thing. The young man was now to give proof that he was in earnest about the matter. For this purpose Jesus tries him, with the view of setting before him the deeper import of the law, and of awakening within him a sense of sinfulness and of spiritual bondage. The injunction of the Lord is manifestly intended to bring out the fact, that the young man had made an idol of his riches, and hence that he utterly contravened the spirit even of the first commandment. Substantially, this demand of Christ imports the same thing as the call addressed to all His disciples—to deny themselves, to take up the cross, and to follow Him. In this sense, then, the injunction applies to every Christian. All that belongs to a believer is in reality not his, but the Lord’s property; above all, it belongs Christo in pauperibus. The Lord, however, expresses this general call of His gospel, as it were, in a legal form, for the purpose of taking away the self-righteousness of the young man, and of leading him to feel his sinfulness and need of salvation. Obviously He could not have meant, that by literally and outwardly obeying this injunction, the young man would obtain a claim upon the kingdom of heaven. Hence those interpreters have missed the import of the passage, who imagine that everything would have been right if the young man had only followed the direction of the Saviour; but that, as he went away sorrowful, he was finally lost. It is, indeed, true that his going away indicated a state of great danger, and was calculated to awaken serious concern about his future. Still the fact of his being sorrowful afforded evidence of an inward conflict, through which by grace he might pass to a proper view of his state before God. This was still lacking in his case, and not any additional attempt at external righteousness.
Treasure in heaven.—Comp. Mat_5:12; Mat_6:20.
Mat_19:23. Hardly, δυσκόλως.—The expression implies that the state of the young man was one of extreme danger. Still it does not follow that it was hopeless. A rich man may enter into the kingdom of heaven, although not as a rich man. The difficulty of the case lies in the natural unwillingness to surrender our trust in and love of earthly possessions. Comp. the tract of Clement of Alexandria: Τις ὁ σωζὴμενος πλούσιος; Quis dives salvetur?
Mat_19:24. It is easier for a camel.—The hyperbolical figure here used has given rise to various false interpretations. Thus, 1. it has been rendered an anchor-rope, (a) after the somewhat arbitrary interpretation of the word κάμηλος (τινές in Theophylact); or, (b) after the reading κάμιλον18 (Castellio, Huetius, etc.). 2. It has been asserted that the expression, eye of a needle, was in the East used to designate the side-gate for foot-passengers, close by the principal gate, through which camels were wont to enter cities. 3. Most interpreters, however, have taken the terms, “camel” and “the eye of a needle,” in their literal sense. Thus Grotius remarks: totum hoc proverbium mutata cameli voce in elephantem est apud Rabbi Jacobum in Caphtor. Similarly de Wette reminds us that the same saying occurs in the Talmud about an elephant; comp. Lightfoot, Schöttgen, Buxtorf’s Lexic. Talmud.19 Grotius quotes a similar Latin proverb, and refers to Jer_13:23 as a somewhat analogous passage. It seems to us that the Saviour here intended to convey the fact, that the difficulty of entering into the kingdom of heaven, to which Mat_19:23 referred, had now become changed into an impossibility. Of course, no expression could be too strong to characterize an impossibility. Hence the import of the passage seems to be, that while Mat_19:23 refers to those who actually possessed riches, with which they might at any moment part, Mat_19:24 applies to rich men in the symbolical sense of the term, or to those who give their heart and life to these things. Accordingly, we regard the expression not merely as a proverbial saying, but as intended to express that a thing was absolutely impossible. The camel as a beast of burden might serve as a fit emblem of a rich person while the eye of a needle, which is the smallest passage through which anything visible could enter, might be regarded as a figure of the spiritual entrance into the kingdom, of a soul which had renounced the world. In one respect, however, even this figure is inadequate, if taken literally, as it might imply that a soul could enter that kingdom while hanging to the world, though it were only by a thread. But figures must not be too closely pressed, and the eye of a needle is certainly the most fitting emblem that could be found.
Mat_19:25. Who then can be saved?—De Wette (after Grotius): “Since every one has more or less of the same love of the world.” This explanation is certainly more satisfactory than that of Meyer, who regards the clause as a conclusio a majoribus ad minores; as if it meant, If rich persons, who have the means of doing so much good, have such difficulty, who then, etc.? In our view, the disciples reasoned as follows: If riches render a man unfit for the kingdom of heaven, there is surely some thread of possessions by which even the poorest individual may be kept from entering the kingdom, more especially as by nature every one loves riches. Or, perhaps, we might take it even in a more general sense: If riches are so great a hindrance, how much more actual sin! The disciples had evidently not yet fully perceived that every sin springs from worldliness of mind and heart; and their Jewish prejudices rose in rebellion against this teaching.
Mat_19:26. But Jesus looking on them.—With kindly sympathy. He felt what a hard struggle they had yet before them, before they could attain the full liberty of the children of God.
With men.—The use of the plural number deserves notice: 1. According to the judgment of men. So Fritzsche and Ewald. 2. According to the power and ability of men. De Wette and Meyer. Both these views may be combined. The common judgment of men accords, in this instance, with their felt inability; and in that sense it is impossible. But God, in His power and grace, not only renders this possible, but actually declares it such, in and through Christ. The expression men refers to the ancient and corrupt world, lost in its worldliness; while the Lord is here presented to the view of the disciples as the Creator of a new era, in which the world would be crucified to believers, and they to the world. Comp. Luk_1:37.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. We have already stated that this section sets before us the third aspect of the Christian family, or of the family in the kingdom of heaven. Having first shown what is the import of Christian marriage, and then assigned to children their proper place in the Christian household, the Lord now refers to the possessions of believers. It is of great importance to notice the threefold offence of the disciples in regard to the three fundamental elements in the Christian family, and the manner in which the Lord removes these offences. As the young man was still entirely legalistic in his views, Christ sets before him in a legalistic form the great principle according to which a Christian man was to administer his property. But this mode of teaching was intended to awaken the “ruler” to a knowledge of his real state before God. Hence it is a complete perversion of the import of the passage, when Roman Catholic divines regard it as a commandment applying to special individuals, or as what they designate a consilium evangelicum, in reference to voluntary poverty. The supposed consilium only becomes evangelicum, and in that case a principium evangelicum, when we look beyond the form in which this principle is expressed, and learn to regard it as teaching that a Christian is to consider all his possessions as a trust committed to him by the Lord, which he is to employ for behoof of the poor, or for the removal of the wants of humanity.
2. In this passage, the doctrine concerning the highest good is expressed in most clear and definite language. God is not merely the highest good, but also the source of all moral and physical good, and hence the only good. Even Christ Himself only claims the designation of Good because He is one with the Father, not because He was the “leading Rabbi.” And just as any creature can only be called good from its connection with God, so all the special commandments are only an expression of moral good in so far as they are viewed in their connection with the fundamental commandment of love to God. Finally, physical good is such only, if enjoyed or administered in the spirit of Christian devotion; otherwise it becomes a snare to the soul, and an evil instead of a blessing.
3. The Lord at once perceived that, both in respect of virtue and of the things of this life, the young man had lost sight of God as the highest and only good; and that when be addressed Him as “Good Master,” it had not been from the depth of a believing heart, but only as a worldly and superficial acknowledgment of His character. This view is corroborated by the peculiar manner in which the Lord dealt with him, the object of which, evidently, was to bring him to proper knowledge—to a knowledge of Christ, to an understanding of the commandments, to a proper view of the import of earthly blessings, but above all to a sight and sense of his own state and condition. Many commentators labor under a twofold misapprehension in interpreting this narrative. First, they confound the mental self-righteousness or intellectual legalism of the young man with self-righteousness of the heart, entirely overlooking the fact, that he expresses a deep feeling of spiritual want. It is in this sense that we understand the statement of Mark, that Jesus, beholding him, loved him. True, his heart was not yet broken under a sense of spiritual poverty; he still deceived himself, in his self-righteousness; but he felt that there remained some deep want unsatisfied. Again, the young man is generally condemned and supposed to have been ultimately lost, because he did not immediately obey the injunction of Christ; as if the Lord had intended to convert him into a legalist, instead of arousing him to a sense of his guilt and sinfulness. [Similarly Alford: “This young man, though self-righteous, was no hypocrite, no Pharisee: he spoke earnestly, and really strove to keep, as he really believed he had kept, all God’s commandments. Accordingly Mark adds, that Jesus looking upon him loved him: in spite of his error there was a nobleness and openness about him, contrasted with the hypocritical bearing of the Pharisees and scribes.”—P. S.]
4. “Such an animal as a camel, laden with its burdens, could not possibly enter the gate of a city of dwarfs, so small as to be compared to the eye of a needle. The case of a rich man is exactly similar. Naturally overgrown and laden with burdens, the rich man whose heart cleaves to his wealth appears before the strait gate of the kingdom of heaven. No wonder that in these circumstances he cannot even see, far less enter it. He still belongs to the sensual world; the only things which he can perceive are outward and carnal objects. The kingdom of heaven, with its spiritual realities, is far too small and inconsiderable to attract his sensuous gaze, nor can he in that state enter into it.” (From the author’s Leben Jesu, ii. 2, 2110.)
5. Our Lord here presents one great truth under a twofold aspect: (1) It is difficult for any rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, because it is difficult for him to become poor. (2) It is even impossible for him, inasmuch as he is rich, and will remain such, unless by a miracle of grace he becomes poor in spirit. Hence the disciples asked in deep concern, Who then can be saved? They felt that the saying of the Lord applied to the poor as well as to the rich, since all aimed after wealth; nay, that it applied to themselves, as they also still placed too much value on earthly things. Hence Jesus now “beheld” them with the same look of pity and sympathy as formerly the young man. True, it is impossible with men; but all things are possible with God, who can and will empty His own people, and make them poor. Thus are we, by a miracle of grace and through the cross, to be so directed and influenced, that we possess as if we possessed not, and that, as heirs of God, or of the highest good, we shall be willing to lay on the altar of love all which we possess.
6. “The application of this passage made by the begging monastic orders—Francis of Assisi—is not the right one.” Heubner. [This application is much older than the mendicant orders of the middle ages. St. Antony of Egypt, the patriarch of Christian monks, when he heard this Scripture lesson in the church, understood the Saviour’s injunction, Mat_19:21, in a literal sense, and sold his rich possessions, retaining only a sufficiency for the support of his sister. When shortly afterward he heard the Gospel: Take no thought of the following morning, he sold the remainder and gave it to the poor. The Roman Catholic commentators and moralists base their doctrine of voluntary poverty as an essential element of the higher Christian perfection mainly on this passage. Comp. Maldonatus, Cornelius à Lapide, and Schegg in loc. But Christ commands all His disciples to be perfect, τελειοι, Mat_5:48, and so St. Paul, 1Co_2:6; Php_3:15; Col_1:20; Eph_4:13; and St. Jam_1:4; Jam_3:2. The counsel, therefore, must be understood in a sense in which it is applicable to all true believers.—P. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The good as viewed in the light of the gospel.—Property in the Christian family.—God the highest and sole good, and the source of every other good.—The character of Christians: 1. They give themselves to that which is good; 2. they do that which is good; 3. they hold their possessions for that which is good. Or, the principle—1. of all virtue; 2. of all duty; 3. of all true riches.—The inquiry of the rich young man: “What good thing must I do?” as expressing a threefold error: 1. He seems to think that he can be saved by his works; 2. by deeds of special beneficence; 3. by some particular deed, which was to crown and complete all his previous righteousness.—A ruler of the synagogue, and yet he has no conception of the law in its spirituality; or, the fearful ignorance resulting from mere legalism.—Self-deception and self-righteousness producing each other.—The question of the young man should have been: How may I have eternal life in order to do good things?—The various forms of self-righteousness: 1. Self-righteousness of the head and of the heart (of doctrine and of sentiment); or, Pharisees in the strictest sense; 2. self-righteousness of the heart with orthodoxy of the head, as in the case of some in the Church who seem to be zealous for soundness of doctrine; 3. self-righteousness of the head, combined with a deep sense of spiritual need, although its grounds may not be fully understood, as in the case of this young man and of many Christian legalists.—Antagonism between the self-delusion of a man and the felt need of his heart.—“If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments;” or, we can only be free from the law by the law: 1. By understanding its spiritual import (its application to the heart); 2. by comprehending all the commandments into one commandment (forming, as it were, the point of the arrow of the law); 3. by sincere and earnest self-examination, in view of the one great commandment of love to God (the law working death).—How the Lord applies the law in order to train us for the gospel.—The rich young man in the school of the Lord.—On the close connection between spiritual and temporal riches (or rather, the attempt to be rich): 1. Spiritual riches leading to pride and pretensions; 2. temporal riches often serving to conceal spiritual poverty.—The dangers of riches (avarice, love of pleasure, pride, confidence in temporal wealth, false spirituality, self-deception as to our spiritual state).—The object of riches.—Twofold interpretation of this declaration of the Lord: 1. The interpretation put upon it by the disciples; 2. the interpretation of the Master.—“Who then can be saved?” or, an admission that all men share the same guilt and love of the world.—How a rich man may enter into the kingdom of heaven: 1. It is always difficult in his peculiar circumstances; 2. it is impossible, if in mind and heart he cleaves to his wealth (the Pharisees); 3. it becomes possible by a miracle of divine grace (Joseph of Arimathea).—The entrance into the kingdom of heaven: 1. Very inaccessible to the natural man: (a) it is always, and in every case, a strait gate; (b) it becomes the eye of a needle to those who are rich. 2. But it is widely open to believers: (c) leading the genuine disciple of Christ into the banqueting-hall, Mat_25:10; (b) it is a gate of honor to faithful followers of Christ; (c) a heavenly gate on our return to the Father’s house, Joh_14:2.—The various stages of evil, as represented by the symbols of a “camel,” “wolves,” and a “generation of vipers.”—The camel with its heavy burden before the eye of a needle, an emblem of avarice or of worldly-mindedness standing at the gate of heaven. Comp. Mat_23:24.—Regeneration and poverty in spirit a miracle of grace; resembling in that respect the birth of Christ, Luk_1:37.
Starke:—Quesnel: If we want to know how we may be saved, let us apply to Christ, the greatest and truest Teacher.—Zeisius: It is a common but most dangerous error, to seek eternal life by our own works.—Every good gift cometh from above, Jam_1:17. To arrogate it to ourselves, is not only to defile the gift by touching it with polluted hands, but to be guilty of sacrilege, Mat_7:22.—Osiander: All who are ignorant of their state before God, should be directed to the law in order to learn their guilt and need.—Love to our neighbor the clearest evidence of love to God.—How many imagine that they have done everything required at their hand, while in truth they cannot answer one upon a thousand! Job_9:3.—Zeisius: The law is spiritual; hence, they who trust in their works grievously deceive themselves, Rom_7:8; Rom_7:14.—The most dangerous state, is to imagine that we are righteous in the sight of God.—Tossani Bibl.: We are not to take this history as if it implied that by the outward work of almsgiving, the young man would have become perfect. The opposite of this appears from 1Co_13:3. But Christ here sets one special commandment before the young man, whose state of mind He well perceived, in order to convince him that he was infinitely far from perfection, and unable to keep the law.—He who soweth bountifully shal also reap bountifully, 2Co_9:6-7.—The whole work of salvation is far beyond the knowledge or power of man.—Quesnel: A sense of spiritual inability should not lead us to despair, but result in the triumph of the grace of Jesus Christ.
Lisco:—Marginal note of Luther: Our Lord here puts the question, Why callest thou Me good? in the same sense as He says, Joh_7:15, My doctrine is not Mine,—referring more particularly to His humanity, by which He would always lead us to the Father.—To be perfect, is to keep the commandments of God.—Hence it is evident, that this young man had not in reality observed the commandments, as he fondly imagined.
Gerlach.—Jesus tries the young man by setting before him the spiritual bearing of the law.—By such examples, the Master gradually trained His disciples to understand the utter inability of man for anything that is good.
Heubner:—The “ruler” came forward in haste, as if he could not wait or delay; still it led to no lasting results. Afterward, however, he went away slowly and sorrowfully.—“There is none good.” These words are not spoken lightly, but have a deep and most solemn meaning.—Comp. the excellent work of J. Casp. Schade: “The most important inquiries: What lack I yet? and, What shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” 14th ed., Leipz., 1734.—The calculation is correct, except in one little particular; but this renders the whole account false.—Every one of us has something which he must give up in order to enter the kingdom of Christ.—Chrysostom: On the question of the disciples, “Who then can be saved?”—because they felt concern for the salvation of their fellow-men, because they bore deep affection to them, and because they already felt the tenderness characteristic of all true ministers. This saying of Christ made them tremble for the whole world.
Footnotes:
[13] Mat_19:16.—[Or better: one came to him and said, εἷς προσελθὼν αὐτψ͂ εἶπεν, which is the correct reading for εἶπεν αὐτψ͂.—P. S.]
[14] Mat_19:16.—Codd. B., D., L., al., [also Cod. Sinait.], omit ἀγαθέ (good), and read only διδάσκαλε (master, teacher). With this is connected the following reading: τί με ἐρωτᾷς περὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ; εἷς ἐστὶν ὁ ἀγαθός (instead of the Recepta: τί με λέγεις, κ.τ.λ.). These readings are decidedly better attested by B., D., and ancient versions, and adopted by Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf. The Recepta is inserted from Mark and Luke.
[15] Mat_19:17.—[The true reading, as already stated by Dr. Lange in the preceding note, is: τίμε ἐρω τᾷς περὶτοῦἀ γαθοῦ; εἷς ἐστὶν ὁ ἀγαθός, i.e., Why dost thou ask me about the good? One is the [absolutely] Good; Lange: Was fragst du mich über das Gute? Einer ist der Gute. This reading is sustained by Cod. Sinait., Cod. Vatican., D., L., and other MSS., by Origen, Euseb., Jerome, Augustine, the Latin Vulgate (“Quid me interrogas de bono? unus est bonus, Deus”), and other ancient versions, and adopted by Tregelles and Alford, as well as Lachmann and Tischendorf. See the summaries in the editions of these critics in loc. The lect. rec.: τίμε λέγεις άγαθόν; οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς, εἰ μὴ εἷς, ὁθεός, is from Mark and Luke, and is an answer to the address: “Good Master,” while Matthew gives the answer to the question of the young man: “What good thing shall I do?” Our Lord referred him first from the multiplicity of good things (ὰ ἀγαθά) to the unity of the absolute personal Good (ὸ ἀγαθός) or God (this is the sense of the question in Matthew), and then He directed him (in the question of Mark and Luke) from a merely humanitarian view of Christ to the true theanthropic view, as if to say: If God alone is good, why do you call Me good, whom you regard a mere Rabbi? He answered to the thoughts of the young man and declined his relative and humanitarian homage, but pointed him at the same time to the higher and absolute conception of good, in which He was good according to His divine nature and as one in essence with the Father. He does not say: “I am not good,” but “none is good;” no man is good in the proper sense of the term, but God alone.—P. S.]
[16] Mat_19:20.—[The words: ἐκ νεότητός μου, from my youth up, are omitted in the best ancient authorities, including Cod. Sinait., and in the modern critical editions. (See the apparatus in Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford.) They are inserted from the parallel passages of Mark and Luke. Dr. Lange retains them in his German Version.—P. S.]
[17] Mat_19:24.—Besides the reading: διελθεῖν, we have the more difficult εἰσελθεῖν, to go into. [Cod. Sinait reads.; εισελθιν.—P. S.]
[18][The word κάμ ι λος, supposed to mean a rope or cable, occurs in a few minuscule MSS., but in no Greek author, and was probably invented to escape the imaginary difficulty of this proverbial expression. Comp. the Greek Lexica and the apparatus in Tischendorf’s large edition ad Mat_19:24 —P. S]
[19][The Koran, Sur. 7:38, probably in imitation of this passage, uses the same figure: “Non ingredientur paradisum, donec transeat camelas foramen acus.” Comp. also Mat_23:24, to swallow a camel. The camel was more familiar to the hearers of the Saviour than the elephant, and on account of the hump on its back, it was especially adapted to symbolize earthly wealth as a heavy load and serious impediment to entrance through the narrow gate of the kingdom of heaven.—P. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv16–18 § 105. — THE RICH YOUNG MAN, Mat_19:16-22.
§ 105. — THE RICH YOUNG MAN, Mat_19:16-22.
16. And behold, one came — The case of the young man is here brought in to show that he who would be saved must be ready to give up all for Christ in the fullest sense of the words; and that he who cannot do this is deceived in supposing that he has so kept God’s law as to be thereby saved. The conversation that follows shows that he who gives up all for Christ, will be no loser, but an infinite gainer, 27-30. The parable that follows (xx, 1-16,) shows that even he who does give up all for Christ will be saved, not by his works, but by grace. Let this connection be observed and traced, and the meaning of the whole will become more clear and striking.
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Our Lord, as appears by Mark, had just come forth from the house where he had blessed the children, into the way, where this rich young ruler, as Luke calls him, (that is, ruler of the synagogue,) who had perhaps been waiting, came running and kneeling. His rapid movement indicated his earnest feeling; his kneeling indicated his reverence. Good Master — This was a new and a very studied title by which to address our Lord. Others had called him Lord and Son of David; but he is a noble Jew, who must give a polite address without quite admitting that he is addressing the Messiah. What good thing — He calculates to do something which will earn heaven. He will accomplish it by some bold stroke of righteousness, some grand supererogation, if he can find out what it is to be. He has kept the decalogue until he is tired of so tame a righteousness. If this good Master can inform him by what method he can pay for and justly deserve salvation, he is ready to bid for it. Try him with any task, and see if he will fail!
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–18 16. one came] “Came one running, and kneeled to…
16. one came] “Came one running, and kneeled to him” (Mark). “A certain ruler,” i. e. one of the rulers of the synagogue, like Jairus. The “decemvirate” (see ch. Mat_4:23) of the synagogue were chosen from “men of leisure” (Hebr. Batlanin, cp. our “scholars”), who were free from the necessity of labour, and could devote themselves to the duties of the synagogue, and to study; of these the first three were called “Rulers of the Synagogue.”
Good Master] According to good MS. authority simply “Master.”
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what good thing shall I do] In this question ‘what shall I do’ the ruler touches the central error of the Pharisaic system—that goodness consisted in exact conformity to certain external rules of conduct Jesus shews that it is not by doing anything whatever that a man can inherit eternal life, but by being something; not by observing Pharisaic rules, but by being childlike.
16–22. The Young Rich Ruler
Mar_10:17-22. Luk_18:18-23.
From Luke alone we learn that he was a “ruler;” from Matthew alone that he was young. Each of the three Synoptists states that “he was very rich” (Luke); “had great possessions” (Matthew and Mark).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–18 (16) Behold, one came and said . . .—The…
(16) Behold, one came and said . . .—The vagueness with which a man who must have been conspicuous is thus introduced, without a name, is every way significant. He was, like Nicodemus, “a ruler of the Jews” (Luk_18:18), i.e., probably, a member of the Sanhedrin or great Council, like Joseph of Arimathæa. He was, beside this, conspicuously rich, and of high and ardent character. There is one other case in the first two Gospels which presents similar phenomena. In the narrative of the supper at Bethany, St. Matthew and St. Mark record the passionate affection which expressed itself in pouring the precious ointment of spikenard upon our Lord’s head as the act of “a woman” (Mat_26:7; Mar_14:3), leaving her unnamed. In St. Joh_12:3 we find that the woman was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. The train of thought thus suggested points to the supposition that here also there may have been reasons for suppressing in the records a name which was familiar to the narrator. What if the young ruler were Lazarus himself? The points of agreement are sufficiently numerous to warrant the conjecture. The household of Lazarus, as the spikenard ointment shows, were of the wealthier class. The friends who came to comfort the bereaved sisters, were themselves, in St. John’s language, “of the Jews”—i.e., of the chief rulers (Joh_11:19). The young ruler was obviously a Pharisee, and the language of Martha (Joh_11:24) shows that she too believed in eternal life and the resurrection of the dead. The answer to the young ruler, as “One thing thou lackest” (as given by St. Mark and St. Luke), is almost identical with that to Martha, “One thing is needful” (Luk_10:42). In such a case, of course, nothing can be attained beyond conjectural inference, but the present writer must avow his belief that the coincidences in this case are such as to carry the evidence to a very high point of probability. It is obvious that the hypothesis, if true, adds immensely to the interest both of the narrative now before us, and to that of the death and resurrection of Lazarus in John 11
Good Master.—The better MSS. omit the adjective, and it has probably been added here by later copyists to bring the passage into a verbal agreement with the narrative of St. Mark and St. Luke. From the prominence given to it in the form of our Lord’s answer, as reported by them, we may reasonably believe that it was actually uttered by the questioner. The words show reverence and, at least, half-belief. They are such as might well come from the brother of one who had sat at Jesus’ feet, drinking in His words (Luk_10:39)—from one who, like Nicodemus, looked on Him as a Rabbi, “a Teacher” sent from God.
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That I may have eternal life.—In St. Mark (Mar_10:17) and St. Luke (Luk_18:18), and in some of the oldest MSS. of St. Matthew, “that I may inherit eternal life.” The question exhibits the highest and noblest phase of Pharisaism. The seeker has a firm belief in something that he knows as “eternal life.” He thirsts for it eagerly. He believes that it is to be won, as a perpetual inheritance, by some one good deed of exceptional and heroic goodness. The Teacher has left on him the impression of a goodness such as he had seldom, if ever, seen before, and as being therefore able to guide him to the Supreme Good.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv16–19 Vers. 16-22. Answer to the inquiry of the rich…
Vers. 16-22. Answer to the inquiry of the rich young ruler concerning eternal life. (Mar_10:17-22 Luk_18:18-23)
And, behold. The exclamation, as usual, denotes the suddenness and unexpected nature of the occurrence. It took place probably on the next day after the blessing of the children. One came (eiv proselywn). This is more emphatic than the enclitic tiv , and we learn from St. Luke that he was "a ruler," i.e. of the synagogue, and he must have been of noted piety and worth to have arrived at this dignity while still a youth (ver. 22). St. Mark gives more details he "came running, and kneeled to him." He was eager for an answer to his question, and recognized in Jesus a Rabbi worthy of all honour and veneration, though he saw in him nothing more. lie comes with no sinister intention, as the Pharisees did, but in all good faith, hoping to have a religious difficulty solved. Good Master. Thus the received text in the three synoptists. The epithet "good" is omitted by many excellent manuscripts, and has been expunged by most modern editors. It is required if the received text of the next verse is retained. It occurs in Mark and Luke without variation. The young man may have used the expression with the view of winning Christ"s favour, or, at any rate, with the idea of showing the light in which he regarded him. What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? His notion was that eternal happiness was obtained by the performance of certain acts, and he is not sure that he has done enough for the reward, and wishes to know particularly what further good work will secure it. The other synoptists have merely, "What shall I do? but of course, good work is implied, if not expressed. This was a question much mooted in the rabbinical schools, and one to which the answers were as various as they were puerile. Some taught that the commandments were not equally important, and that what they deemed the lesser might be violated with impunity, if the others were observed. Some made the gift of perfection to depend on the daily recitation of certain prayers or psalms, others on giving due honour to the aged. Amid such perplexing rules, the youth desires an authoritative decision, which he may put in practice, and thus be sure of a happy place in Messiah"s kingdom be, as the Jews termed it, "a son of the age to come.
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Vers. 16-30. The young ruler.
I HIS INTERVIEW WITH CHRIST.
1. His question. Christ was "gone forth into the way"; (Mar_10:17) he was leaving Peraea; his ministry there was ended. But there was a young man, a ruler of the synagogue, a man of large possessions and of blameless life, who came running and kneeled to him. Perhaps he had already felt the supreme goodness of Christ, the holiness of his teaching; hut his position, his Jewish prejudices, had hitherto prevented him from becoming a disciple of the Lord. Now the Lord was departing; if he hesitated longer, he would be too late. He had lived an upright, honourable life, but he felt that there was something lacking yet; there was a void in his heart, a yearning which he could not satisfy. Perhaps this great Teacher might help him. There was no time to lose; he hastily made up his mind, and ran after Christ. Thus far he is an example to us. Earthly rank, earthly riches, will not fill the heart; we need something more we need Christ. We may be late in seeking him; we have wasted much time and lost many opportunities. The Lord is long suffering; he is still near at hand; but it may soon he too late. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near." Come running, kneeling to him in lowly supplication; he will tarry on his way; he will listen to the suppliant"s prayer. So the young ruler came now. "Good Master," he said, "what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" It sounds like the question of the jailor at Philippi, "What must I do to be saved?" But it was not so genuine, so natural, so heart-felt. There was an element of truth, some real desire; but there was something of ostentation, of self-confidence; little of that childlike spirit which the Lord had so highly commended. He thought too much of his past uprightness. He thought, apparently, that eternal life might be earned by some great and noble deed.
2. The Lord"s answer. "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good? One there is who is good!" God only is good. Love him; do his holy will; take him for thy Portion. Eternal life is his gift; it is given to them who walk with God, who live in and for God, who keep his commandments. St. Mark and St. Luke have the words which some ancient authorities read in St. Matthew also, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but One, that is, God." The Lord had forbidden the apostles to tell men that he was the Christ, because the Jews looked for a human Messiah, an earthly king. In the same spirit he would not accept the title "Good" from this ruler, who regarded him simply as a wise Teacher, a great Rabbi. He bade him keep the commandments. The young ruler had been expecting to hear something lofty and extraordinary from so great a Prophet; he was surprised at a direction so simple and commonplace, as he doubtless thought it. He was disappointed again when, in answer to his inquiry, the Lord simply recited five commandments of the Decalogue, adding that general principle in which the whole second table is briefly comprehended, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The Lord. had indicated the first and great commandment of the Law in his first answer. He now mentions those duties towards our neighbour which flow out of our duty towards our God. He would lead the young man to examine himself, to discover his deficiencies, to see for himself that he had not yet entered on the way that leadeth to eternal life.
3. The young rulers rejoinder. He had done all this, he said; he knew it all; he wanted something more than elementary teaching. "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" He spoke the truth according to his light. He had been brought up in the narrow school of the rabbis, and, according to the mechanical interpretations of the scribes, was, like Saul the Pharisee, "touching the righteousness which is in the Law, blameless." He had lived all his days a life of external obedience, and he did not understand the spiritual meaning of these commandments as taught by our Lord in his great sermon on the mount. He did not realize the wide range, the deep reach of that second commandment, which became, when illustrated by our Lord"s example, the new commandment, the mark and test of Christ"s disciples. He had kept the commandments as far as he understood them, as far as he had been taught; but he was conscious of a deficiency. He felt that something, he knew not what, but certainly something higher than this external obedience, was necessary for the attainment of that eternal life which he sought. "What lack I yet?" he said. It was a fine character as far as it went; unspotted moral rectitude joined with aspirations for something better and nobler. The Lord saw the promise of much good. "He beheld him," St. Mark says. It was a deep searching look that read his heart; and he loved him he regarded him with something of that esteem which any degree of real goodness produces in the good. "Goodness," Bishop Butler says, "implies the love of itself, an affection for goodness. The really good recognize any spark of goodness in others, and cannot fail to love it." This special drawing forth of the Lord"s love was a great honour to the young ruler; it showed the natural excellence of his character.
4. The Lord"s commandment. "Go, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor." It is not a counsel of perfection, not advice, but a commandment. This self-sacrifice was necessary for the young man necessary for the attainment of that eternal life which he sought. "One thing thou lackest," the Lord said, according to the report of the conversation given by St. Mark and St. Luke. It must mean that when the Lord read the young man"s soul, he saw much that was lovable; but he also saw that the love of money, which is the root of all evil, was poisoning what should have been a very fine and noble character. It was necessary for him to make this great venture of faith. He perilled his salvation by not doing so at the time; he may have done it afterwards. The Lord had a high reward for him treasure in heaven hereafter, and in this life a place near to himself: "Come, follow me," he said. It may be that the Lord saw in that young ruler the making of an apostle. He might have stood high in the roll of saints; perhaps afterwards he did. Can he have been lost whom the Lord Jesus distinguished with his love? But now he went away. He could not make the sacrifice required of him. He had thought that he might do some great thing, some noble deed, to gain eternal life, and the Lord had taken him at his word; but this was too great, too difficult; he could not bring himself to it. He went away sorrowful, not angry; he felt that the Lord was right. There was something good and noble in his character which responded to the Lord"s invitation. He felt the supreme holiness of Christ, the powerful attraction of his gracious love. He owned in his heart that to be near to Christ the Lord, to follow him, to live in close communion with him, was a privilege exceeding precious, a privilege not too dearly bought at the cost of all earthly riches, all earthly comforts. He knew that the Lord had not asked too much; his heart told him so; but he had not the strength, the courage. He could not part with his large possessions; he could not take up the cross. (Mar_10:21) He was sad at that saying, "Take up the cross." It was a strange and dreadful word; even the apostles could not reconcile themselves to it. And he went away sorrowful, vexed with himself; he had made the great refusal, and he felt that he done a weak and cowardly thing. He had judged himself unworthy of that eternal life which he had sought, and he despised himself. He knew that those riches for which he had turned away from Christ could not compensate him for the tremendous loss. He was not blinded. He felt the value of the love of Christ, and the unutterable preciousness of eternal life. He knew that these great possessions of his were as nothing in comparison with that priceless treasure which Christ had offered him. He sinned against light, and he was miserable. Perhaps his misery brought him afterwards to a better mind. We hope it was so. We cannot but feel a very deep and real interest in a character so touching, so engaging, in one whom the Lord Jesus Christ loved. We are not all called to make the sacrifice which was required of the young ruler. The Lord did not say the like to Nicodemus or to Joseph of Arimathaea. But all true Christian men must be willing to do so if need be. "Not my will, but thine be done" was the Lord"s own prayer in his agony. "Thy will be done" is the Christian"s daily, it should be his hourly, prayer. And that prayer pledges us to the spirit of ready self-sacrifice for Christ"s sake. We must be ready to give freely, liberally, in proportion to our means, for all holy works. We must be ready to take up our cross; for the Lord says that without the cross we cannot be his disciples. It is not enough to have the word often in our mouths, to have the picture of the cross upon our walls, or to wear the cross for an ornament. The mark of the Christian is the real cross, the inner spiritual cross; and that means self-denial for Christ"s sake, self-denial which is real, which is painful, which is hard to bear; even as the cross which the Lord bore for us was hard and heavy and painful exceedingly. But the cross leadeth to the crown. The conditions of eternal life are unvarying; they are the same now, in their real spiritual meaning, as they were when they were presented by the Lord himself to the young ruler in Peraea.
II THE LORD"S CONVERSATION WITH THE APOSTLES.
1. The warning. "A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." It is a hard thing, and his temptations are so great; there is so much to draw him to the world. Indeed, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven as a rich man; he must become poor, that he may be rich indeed. He must become poor in spirit, poor in the willingness to consecrate all his wealth to the service of Christ; he must give largely, denying himself in many things that he may give the more; learning to do God"s will, not his own; and regarding himself simply as the steward of what really belongs to God. For otherwise his danger is exceeding great. The gate of eternal life is always strait; it becomes like the eye of a needle to the rich man who stands before it, burdened with his riches, like a heavily loaded camel. "They that trust in riches" (see Mar_10:24, though the reading is somewhat doubtful) "cannot enter in;" and it is very hard for a rich man to cast off his trust in his riches. Yet the strait gate shall be thrown open wide to them that overcome to the poor who are rich in faith, and to the rich who are poor in spirit, true disciples of him who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.
2. The amazement of the apostles. They were startled, almost terror stricken; it seemed so hard a saying; it seemed to make salvation so very difficult to attain. Perhaps St. Peter was thinking of it when long afterwards he wrote, "If the righteous scarcely be saved". (1Pe_4:18) "Who then can be saved?" they said in their astonishment. All men, they knew, share the like peril; it is not only the rich who are in danger of trusting in riches. The poor often care for money quite as much as the rich. The fault lies, not in the fact of having great possessions, but in the trust reposed in them; and there are poor men who trust in their little store quite as much as some rich men trust in their great wealth. "The love of money is the root of all evil," and that love is a common temptation to all, rich and poor alike. "Who then can be saved?" The Lord saw the perplexity of his apostles; he felt for them in his sacred heart. He looked at them; those holy eyes were fixed upon them with an earnest, loving, sympathizing look a look full of human tenderness and Divine compassion. "With men this is impossible," he said; "but with God all things are possible." The disciples were right; they might well say, "Who then can be saved?" Man cannot save himself; he is too weak, too sinful. "With men this is impossible with all men alike, whether they are rich or poor, whatever may be their advantages or their temptations; they cannot save themselves; the thing is impossible. But (we may well thank God as we read the words, and fall down before him in adoring gratitude) it is not impossible with God. And Christ is God; "he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." His incarnation, his blessed death upon the cross, has made that possible which was impossible. "With God all things are possible;" he can bring a clean thing out of an unclean; he can cleanse us from all unrighteousness from the degrading love of money, from the defiling lusts of the flesh, from the subtle temptations of pride and self-righteousness. Only we must trust in him, not in riches, or what seem to be riches, not in our own fancied merits, not in works of righteousness which we have done, but only in the cross. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
III THE REWARD OF THE TRUE DISCIPLE.
1. St. Peter"s question. The apostles had done what the young ruler shrank from doing they had forsaken all. Indeed, they had not so much to give up as he had; but such as it was, it was their all; they had left all, and had followed Christ. The Lord had promised treasure in heaven to his followers. "What shall we have therefore?" Peter said. He was still too eager; there was too much self-assertion; he laid too much stress on the reward that was to come. The highest desire of the soul is to serve Christ for himself. "Not for the sake of gaining aught, Not hoping a reward; But as thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord.
Peter knew afterwards that the love of Christ is its own reward. (1Pe_1:8) Yet he was not wholly wrong; the Lord had promised treasure in heaven; and that blessed hope is an exceeding great help to fainting Christians; it is an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. Moses had respect unto the recompense of the reward. St. Paul looked forward to the crown of righteousness laid up in heaven for all who love the appearing of the Lord. Christ himself, our great Example, when he looked back on his perfect life, said, "Now, O Father, glorify thou me." Peter, perhaps, regarded that heavenly blessedness too much in the light of a reward due to self-denial here; our Lord seems to imply this in the parable of Mt 20, though he now repeats his promise and acknowledges the self-sacrifice of his followers.
2. The Lord"s answer.
(1) The promise to the apostles. He bade them look forward to the great regeneration, the time of restitution of all things. (Act_3:21) The regeneration of individual Christians (of which the Lord speaks in Joh_3:3, Joh_3:5; and St. Paul in Tit_3:5) is the gradual beginning, the preparation for the regeneration of the world, when God will make all things new, when there shall be "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Then shall the Son of man, whose throne on earth was the cross, sit in that new creation upon the throne of his glory. And they who followed him nearest upon earth, who first bore the cross for his Name"s sake, the twelve chosen apostles, they should sit, he said, upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. It may be that we shall not certainly understand the meaning of this promise (and other similar passages, such as Luk_22:30 1Co_6:2, 1Co_6:3) till it is fulfilled in the kingdom of heaven. But perhaps it is safest to adopt the ideal interpretation. Twelve is the ideal number of the apostolic college. Judas went to his own place. By the twelve tribes of Israel we are probably to understand the Israel of God, the great Christian Church in all its branches. As the judges ruled Israel in the days of the theocracy, so shall the twelve apostles rule the Israel of God in the regeneration. They shall be nearest to the King, on his right hand and his left, in the highest places of honour.
(2) The promise to all believers. The circle of promise is widened. The apostles had forsaken all for Christ"s sake; but there were multitudes who would afterwards make the like sacrifice; multitudes more who would be willing to make it if it were required of them. To all such the Lord promises a hundredfold reward hundredfold," "manifold more," St. Mark and St. Luke say, in this present time, and in the world to come, eternal life. "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." That holy joy, that peace of God, which is granted unto those who have yielded up their wills to God"s holy will, passeth all understanding, and altogether outweighs the temporal losses which they may endure for Christ"s sake. Such men, like St. Paul, count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord. To such to live is Christ, and to die is gain. A life of holiness and self-denial for Christ"s sake is very blessed, for it hath the presence of Christ. A holy death is by much far better; for such a death is the gate of everlasting life. They who would live that life and die that death must watch and pray, seeking earnestly the grace of perseverance; for many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Judas was near to Christ when these words were said. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall.
LESSONS.
1. We still ask the same question, "What shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" And still the answer is the same, "Keep the commandments.
2. Let us not say, "All these have I kept from my youth up." Let us imitate the publican rather than the young ruler: "God be merciful to me a sinner.
3. "The love of money is the root of all evil;" "Love not the world;" "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.
4. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." It is a difficult work, beyond the strength of man; but we can do all things through him that strengtheneth us.
5. Let us have respect unto the recompense of the reward; he who by faith discerns the crown may well endure the cross.
Vers. 16-22. The great refusal.
The young man who won the love of Christ by his ardour and enthusiasm, and who grieved our Lord by his refusal to make an unexpected sacrifice, stands before us in vivid portraiture an example, and yet a warning. Let us consider the successive traits of his character revealed by his conduct.
I HIS WISE QUESTION. It is much for a man to have a definite object before him; it is more for him to choose a worthy pursuit. Of all personal things the young ruler chose the very best. He had wealth, but that did not satisfy him. He had the means of acquiring pleasure; but he rose above the idea of making worldly amusement the end and aim of existence. He craved the life of God, which is eternal. Surely we may imitate him in this. Moreover, he did well in inquiring of Christ. Jesus is the Way to life, and we can find its source in him, as he told the woman of Samaria. (Joh_4:14) It is right to come to Christ for this boon.
II HIS MISTAKEN ADDRESS. He called our Lord "Good Master." Jesus takes up the phrase at once, and asks what it means. This was no act of captious criticism. The young man did not really know the deep signification of the word "good." He used language conventionally. There is a great danger for those who are brought up among religious associations that they will employ the greatest words without entering into their true meaning.
III HIS MORAL CONDUCT. Christ began with the first elements of morality. We cannot go on to perfection until we have mastered these elements. It is impossible to be a thief in the world and a saint in the Church. Yet there is a subtle temptation that dogs the footsteps of those who aspire after superior spiritual attainments a temptation to fall away from common morality. The young man had avoided this temptation. He was no hollow sentimentalist. His virtue was solid. Yet it was not enough.
IV HIS NEW DUTY. He is told to renounce his wealth a hard, a startling requirement. Jesus does not give this commandment to all rich men, though he never encourages the acquisition of wealth. But he saw that the young ruler"s snare was his riches. It was necessary, therefore, that the riches should be given up. Now, although it was not his duty before this thus to renounce all he possessed, the word of Christ if he would become a disciple made it his duty. Whenever Christ tells any man to sell all he has and give the proceeds to the poor, that man is under an obligation to obey if he would own the Lordship of Christ. The essential duty is not poverty, but obedience. The duty may take the same form with any of us if we are convinced on good grounds that Christ desires us to make the same sacrifice. But whether absolute poverty be required or not, whatever we own is only ours subject to the bidding of Christ to use it as he directs and he is not altogether an easy Master to serve.
V HIS SAD FAILURE. The young ruler could not rise up to the sacrifice. His wealth was his undoing. It was not a golden key opening the kingdom of heaven, but a golden bar holding the gate shut. The young ruler might have become a great Christian leader, saint, or martyr. His refusal dropped him into obscurity. We cannot but pity him, for his was a hard test. Could we stand it? Have we shrunk back from even a milder test? W.F.A.
Vers. 16-22. The perfection of goodness.
To attain to this should be the aim of every rational being. In quest of it we should be willing to do anything and to sacrifice anything. "Who will show us any good?
I CHRIST IS THE IMPERSONATION OF PERFECT GOODNESS.
1. The ruler, in a sense, discerned this.
(1) He addressed him as "good Master". (cf. Mar_10:17 Luk_18:18) He also evinced his veneration by "kneeling," as stated in Mark.
(2) He sought to Jesus for instruction as to how he might attain to "eternal life," viz. by finding that perfect goodness of which eternal life is the reward. His question was, in effect, "How may I become like thee?" Note: What the young man calls "eternal life," Christ calls "life," for eternal life is the only true life. Without this, "in the midst of life we are in death.
2. But he discerned it falsely.
(1) He did not recognize the Divinity of Christ. Hence the question, "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good?" Suppose an emphasis on the word thou. So he proceeds, "One there is who is good;" equivalent to "None is good save One, even God". (Mar_10:18 Luk_18:19)
(2) The rebuke here is for ascribing goodness to Christ without discerning his Divinity as its source. The title is not inapplicable, for our Lord calls himself the "good Shepherd". (Joh_10:11) The fault was that it was improperly applied.
(3) The teaching, then, is that it is vain to seek goodness apart from God. He alone is good. essentially, originally, everlastingly. "God" is "good." Therefore we should transfer to God all praise which is given to us. All crowns must lie before his throne. (see Jam_1:17)
II THE LAW OF GOD IS THE RULE OF GOODNESS.
1. This is expressed in the instruction of Christ.
(1) "If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments." This is not irony, but sober truth. To keep the commandments from a principle of loving faith is undoubtedly the way to eternal life. Those who are justified by faith must keep the commandments before they can enter into life and be finally saved.
(2) Keeping the commandments must, however, include faith in Jesus Christ. (see 1Jn_3:23) Moses gave it amongst his commandments that we should hear the great Prophet to be raised up like unto him.
2. The ruler observed the commandments in the letter.
(1) The inquiry "Which?" was probably occasioned by the confusion introduced by the scribes, who mixed up the traditions of the elders with the precepts of Moses; and who magnified the ritual observances so as to neglect the moral rules the "weightier matters of the Law," justice, mercy, and charity.
(2) The answer put the moral law in the foremost place. The particular commandments which our Lord selects are but adduced as instances of moral, in opposition to ritual, obedience. Nor does he cite the commandments in their order, probably to show, as the Jews themselves express it, "that there is neither first nor last in the Law that every precept is so perfect that it matters not whether it be taken first or last. He mentions only the duties of the second table, summing them up, however, with the precept from Lev_19:18, for the love of God can only be made manifest by love to our neighbour. (cf. 1Jn_4:20, 1Jn_4:21) "Our light burns in love to God, but it shines in love to our neighbour" (Henry).
(3) "All these things have I observed". (cf. Php_3:6)
3. He failed to keep them in the spirit.
(1) "What lack I yet?" He was convinced that he yet needed something. He had too much of that boasting which is excluded by the law of faith, and which excludes from justification. (Luk_18:11, 14 Rom_3:27)
(2) The Lord soon discovered to him the covetousness and earthliness of his heart. He found how he over-estimated his obedience when he was unwilling to part with his possessions for the benefit of the poor, and preferred earthly to heavenly treasure. Note: Worldly men prefer heaven to hell; Christians prefer heaven to earth.
(3) We cannot become perfect without becoming spiritual So a man may be free from gross sin, yet come short of the life of grace and glory.
III THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS THE WAY OF GOODNESS.
1. It promises eternal life in Christ. "Thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
(1) In the school of Christ we learn the doctrine of justification by faith in his sufficient atonement.
(2) The connection with that atonement of the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart.
(3) His teaching, moreover, shows us the connection between faith and obedience unto the fulfilling of the Law.
2. But it exacts an absolute submission.
(1) "Sell all." This was literally required in the case of the ruler. Christ did not lighten his cross, because "he loved him." Note: This reason should sustain us under our crosses.
(2) Virtually we have to sell all. We must be willing to part with everything that may hinder our salvation.
3. Those who refuse submission accept sorrow.
(1) "He went away sorrowful." What an opportunity he missed! The offer to him was to become one of Christ"s more intimate disciples; to be specially trained by him in the knowledge of spiritual things, and to preach his gospel. (cf. Mat_4:19 Mat_8:22 Mat_9:9 Mar_2:14 10:21)
(2) Many are ruined by the sin they commit with reluctance. What would be the ruler"s sorrow in the sequel to find his wealth gone and eternal life along with it! Mariners act prudently when, to save their lives, they throw overboard rich bales of silk and precious things. J.A.M.
The ruler"s mistakes.
The assumption that this ruler was a youth has no, foundation. The man could not have been a ruler if he had been a youth. He must have been in what we should call the prime of life; but he evidently retained something of the impetuousness of youth. His mistakes suggest the impulsive temperament, that readily yields to emotion, and is wont to act before it thinks. Our Lord skilfully dealt with individuals. "He needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man." He was "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." In the ruler"s abrupt and impulsive question we may trace three forms of mistake.
I A MISTAKE ABOUT CHRIST. He applied the word "good" to him, and yet he had no adequate ideas concerning goodness. If he had really meant anything worth meaning, he would have recognized in Christ the infinitely Good One, the Son of God; for none is good save God. This mistake Jesus corrected in two ways.
1. By reference to God. "None is good save one, that is, God." You do not call God good because he does good, but because he is good.
2. By a severe and searching test, which reveals to the man the imperfectness of his own goodness. He would never be able to get right ideas of God or Christ from himself.
II A MISTAKE CONCERNING HIMSELF. This took a twofold form. He thought he was good; and he thought he could do good, if only he was told what to do. Jesus showed him a good thing that he could not do; and so set his conscience suggesting, that perhaps he was not as good as he had thought. We may think ourselves good while we arrange the forms that our goodness shall take; but we may learn our mistake when God arranges the forms for us. The question betrays the man"s self-righteous spirit. He is indirectly paying a compliment to himself to his own goodness; or, at any rate, to human goodness, that idol which he worshipped with his whole soul.
III A MISTAKE CONCERNING THE FUTURE. Feeling himself well provided for in all that concerned this life, he wanted to be as safely and as well off in the next life. He would inherit eternal life; he would have it as something coming to him; he wanted as much right to it as he had to his worldly possessions. How much he had to learn! A man"s life here "consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesses." A man"s wealth is his character; that is true of this life, but much more true of the life to come. R.T.
Vers. 16-30. The young ruler.
I HIS INTERVIEW WITH CHRIST.
1. His question. Christ was "gone forth into the way"; (Mar_10:17) he was leaving Peraea; his ministry there was ended. But there was a young man, a ruler of the synagogue, a man of large possessions and of blameless life, who came running and kneeled to him. Perhaps he had already felt the supreme goodness of Christ, the holiness of his teaching; hut his position, his Jewish prejudices, had hitherto prevented him from becoming a disciple of the Lord. Now the Lord was departing; if he hesitated longer, he would be too late. He had lived an upright, honourable life, but he felt that there was something lacking yet; there was a void in his heart, a yearning which he could not satisfy. Perhaps this great Teacher might help him. There was no time to lose; he hastily made up his mind, and ran after Christ. Thus far he is an example to us. Earthly rank, earthly riches, will not fill the heart; we need something more we need Christ. We may be late in seeking him; we have wasted much time and lost many opportunities. The Lord is long suffering; he is still near at hand; but it may soon he too late. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near." Come running, kneeling to him in lowly supplication; he will tarry on his way; he will listen to the suppliant"s prayer. So the young ruler came now. "Good Master," he said, "what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" It sounds like the question of the jailor at Philippi, "What must I do to be saved?" But it was not so genuine, so natural, so heart-felt. There was an element of truth, some real desire; but there was something of ostentation, of self-confidence; little of that childlike spirit which the Lord had so highly commended. He thought too much of his past uprightness. He thought, apparently, that eternal life might be earned by some great and noble deed.
2. The Lord"s answer. "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good? One there is who is good!" God only is good. Love him; do his holy will; take him for thy Portion. Eternal life is his gift; it is given to them who walk with God, who live in and for God, who keep his commandments. St. Mark and St. Luke have the words which some ancient authorities read in St. Matthew also, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but One, that is, God." The Lord had forbidden the apostles to tell men that he was the Christ, because the Jews looked for a human Messiah, an earthly king. In the same spirit he would not accept the title "Good" from this ruler, who regarded him simply as a wise Teacher, a great Rabbi. He bade him keep the commandments. The young ruler had been expecting to hear something lofty and extraordinary from so great a Prophet; he was surprised at a direction so simple and commonplace, as he doubtless thought it. He was disappointed again when, in answer to his inquiry, the Lord simply recited five commandments of the Decalogue, adding that general principle in which the whole second table is briefly comprehended, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The Lord. had indicated the first and great commandment of the Law in his first answer. He now mentions those duties towards our neighbour which flow out of our duty towards our God. He would lead the young man to examine himself, to discover his deficiencies, to see for himself that he had not yet entered on the way that leadeth to eternal life.
3. The young rulers rejoinder. He had done all this, he said; he knew it all; he wanted something more than elementary teaching. "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" He spoke the truth according to his light. He had been brought up in the narrow school of the rabbis, and, according to the mechanical interpretations of the scribes, was, like Saul the Pharisee, "touching the righteousness which is in the Law, blameless." He had lived all his days a life of external obedience, and he did not understand the spiritual meaning of these commandments as taught by our Lord in his great sermon on the mount. He did not realize the wide range, the deep reach of that second commandment, which became, when illustrated by our Lord"s example, the new commandment, the mark and test of Christ"s disciples. He had kept the commandments as far as he understood them, as far as he had been taught; but he was conscious of a deficiency. He felt that something, he knew not what, but certainly something higher than this external obedience, was necessary for the attainment of that eternal life which he sought. "What lack I yet?" he said. It was a fine character as far as it went; unspotted moral rectitude joined with aspirations for something better and nobler. The Lord saw the promise of much good. "He beheld him," St. Mark says. It was a deep searching look that read his heart; and he loved him he regarded him with something of that esteem which any degree of real goodness produces in the good. "Goodness," Bishop Butler says, "implies the love of itself, an affection for goodness. The really good recognize any spark of goodness in others, and cannot fail to love it." This special drawing forth of the Lord"s love was a great honour to the young ruler; it showed the natural excellence of his character.
4. The Lord"s commandment. "Go, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor." It is not a counsel of perfection, not advice, but a commandment. This self-sacrifice was necessary for the young man necessary for the attainment of that eternal life which he sought. "One thing thou lackest," the Lord said, according to the report of the conversation given by St. Mark and St. Luke. It must mean that when the Lord read the young man"s soul, he saw much that was lovable; but he also saw that the love of money, which is the root of all evil, was poisoning what should have been a very fine and noble character. It was necessary for him to make this great venture of faith. He perilled his salvation by not doing so at the time; he may have done it afterwards. The Lord had a high reward for him treasure in heaven hereafter, and in this life a place near to himself: "Come, follow me," he said. It may be that the Lord saw in that young ruler the making of an apostle. He might have stood high in the roll of saints; perhaps afterwards he did. Can he have been lost whom the Lord Jesus distinguished with his love? But now he went away. He could not make the sacrifice required of him. He had thought that he might do some great thing, some noble deed, to gain eternal life, and the Lord had taken him at his word; but this was too great, too difficult; he could not bring himself to it. He went away sorrowful, not angry; he felt that the Lord was right. There was something good and noble in his character which responded to the Lord"s invitation. He felt the supreme holiness of Christ, the powerful attraction of his gracious love. He owned in his heart that to be near to Christ the Lord, to follow him, to live in close communion with him, was a privilege exceeding precious, a privilege not too dearly bought at the cost of all earthly riches, all earthly comforts. He knew that the Lord had not asked too much; his heart told him so; but he had not the strength, the courage. He could not part with his large possessions; he could not take up the cross. (Mar_10:21) He was sad at that saying, "Take up the cross." It was a strange and dreadful word; even the apostles could not reconcile themselves to it. And he went away sorrowful, vexed with himself; he had made the great refusal, and he felt that he done a weak and cowardly thing. He had judged himself unworthy of that eternal life which he had sought, and he despised himself. He knew that those riches for which he had turned away from Christ could not compensate him for the tremendous loss. He was not blinded. He felt the value of the love of Christ, and the unutterable preciousness of eternal life. He knew that these great possessions of his were as nothing in comparison with that priceless treasure which Christ had offered him. He sinned against light, and he was miserable. Perhaps his misery brought him afterwards to a better mind. We hope it was so. We cannot but feel a very deep and real interest in a character so touching, so engaging, in one whom the Lord Jesus Christ loved. We are not all called to make the sacrifice which was required of the young ruler. The Lord did not say the like to Nicodemus or to Joseph of Arimathaea. But all true Christian men must be willing to do so if need be. "Not my will, but thine be done" was the Lord"s own prayer in his agony. "Thy will be done" is the Christian"s daily, it should be his hourly, prayer. And that prayer pledges us to the spirit of ready self-sacrifice for Christ"s sake. We must be ready to give freely, liberally, in proportion to our means, for all holy works. We must be ready to take up our cross; for the Lord says that without the cross we cannot be his disciples. It is not enough to have the word often in our mouths, to have the picture of the cross upon our walls, or to wear the cross for an ornament. The mark of the Christian is the real cross, the inner spiritual cross; and that means self-denial for Christ"s sake, self-denial which is real, which is painful, which is hard to bear; even as the cross which the Lord bore for us was hard and heavy and painful exceedingly. But the cross leadeth to the crown. The conditions of eternal life are unvarying; they are the same now, in their real spiritual meaning, as they were when they were presented by the Lord himself to the young ruler in Peraea.
II THE LORD"S CONVERSATION WITH THE APOSTLES.
1. The warning. "A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." It is a hard thing, and his temptations are so great; there is so much to draw him to the world. Indeed, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven as a rich man; he must become poor, that he may be rich indeed. He must become poor in spirit, poor in the willingness to consecrate all his wealth to the service of Christ; he must give largely, denying himself in many things that he may give the more; learning to do God"s will, not his own; and regarding himself simply as the steward of what really belongs to God. For otherwise his danger is exceeding great. The gate of eternal life is always strait; it becomes like the eye of a needle to the rich man who stands before it, burdened with his riches, like a heavily loaded camel. "They that trust in riches" (see Mar_10:24, though the reading is somewhat doubtful) "cannot enter in;" and it is very hard for a rich man to cast off his trust in his riches. Yet the strait gate shall be thrown open wide to them that overcome to the poor who are rich in faith, and to the rich who are poor in spirit, true disciples of him who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.
2. The amazement of the apostles. They were startled, almost terror stricken; it seemed so hard a saying; it seemed to make salvation so very difficult to attain. Perhaps St. Peter was thinking of it when long afterwards he wrote, "If the righteous scarcely be saved". (1Pe_4:18) "Who then can be saved?" they said in their astonishment. All men, they knew, share the like peril; it is not only the rich who are in danger of trusting in riches. The poor often care for money quite as much as the rich. The fault lies, not in the fact of having great possessions, but in the trust reposed in them; and there are poor men who trust in their little store quite as much as some rich men trust in their great wealth. "The love of money is the root of all evil," and that love is a common temptation to all, rich and poor alike. "Who then can be saved?" The Lord saw the perplexity of his apostles; he felt for them in his sacred heart. He looked at them; those holy eyes were fixed upon them with an earnest, loving, sympathizing look a look full of human tenderness and Divine compassion. "With men this is impossible," he said; "but with God all things are possible." The disciples were right; they might well say, "Who then can be saved?" Man cannot save himself; he is too weak, too sinful. "With men this is impossible with all men alike, whether they are rich or poor, whatever may be their advantages or their temptations; they cannot save themselves; the thing is impossible. But (we may well thank God as we read the words, and fall down before him in adoring gratitude) it is not impossible with God. And Christ is God; "he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." His incarnation, his blessed death upon the cross, has made that possible which was impossible. "With God all things are possible;" he can bring a clean thing out of an unclean; he can cleanse us from all unrighteousness from the degrading love of money, from the defiling lusts of the flesh, from the subtle temptations of pride and self-righteousness. Only we must trust in him, not in riches, or what seem to be riches, not in our own fancied merits, not in works of righteousness which we have done, but only in the cross. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
III THE REWARD OF THE TRUE DISCIPLE.
1. St. Peter"s question. The apostles had done what the young ruler shrank from doing they had forsaken all. Indeed, they had not so much to give up as he had; but such as it was, it was their all; they had left all, and had followed Christ. The Lord had promised treasure in heaven to his followers. "What shall we have therefore?" Peter said. He was still too eager; there was too much self-assertion; he laid too much stress on the reward that was to come. The highest desire of the soul is to serve Christ for himself. "Not for the sake of gaining aught, Not hoping a reward; But as thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord.
Peter knew afterwards that the love of Christ is its own reward. (1Pe_1:8) Yet he was not wholly wrong; the Lord had promised treasure in heaven; and that blessed hope is an exceeding great help to fainting Christians; it is an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. Moses had respect unto the recompense of the reward. St. Paul looked forward to the crown of righteousness laid up in heaven for all who love the appearing of the Lord. Christ himself, our great Example, when he looked back on his perfect life, said, "Now, O Father, glorify thou me." Peter, perhaps, regarded that heavenly blessedness too much in the light of a reward due to self-denial here; our Lord seems to imply this in the parable of Mt 20, though he now repeats his promise and acknowledges the self-sacrifice of his followers.
2. The Lord"s answer.
(1) The promise to the apostles. He bade them look forward to the great regeneration, the time of restitution of all things. (Act_3:21) The regeneration of individual Christians (of which the Lord speaks in Joh_3:3, Joh_3:5; and St. Paul in Tit_3:5) is the gradual beginning, the preparation for the regeneration of the world, when God will make all things new, when there shall be "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Then shall the Son of man, whose throne on earth was the cross, sit in that new creation upon the throne of his glory. And they who followed him nearest upon earth, who first bore the cross for his Name"s sake, the twelve chosen apostles, they should sit, he said, upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. It may be that we shall not certainly understand the meaning of this promise (and other similar passages, such as Luk_22:30 1Co_6:2, 1Co_6:3) till it is fulfilled in the kingdom of heaven. But perhaps it is safest to adopt the ideal interpretation. Twelve is the ideal number of the apostolic college. Judas went to his own place. By the twelve tribes of Israel we are probably to understand the Israel of God, the great Christian Church in all its branches. As the judges ruled Israel in the days of the theocracy, so shall the twelve apostles rule the Israel of God in the regeneration. They shall be nearest to the King, on his right hand and his left, in the highest places of honour.
(2) The promise to all believers. The circle of promise is widened. The apostles had forsaken all for Christ"s sake; but there were multitudes who would afterwards make the like sacrifice; multitudes more who would be willing to make it if it were required of them. To all such the Lord promises a hundredfold reward hundredfold," "manifold more," St. Mark and St. Luke say, in this present time, and in the world to come, eternal life. "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." That holy joy, that peace of God, which is granted unto those who have yielded up their wills to God"s holy will, passeth all understanding, and altogether outweighs the temporal losses which they may endure for Christ"s sake. Such men, like St. Paul, count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord. To such to live is Christ, and to die is gain. A life of holiness and self-denial for Christ"s sake is very blessed, for it hath the presence of Christ. A holy death is by much far better; for such a death is the gate of everlasting life. They who would live that life and die that death must watch and pray, seeking earnestly the grace of perseverance; for many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Judas was near to Christ when these words were said. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall.
LESSONS.
1. We still ask the same question, "What shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" And still the answer is the same, "Keep the commandments.
2. Let us not say, "All these have I kept from my youth up." Let us imitate the publican rather than the young ruler: "God be merciful to me a sinner.
3. "The love of money is the root of all evil;" "Love not the world;" "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.
4. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." It is a difficult work, beyond the strength of man; but we can do all things through him that strengtheneth us.
5. Let us have respect unto the recompense of the reward; he who by faith discerns the crown may well endure the cross.
Vers. 16-22. The great refusal.
The young man who won the love of Christ by his ardour and enthusiasm, and who grieved our Lord by his refusal to make an unexpected sacrifice, stands before us in vivid portraiture an example, and yet a warning. Let us consider the successive traits of his character revealed by his conduct.
I HIS WISE QUESTION. It is much for a man to have a definite object before him; it is more for him to choose a worthy pursuit. Of all personal things the young ruler chose the very best. He had wealth, but that did not satisfy him. He had the means of acquiring pleasure; but he rose above the idea of making worldly amusement the end and aim of existence. He craved the life of God, which is eternal. Surely we may imitate him in this. Moreover, he did well in inquiring of Christ. Jesus is the Way to life, and we can find its source in him, as he told the woman of Samaria. (Joh_4:14) It is right to come to Christ for this boon.
II HIS MISTAKEN ADDRESS. He called our Lord "Good Master." Jesus takes up the phrase at once, and asks what it means. This was no act of captious criticism. The young man did not really know the deep signification of the word "good." He used language conventionally. There is a great danger for those who are brought up among religious associations that they will employ the greatest words without entering into their true meaning.
III HIS MORAL CONDUCT. Christ began with the first elements of morality. We cannot go on to perfection until we have mastered these elements. It is impossible to be a thief in the world and a saint in the Church. Yet there is a subtle temptation that dogs the footsteps of those who aspire after superior spiritual attainments a temptation to fall away from common morality. The young man had avoided this temptation. He was no hollow sentimentalist. His virtue was solid. Yet it was not enough.
IV HIS NEW DUTY. He is told to renounce his wealth a hard, a startling requirement. Jesus does not give this commandment to all rich men, though he never encourages the acquisition of wealth. But he saw that the young ruler"s snare was his riches. It was necessary, therefore, that the riches should be given up. Now, although it was not his duty before this thus to renounce all he possessed, the word of Christ if he would become a disciple made it his duty. Whenever Christ tells any man to sell all he has and give the proceeds to the poor, that man is under an obligation to obey if he would own the Lordship of Christ. The essential duty is not poverty, but obedience. The duty may take the same form with any of us if we are convinced on good grounds that Christ desires us to make the same sacrifice. But whether absolute poverty be required or not, whatever we own is only ours subject to the bidding of Christ to use it as he directs and he is not altogether an easy Master to serve.
V HIS SAD FAILURE. The young ruler could not rise up to the sacrifice. His wealth was his undoing. It was not a golden key opening the kingdom of heaven, but a golden bar holding the gate shut. The young ruler might have become a great Christian leader, saint, or martyr. His refusal dropped him into obscurity. We cannot but pity him, for his was a hard test. Could we stand it? Have we shrunk back from even a milder test? W.F.A.
Vers. 16-22. The perfection of goodness.
To attain to this should be the aim of every rational being. In quest of it we should be willing to do anything and to sacrifice anything. "Who will show us any good?
I CHRIST IS THE IMPERSONATION OF PERFECT GOODNESS.
1. The ruler, in a sense, discerned this.
(1) He addressed him as "good Master". (cf. Mar_10:17 Luk_18:18) He also evinced his veneration by "kneeling," as stated in Mark.
(2) He sought to Jesus for instruction as to how he might attain to "eternal life," viz. by finding that perfect goodness of which eternal life is the reward. His question was, in effect, "How may I become like thee?" Note: What the young man calls "eternal life," Christ calls "life," for eternal life is the only true life. Without this, "in the midst of life we are in death.
2. But he discerned it falsely.
(1) He did not recognize the Divinity of Christ. Hence the question, "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good?" Suppose an emphasis on the word thou. So he proceeds, "One there is who is good;" equivalent to "None is good save One, even God". (Mar_10:18 Luk_18:19)
(2) The rebuke here is for ascribing goodness to Christ without discerning his Divinity as its source. The title is not inapplicable, for our Lord calls himself the "good Shepherd". (Joh_10:11) The fault was that it was improperly applied.
(3) The teaching, then, is that it is vain to seek goodness apart from God. He alone is good. essentially, originally, everlastingly. "God" is "good." Therefore we should transfer to God all praise which is given to us. All crowns must lie before his throne. (see Jam_1:17)
II THE LAW OF GOD IS THE RULE OF GOODNESS.
1. This is expressed in the instruction of Christ.
(1) "If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments." This is not irony, but sober truth. To keep the commandments from a principle of loving faith is undoubtedly the way to eternal life. Those who are justified by faith must keep the commandments before they can enter into life and be finally saved.
(2) Keeping the commandments must, however, include faith in Jesus Christ. (see 1Jn_3:23) Moses gave it amongst his commandments that we should hear the great Prophet to be raised up like unto him.
2. The ruler observed the commandments in the letter.
(1) The inquiry "Which?" was probably occasioned by the confusion introduced by the scribes, who mixed up the traditions of the elders with the precepts of Moses; and who magnified the ritual observances so as to neglect the moral rules the "weightier matters of the Law," justice, mercy, and charity.
(2) The answer put the moral law in the foremost place. The particular commandments which our Lord selects are but adduced as instances of moral, in opposition to ritual, obedience. Nor does he cite the commandments in their order, probably to show, as the Jews themselves express it, "that there is neither first nor last in the Law that every precept is so perfect that it matters not whether it be taken first or last. He mentions only the duties of the second table, summing them up, however, with the precept from Lev_19:18, for the love of God can only be made manifest by love to our neighbour. (cf. 1Jn_4:20, 1Jn_4:21) "Our light burns in love to God, but it shines in love to our neighbour" (Henry).
(3) "All these things have I observed". (cf. Php_3:6)
3. He failed to keep them in the spirit.
(1) "What lack I yet?" He was convinced that he yet needed something. He had too much of that boasting which is excluded by the law of faith, and which excludes from justification. (Luk_18:11, 14 Rom_3:27)
(2) The Lord soon discovered to him the covetousness and earthliness of his heart. He found how he over-estimated his obedience when he was unwilling to part with his possessions for the benefit of the poor, and preferred earthly to heavenly treasure. Note: Worldly men prefer heaven to hell; Christians prefer heaven to earth.
(3) We cannot become perfect without becoming spiritual So a man may be free from gross sin, yet come short of the life of grace and glory.
III THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS THE WAY OF GOODNESS.
1. It promises eternal life in Christ. "Thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
(1) In the school of Christ we learn the doctrine of justification by faith in his sufficient atonement.
(2) The connection with that atonement of the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart.
(3) His teaching, moreover, shows us the connection between faith and obedience unto the fulfilling of the Law.
2. But it exacts an absolute submission.
(1) "Sell all." This was literally required in the case of the ruler. Christ did not lighten his cross, because "he loved him." Note: This reason should sustain us under our crosses.
(2) Virtually we have to sell all. We must be willing to part with everything that may hinder our salvation.
3. Those who refuse submission accept sorrow.
(1) "He went away sorrowful." What an opportunity he missed! The offer to him was to become one of Christ"s more intimate disciples; to be specially trained by him in the knowledge of spiritual things, and to preach his gospel. (cf. Mat_4:19 Mat_8:22 Mat_9:9 Mar_2:14 10:21)
(2) Many are ruined by the sin they commit with reluctance. What would be the ruler"s sorrow in the sequel to find his wealth gone and eternal life along with it! Mariners act prudently when, to save their lives, they throw overboard rich bales of silk and precious things. J.A.M.
The ruler"s mistakes.
The assumption that this ruler was a youth has no, foundation. The man could not have been a ruler if he had been a youth. He must have been in what we should call the prime of life; but he evidently retained something of the impetuousness of youth. His mistakes suggest the impulsive temperament, that readily yields to emotion, and is wont to act before it thinks. Our Lord skilfully dealt with individuals. "He needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man." He was "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." In the ruler"s abrupt and impulsive question we may trace three forms of mistake.
I A MISTAKE ABOUT CHRIST. He applied the word "good" to him, and yet he had no adequate ideas concerning goodness. If he had really meant anything worth meaning, he would have recognized in Christ the infinitely Good One, the Son of God; for none is good save God. This mistake Jesus corrected in two ways.
1. By reference to God. "None is good save one, that is, God." You do not call God good because he does good, but because he is good.
2. By a severe and searching test, which reveals to the man the imperfectness of his own goodness. He would never be able to get right ideas of God or Christ from himself.
II A MISTAKE CONCERNING HIMSELF. This took a twofold form. He thought he was good; and he thought he could do good, if only he was told what to do. Jesus showed him a good thing that he could not do; and so set his conscience suggesting, that perhaps he was not as good as he had thought. We may think ourselves good while we arrange the forms that our goodness shall take; but we may learn our mistake when God arranges the forms for us. The question betrays the man"s self-righteous spirit. He is indirectly paying a compliment to himself to his own goodness; or, at any rate, to human goodness, that idol which he worshipped with his whole soul.
III A MISTAKE CONCERNING THE FUTURE. Feeling himself well provided for in all that concerned this life, he wanted to be as safely and as well off in the next life. He would inherit eternal life; he would have it as something coming to him; he wanted as much right to it as he had to his worldly possessions. How much he had to learn! A man"s life here "consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesses." A man"s wealth is his character; that is true of this life, but much more true of the life to come. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John A. Broadus 1886 · Public Domain On v16 Mat 19:16-22.
Mat 19:16-22.
The Rich Young Ruler
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Found also in Mar 10:17-22 Luk 18:18-23.
Jesus has left the house in which he blessed the babes (Mat 19:15; Mar 10:10), and is going forth into the road, (Mar 10:17) doubtless on the way towards Jerusalem (Mat 20:17) for the last Passover. The place is still pretty certainly in Southern Perea. (Mat 19:1, Mat 20:29)
Mat 19:16. One came. ’One’ may be taken loosely (see on "Mat 8:19"), as we in English often use it, to mean some one, a certain one; but is perhaps better taken strictly—not now a crowd, (Mat 19:2) only a single person, but a very interesting and important case. Matthew tells us that he was a young man (Mat 19:20-22), Luke that he was a ’ruler’, (Mat 18:18) not probably meaning one of the Sanhedrin, (Joh 3:1) but a ruler of the local synagogue; (Mat 9:18) all three state that he was very wealthy. The theory of Plumptre that this was Lazarus of Bethany, rests entirely upon certain resemblances, as wealth, high standing, and the fact that Jesus is said to have loved him, and it must be regarded as a pleasant, homiletical fancy, rather than even a probable historical fact. The resurrection of Lazarus was almost certainly before this time. For ’came to him,’ Mark says vividly, Rev. Ver., ’ran to him, and kneeled to him.’ Finding that Jesus had left the house, and eager not to miss the desired instruction, he runs to overtake him, and then kneels in profound reverence. Good Master, i. e., teacher (didaskalos), see on "Mat 8:19". ’Good’ is wanting in the earliest and best documents, and was manifestly brought in by copyists from Mark and Luke. The same early documents, with many others of great importance, read Mat 8:17 as in Rev. Ver., which, especially as the meaning is not obvious, would be readily changed to agree with Mark and Luke.[1] What good thing shall I do? He has done many good things, what else? (Mat 19:20.) That I may have eternal life, compare on Mat 25:46. He is sincerely and deeply desirous of gaining it, as he has shown by his conduct heretofore, and shows now by his eagerness to learn from the Galilean teacher who is passing by. Contrast the lawyer of Luk 10:25, who quibbled. (Mat 19:29.)
[1] The other readings need not have been placed in the margin of Rev. Ver., for there can be no question that they are wrong. We cannot imagine any reason for changing an easy reading which agreed with Mark and Luke into an obscure one which strikingly differs, while the change into assimilation is precisely such as we constantly find in MSS. and versions. Origen expressly points out and dwells on the difference between the text of Matt. and that of Mark end Luke.
Mat 19:17. It is possible (Aug.) that Jesus used first the expression in Mark and Luke, and afterwards that in Matt. (Rev. Ver.) But the Evangelists often report a saying in different terms. (See on "Mat 3:17".) Both forms here express truth, and they substantially agree. To call him ’good’ (Mark and Luke), was a sort of flattery to one approached only as a Rabbi, perfectly good—keep that word for him. No religious teacher would really like to be accosted as "a good man." So here, to ask a teacher concerning that which is good, what good thing shall be done, must not be with the notion that any mere human teacher is of himself qualified to give the desired instruction. Only God is perfectly good; and lessons of goodness are not lessons of mere human ethical wisdom, but of divine instruction. This is a surpassingly important truth. Men in every age and country are prone to think of mere human instruction in morals and religion, and to forget that the highest religious wisdom must come from him who alone is perfect wisdom and perfect goodness. But if thou wilt, or wishest to (compare on Mat 15:32, Mat 16:24), enter into life (comp on Mat 5:20), keep the commandments. Bengel: "Those who feel secure Jesus refers to the law; the contrite he consoles with the gospel."
Mat 19:18 f. Which, if strictly translated, would be what sort of, what kind of commandments, not inquiring as to particular precepts, but classes. Yet this Greek pronoun is used somewhat loosely in New Testament, and may here mean simply which. In Modern Greek it has that meaning always. The ruler may have expected new commandments, or a special selection from those existing. The Rabbis would have prescribed stricter attention to traditional observances. Jesus did not propose new commandments, but a new spirit and motive. The sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments are given, then the fifth, and then Matt. alone adds the general precept (Lev 19:18) which sums up all the second table of the law; compare on Mat 22:39. Luke quotes the same five commandments as Matt.; Mark, likewise, but inserting ’do not defraud,’ equivalent to the tenth commandment. Thou shalt do no murder (Rev. Ver., shalt not kill). So also Com. Ver. in Mat 5:21 Mar 10:19 Luk 18:20; and Rom 13:9. The Old Testament Revisers, on the contrary, have changed ’thou shalt not kill’ into ’thou shalt do no murder,’ Exo 20:13 Deu 5:17. The Hebrew and Greek verbs are frequently used for unlawful killing, murder, but not uniformly.
Mat 19:20. All these things has the emphasis here (according to the probable text) on ’all’; in Mark and Luke it is on ’these things.’ Have I kept. Rev. Ver. gives observed. So Tyn. and Gen. here, and all early English versions in Mar 10:20, while all give ’kept’ for the same word in Luk 18:21. In Luk 18:17 above, ’kept’ represents a different word. From my youth up is spurious in Matt., but genuine in Mark and Luke, and so was really said.[1] The speaker was still a ’young man,’ but it is quite common for young men to look back to their youth, viz., boyhood, and as a very remote period. He must have been sincere in his profession, and really blameless in outward conformity to law, for ’Jesus looking upon him loved him.’ (Mark.) What lack I yet? Mark and Luke give as the beginning of the Saviour’s reply, ’One thing thou lackest.’ So the question here must not be regarded as a mere self-righteous expression. The only observance he had ever thought of was external and superficial; in regard to this, he had been very careful and correct. The Talmud repeatedly mentions persons as having kept the whole law, in one case "my holy ones, who have kept the whole law, from Aleph to Tau," like Alpha to Omega. The Great Teacher does not stop for distinctions between the external and the spiritual which the young ruler would have found it difficult to appreciate, but cuts through all his self-delusion and self-complacency by an extraordinary demand.
[1] It was easily added in Matthew by copyists, just as in Mark some documents add to Mat 10:20, ’what lack I yet,’ (which Mark really has just after in another shape), and to Mat 10:21, ’if thou wishest to be perfect.’ Such patent errors show the habits of copyists, and help us to group documents.
Mat 19:21. If thou wilt be, wishest to be, as in Mat 19:17. Perfect, so as to lack nothing, see on "Mat 5:48". Go, go along, go promptly, as in Mat 4:10, Mat 5:24, Mat 13:44, Mat 18:15. Sell that thou hast, (compare Mat 13:46) a comprehensive expression, strengthened in Mark by ’whatsoever,’ in Luke by ’all.’ To the poor. Here again (see on "Mat 5:3"; Mat 11:5) the notion of ’beggars’ is quite out of place; the wisest giving is not always to beggars. The Talmud (Wet.) speaks of a rabbi as saying to some Gentiles who sought instruction, "Sell all that you have, and moreover you ought to become proselytes."—This was a special test, exactly suited to the young ruler, as appears from his sorrowful failure to meet it. The principle involved is supreme devotion to Christ. The test of this is different for different people. Some find it harder to renounce hopes of worldly honour and fame for Christ’s sake, than to renounce wealth; and for others the hard trial is to abandon certain gratifications of the various appetites or of taste. Abraham left his native country at God’s command, but became rich and famous. Moses gave up the distinction and refined pleasures of court life, and tried patiently to rule a debased and intractable people. Elisha left his property at the call of God through Elijah. Paul abandoned his ambitious hope of being a great rabbi. All should be willing even to die for Christ, (Mat 16:24, ff.) though not many are actually required to do so. The Romanists build on this passage their theory that for all persons and times voluntary and absolute poverty is a chief means of securing the highest spiritual attainments. But there is no intimation that Jesus requires this of all his followers. He said nothing of the kind to any but the Twelve, and a few who, like them, were called to leave home and travel about the country with him. Treasure in heaven, see on "Mat 6:20". And come, follow me, see on "Mat 4:19". Many documents in Mark, and one or two in Matthew add ’taking up thy cross,’ borrowed from Mar 8:34 Mat 16:24.
Mat 19:22. He went away sorrowful Mark prefixes ’his countenance fell,’ he looked gloomy,’ dark-faced; compare a similar expression in Luk 24:17 (correct text). It was a painful disappointment; his eager longing and hope gave way to gloom—he could not give up his great possessions. Among all nations, but especially among the Jewish higher classes, the idea of falling from great wealth to utter poverty would be extremely painful. He went away, and appears no more in the history. One would incline to the hopeful persuasion that he afterwards became a true Christian, since Jesus loved him. But the story ends very sadly. And its lesson applies very closely to many whose, possessions’ are by no means ’great.’
Homiletical And Practical
Mat 19:17-21. We need no new commandments, but a new motive, supreme devotion to Christ. So in Rom 8:1-17, there is presented the same old law, but a new revelation of forgiveness (Mat 19:1), a new moral force (Mat 19:2), a new motive (Mat 19:15).
Rom 8:16-22. The young ruler. (1) There may be much religious earnestness, and a lovable sincerity, without true Christian piety. (2) To become a thorough Christian requires no new precepts, but a new spirit. (3) A complete Christian character and life cannot exist without complete submission to Christ. (4) The tests of submission to Christ will be very different in different cases, but must in every case be squarely met. (5) Turning away from Christ with regret and gloomy sadness, is yet turning away.
Mat 19:17. (latter part). If thou wishest to enter into life. (1) The wish. (a) None enter who do not wish. (b) None who wish to enter need fail. (2) The way. (a) The commandments must be kept not only outwardly, but inwardly, spiritually. (b) This can be done through help of Christ and of the other Comforter. (c) That help is received only where there is supreme devotion to Christ.
Mat 19:20. What lack I yet? (1) He might seem to others to lack nothing; he has wealth, honour, a blameless outward life, and a deep sincerity and earnestness. (2) He is conscious of lacking something, and eager to supply the lack. (3) He really lacks everything; for he has only kept the commandments outwardly, and thus altogether imperfectly. (4) He lacks one thing, (Mar 10:21) without which all is inadequate, and with which all will work toward perfection and eternal life; and that one thing is supreme devotion to Christ.
Mat 19:22. He went away sorrowful. (1) He went away sorrowful. (2) He went away sorrowful.
John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (American Baptist Publication Society, 1886) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv16, 19 And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good…
Mat_19:16-22
And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do?
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Formal obedience insufficient
It is certainly the doctrine of Scripture that moral integrity alone can never benefit us with God; that even the offering of our prayers is accounted worthless except as it is perfumed with love. Evidently, then, his confidence is false and dangerous indeed who, because he keeps unbroken the great laws of social morality, imagines his claim to mercy and salvation secure. Besides being unscriptural, such a theory is not rational.
I. It ignores the very design of mans creation, viz., the glory of God. Social morality is at best a very inferior virtue. It is only the submission of one part of mans nature to an inferior series of Gods laws. If this world were all, that might be enough. Man is endowed with faculties which can only be exercised toward the unseen world. As well might the planet, obeying the one law of its propulsion around the earth, break away from the other which binds it to the sun, and yet hope to escape, as he who, fulfilling his duty to man, neglects his duty to God.
II. It is founded on a false idea of religion. God seeks not mere abject obedience, but the devotion of the heart. Without a distinct movement of the will and affections towards Him, all religious observances are worse than naught. They are the casket without the diamond-the body without the sustaining, invigorating, glorifying life.
III. It makes the sacrifice of Christ an unnecessary thing. If man by being honest and upright and humane and gentle could merit heaven, no need for Calvary. Yet Jesus laid aside the robes of His Deity and came to earth, and offered Himself a sacrifice on the cross. To rely for salvation on natural morality is, then, to mock Christ in His sufferings; it is to go up, as it were, upon the blood-stained slopes of Calvary, and, beholding Him in His agony, to cry aloud, We need not Thy blood, we despise Thine aid! (W. Rudder, D. D.)
Coming to Jesus
A right thing to come to Jesus, in a right way, for a right thing, in a right spirit. This last element of coming rightly was here left out.
I. How he came.
1. Publicly.
2. Eagerly-running.
3. Humbly-kneeling.
4. Respectfully-good Master.
II. Why he came: inherit eternal life.
1. Belief in a future state.
2. Concern to obtain it; in this he differed from many.
3. Thought something must be done; many think not of this, and
consequently do nothing.
4. Thought he was willing and able to do anything needful; but did not know himself; had not counted the cost.
III. Learn-
1. Salvation not by works.
2. Works an evidence, not a cause of grace. (The Hive.)
The rich youths application to Christ
I. The character and pretensions of the youthful applicant who approached our Lord. Something in his character exceedingly favourable, interesting external appearance, air of sweetness about his address, correct in morals, of ample means, fair reputation, he entertained proper views of our Lord; he had serious regard for religion. But-
1. He was ignorant of his moral inability.
2. He displays an ignorance of his actual guilt.
3. He was ignorant of the prevailing disposition of his heart.
II. THE manner in which the application was diet.
1. Our Lord repels his adulatory address.
2. Our Lord shows the imperfection of his obedience.
3. The youth went away sorrowful.
III. Those important lessons which naturally arise out of this interesting case.
1. Learn the danger and prevalence of self-deception.
2. The great responsibility which the ministerial office involves.
3. The dangerous situation which the rich occupy. The subject guards us against the following: Low thoughts of God, high thoughts of ourselves, slight thoughts of sin, and mean thoughts of Christ. (J. Thorp.)
Mens persuasions of their own obedience
Whence this ariseth.
1. Ignorance of the total, deep, and universal pollution of our natures.
2. Ignorance of the spiritual exactness and obligation of the law.
3. Attention only to the negative commandments.
4. Not understanding either positive or negative precepts in their comprehensive sense.
5. Neglecting self-reflection and self-examination.
6. From the abominable self-love, and self-flattery, which cleaveth to every man.
7. Fear of guilt makes men hoodwink their eyes that they may neither look into the law, nor into their hearts.
8. Ignorance of regeneration and the necessity for being born again.
9. The devil hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.
10. Every man is naturally destitute of the Spirit, without which we are all devoid of light and life. (Anthony Burgess.)
The rich young ruler
I. Examine the young mans roast. He boasted that his obedience was:
1. Extensive.
2. Exact.
3. Constant.
II. Answer his question. He lacked:
1. A new heart.
2. A sense of guilt and sin.
3. Faith in Christ.
4. Spirituality and self-denial. (G. Brooks.)
I. How entirely even an intelligent man may misapprehend his own spiritual attainment.
II. And his willingness to attain.
III. Between our present attainment and perfection there may be a sacrifice equivalent to cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye.
IV. The one thing essential, if we are to attain perfection, is the following of Christ.
V. Other things may also be lacking, as, for example, determination to be holy. Conclusion: The lack of one thing may make all other attainments useless. (M. Dods, D.D.)
The young ruler
I. A hopeful meeting. It was-
1. A young man-special promises to the young.
2. A meeting with Christ-patient and physician.
3. One who was in earnest. Mark says, he came running.
4. One who had many rare qualities. Jesus loved him.
5. One who was bold (compare Nicodemus); yet reverent, for he kneeled.
II. An important conversation. It reveals:
1. Our simpleness-unable to keep the law.
2. Our pride-trusting to our own works.
3. Our idolatry-loving other things better than Christ.
4. Our only hope of salvation-willing to leave all, take the cross and follow Christ.
III. A sorrowful parting.
1. It was parting with Christ, therefore no hope.
2. It was a deliberate parting-not a sudden step.
3. It was a final parting.
IV. Important lessons. How far some may advance and yet not be saved. Abandon at once that which keeps us from Christ. (D. Macmillan.)
Morality made a snare
Take heed that thy morality be not thy snare. The young man in the gospel might have been a better man if he had not been so good. (Gurnall.)
Youths obstructions in their way to Christ and eternal life
I. Self-conceit, This young man thought that he had kept all the law. Young people with a smattering of knowledge soon imagine themselves competent judges of all truth and conduct. They have righteousness to recommend themselves to Gods favour.
II. The pleasures and vanities of youth; especially when they are fed by great possessions. These unreasonable sordid pleasures are not to be compared with the exalted substantial delights that are to be found in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
III. A false prejudice, as if the ways of Christ were nought and melancholy. Thus the young man thought when Christ told him to take up his cross and follow Him. Grace would give new tastes and make the burden easy. Christ will never let you be a loser by Him.
IV. An inconsiderate, heedless temper. To be heedless about small matters is a blemish; about essential, a reproach without excuse.
V. A presumptuous, daring rashness of spirit. Young persons are most sanguine, even to foolhardiness.
VI. The companions of youth.
VII. An apprehension of long life, They have a long day before them and can put away the thought of death. (John Guyse, D.D.)
A sorrowful departure
1. He was sorry at the thought of giving up those large possessions of which he was naturally proud.
2. He was also grieved at the idea of losing heaven.
3. Thus opened to the young mans mind some of the difficulty which there always is in the attainment of everything which is really worth having.
4. Part of his sorrow was the discovery which he was making at that moment of his own heart.
5. But he was most sorrowful of all in the wretched sense he had of his own guilty hesitation and inexcusable weakness. Many worldly people are sorrowful in the midst of their worldliness; it indicates life and struggle. In any state of life the characteristic of the Christian is self-renunciation. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Jesus answer to the young rulers address
I. What we may infer from our Lords question.
1. That our Master was not fond of flattering titles.
2. The language affords a remarkable instance of our Lords modesty and humility.
3. Our Lords question contains a proof of His reverence for His Father.
II. Explain and enforce our Lords answer.
1. There is none good in comparison of God; and consequently, our sentiments of regard and devotion should not stop short of Him.
2. God alone is absolutely good. His goodness is from Himself, independently of all others.
Application-
1. Our Lord hath set us an example for our imitation.
2. Our Lord will not finally approve of any pretended reverence and respect paid to Himself which in the least lessens the glory due to His Father. (Thomas Twining.)
The way to happiness
I. We have the example of one who was solicitous and inquisitive after his future condition, and desirous to know upon what terms he might hope for happiness,
II. We have the ordinary way to happiness marked out to us.
III. In some extraordinary cases God does require some extraordinary things of particular men, which are not generally necessary to the salvation of all men.
IV. We have the sad example of one that went far towards happiness, and yet fell short. (Samuel Johnson.)
W/mr are the senses in which none is good but God?-
I. God is the only necessarily good being.
II. God is the only originally good being.
III. God is the only self-subsistently good being.
IV. God is the only immutably good being.
1. If God is alone supremely good, He alone is to be glorified and adored.
2. If He alone is supremely good, it is sin, and the very essence of it, not to glorify Him. (Dr. Shedd.)
What he lacked
1. A sense of guilt. He was self-complacent. He had obedience, self-respect, morality. He rested in these and boasted of them. He did not know the estimate which heaven places upon the righteousness which is of the law. He was under condemnation, and thought himself justified.
2. Faith in Christ. As the only Saviour. He did not know that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness.
3. A new heart. An essential. He loved the world, etc. This shows the old heart.
4. Self-denial. He loved ease and riches. He had no heart to give these up for Christ. He had much to give up, and the surrender would be hard; but a Christian spirit is willing to give up all; even life if needs be for Christ, and the needs be is Christs word. (Anon.)
A new years personal inquiry
I. There may be many excellences, and much that is amiable in man, without true religion. Morality, benevolent and social virtues, orthodoxy, reverence for Divine ordinances, etc.
II. There are various evils which keep men from being entirely the Saviours. Self-complacency, favour of the world, attachment to riches, unwillingness to deny self, etc.
III. The inquiry of the text is one which is worthy of personal consideration. Ask the question as in Christs presence, with all possible seriousness, with perfect deference to Gods word, in the spirit of prayer and with a resolution to obey the answer. (J. Burns, LL. D.)
Good things to do
Sidney Smith tells us that he cut the following from a newspaper, and preserved it for himself: When you rise in the morning, say that you will make the day blessed to a fellow-creature. It is easily done; a left-off garment to the man who needs it; a kind word to the sorrowful; an encouraging expression to the starving-trifles as light as air-will do at least for the twenty-four hours. And if you are young, depend upon it, it will tell when you are old; and, if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of tiptoe to eternity. By the most simple arithmetical sum, look at the result. If you send one person away happily through the day, that is three hundred and sixty-five in the course of a year. And, suppose you live forty years only after you commence that course of medicine, you have made fourteen thousand six hundred persons happy-at all events, for a time.
Heaven won by being, not doing
Very likely the question involved a mass of confusions. The young man thought, perhaps, that heaven was to be won by external actions and quantitative merit. He did not understand that we must enter into heaven by being, not by doing. He held perhaps the vulgar notion that eternal only means endless, so that eternity becomes the infinitude of time instead of its antithesis. He very likely did not know that every holy soul has entered already into eternal life; that to all who are in Christ it is now as the invisible bright air they breathe. He certainly did not realize that this is life eternal, to know Thee, the only God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. But yet, because the question was sincere and noble, and did not spring from Pharisaism-the one thing which the Lord detested most-but from the Divine dissatisfaction of a struggling soul which God alone can fill, Christ answered it. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
Man not left in doubt as to the good
Why dost thou ask Me about the good? that seems to have been our Lords answer, not Why askest thou Me? as it is often read-for whom else should the young man ask? but Why dost thou ask Me about the good? Has God left you in any doubt as to what is good? Have you in your heart no voice of conscience? Has duty never uplifted within you that naked law of right, so imperial in its majesty, so eternal in its origin, which you know that you ought to follow even unto death? If not, and if experience has had no lessons for you, and history no teaching, was there no Sinai? Do not the cherubim of your temple veil with their golden wings the tablets-alas! the shattered tablets of your moral law? And there Jesus might have stopped. But, being unlike us, being infinitely patient with mans irritating spiritual stupidity, not loving, as we do, to be cautious and reticent, and to steer through the channel of no meaning between the Scylla and Charybdis of yes and no, He added, but, if thou wouldst enter into life, keep the commandments. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
The first step towards righteousness
Christ did not begin with the injunction, Go, sell all that thou hast. He began very much lower; He said, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Let us learn to flutter as sparrows, before it is worth considering whether we ought also to soar as eagles. Let us cease to be very guilty before we can be righteous. Let us be righteous before we can attain to the greatness of good men. Let us be but ordinary good men before we ask Christ for His counsels of perfection, or attempt to attain to the stature of His saints. Christ knew this well. We come to Him, and say, O Saviour, whom I love, tell me what I must do to inherit eternal life. And so long as we are all standing ankle-deep, chin-deep, in the worlds mire, would it be of any use for Him to point to some shining cloud in the deep blue, and say, You must stand there? Ah, no! He says to you, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Until you have learnt to plant firm feet on the green lower slopes, how can you breathe the difficult and eager air, or stand in the glory of the sunrise on the splendour of the snowy heights? (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
The commandment regarded as ordinary
The young ruler, not being so familiar as we are with those accumulated cobwebs of two thousand years which priests, and churches, and sects, and theologians, and theorists, and system-mongers, and schoolmen, have spun over wellnigh every simple word of Christ; the young ruler, whose natural instincts were not crushed under hundreds of ponderous folios of human doctrines and commandments of men, which, with inconceivable arrogance and a bitterness which has become universally proverbial, would fain palm themselves off as infallible theology; the young ruler, hearing the answer from the lips of Jesus, in all its bare, naked, unqualified, unmistakable simplicity, was quite frankly amazed. He was like the child Charoba in the poem, who, having been talked to about the majestic glory of the sea, and being led to the shore, innocently exclaimed, Is that the mighty ocean? Is that all? Keep the commandments. Is that all that Jesus has to tell him? Surely there must be some mistake! It did not need a prophet to tell us that! This youth had gone to Christ seeking for some great thing to do, and secret thing to know. The great Teacher could not mean anything so commonplace, so elementary, so extremely ordinary, as those old ten words which He had learned to lisp, ever so many years ago, when He was a little child, at His mothers knee? (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
Self-satisfaction
This young man thought himself somewhat beforehand, and that God, perchance, was in his debt. Truly, many nowadays grow crooked and aged with over-good opinions of themselves, and can hardly ever be set right again. They stand upon their comparisons-I am as good as thou; nay, upon their disparisons, I am not as this publican. No, for thou art worse; yea, for this, because thou thinkest thyself better. This arrogant youth makes good that of Aristotle, who, differencing between age and youth, makes it a property of young men to think they know all things, and to affirm lustily their own placits. (John Trapp.)
What lack I?-
I. Examine his boast. His obedience was:
1. Exact.
2. Extensive.
3. Constant.
II. Show his deficiencies.
1. A sense of guilt.
2. Faith in Christ.
3. A new heart.
4. Self-denial. (Pulpit Germs.)
This query must not be regarded as an expression of satisfied self-righteousness, as if it implied, In that case I lack nothing. It is, indeed, true that the young man was still self-righteous. He had no conception of the spirituality, the depth, or the height of the commandments of God. Taking only the letter of the law, he considered himself blameless, and perhaps even righteous, before God. Yet his heart misgave him, and he felt that he still lacked something. Under this sense of want, he put the question to the Saviour, as if he would have said, What is it then that I yet lack? All these things have not given me peace of mind. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
Self-righteousness
The various forms of self-righteousness.
1. Of the head and of the heart (of doctrine and of sentiment); or, Pharisees in the strictest sense.
2. Self-righteousness of the heart with orthodoxy of the head, as in the case of some in the Church who seem to be zealous for soundness of doctrine.
3. Self-righteousness of the head, combined with a deep sense of spiritual need, although its grounds may not be fully understood, as in the case of this young man and of many Christian legalists. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
Why wealth is to be renounced
What did our Lord mean by this reply? Did he mean that the mere giving up his wealth to the poor would make this man acceptable with God? Certainly not. The cattle on a thousand hills are His. He asks no sacrifice from human hands. Man can give Him nothing that is not His already. This, therefore, could not have been His meaning. Did He, then, mean that the voluntary poverty caused by this distribution of his wealth would render him meritorious with God? Poverty in itself is no more a merit than riches. To this question, therefore, we must say, as to the other, certainly not. Well, then, what did He mean? Evidently this: that whatever may be our moral excellence; however exactly we may fulfil the law toward our neighbour; unless there is, besides this and behind all this and originating all this, an ardent love of God-a love fulfilling the first and great commandment, and fastening upon God with all the heart and soul and mind; a love born of faith, and yet increasing faith-unless there is such a love as this seated on the very throne of our being, originating all our motives and our acts; making our purpose not expediency, but the glory of God; causing us to be ready if need be to sell all that we have-unless there is such a love ruling in our hearts, our moral excellences, however great, are, in the sight of God, of no account. This unquestionably was His meaning; this was the doctrine which He designed to teach. (W. Rudder, D. D.)
The true spirit of renunciation
To the question What lack I yet? Christ answers in substance, This: the temper that counts property worthless beside true life. You come to me with your money, with)our sense of complacency, of consequence, of power, and you want to bring these with you into the kingdom of God. You are not indeed satisfied with things as they are. How can you be, so long as you are vainly striving to feed your immortal nature upon husks and chaff? You want to be enlarged into a life nobler, fuller, worthier of your better self. But you would come as Dives, not as Lazarus. What you have, you think, ought to be reckoned in with what you are. You and your estate are in your own conception too entirely identified to be separated. Believe me, my young brother, the kingdom of Jesus can not know you upon any such terms. It is not necessary that you should be stripped bare of all your belongings in order to enter it. But you should be willing to be stripped bare. You must come to look upon what you call yours as though it mattered not, when you set your face toward the kingdom of God, whether it were yours or no. The spirit of renunciation must be so deep in you that you must be ready to give up all for Christ. And this not from any arbitrary reason, but simply because a human heart is not large enough to hold two thrones. If Christ is to be in it at all, He must be king of the whole domain; and if He is to be king, the money power, the sense power, the brain power must go to the rear. There will be a place for each of these in every sanctified life, but it must be a subordinate place. Go, or at least, if it be a question between your securities and your Saviour, be ready to go, and sell all that thou hast, and follow Me! (Bishop H. C. Potter.)
Obedience to this command not necessarily literal
It is not to be hastily concluded from this, that the rich man is to give all that he has to the poor. If, in deference to any narrow and superficial interpretation of Christs language, a man should take his wealth and distribute the whole of it in largesses to the poor to-morrow, he would be doing the poor an incalculable evil and not a benefit. Men ask, Why do not you, as a believer in Jesus Christ and the Sermon on the Mount, make common cause in the things of this world with the destitute around you, and trust for the needful food and raiment to Him who feeds the birds and clothes the lillies? Why not, indeed! Is it merely because such an act would be fanatical and enthusiastic, or because political economy forbids it? Or, because, whatever else I ought or ought not to do, I ought not to do my brother man a wrong? Is anybody ignorant of the fact that every human life needs the discipline of forethought and self-denial, of responsibility and self-help; and that if I by my ill-judged kindness enable another to escape things, I am degrading and hurting him as well as abusing my own power? What would be the effect of the announcement that half a dozen rich men had disinherited themselves, and that to-morrow morning fifty millions of dollars would be distributed to the poor? Does anybody care to contemplate the pandemonium that New York would become-the idleness, the licentiousness, the fierce hatreds, the bitter discords, the mad license that would be engendered: and ought a Christian man to do an act that would make his brother men incalculably worse instead of better? (Bishop H. C. Potter.)
Great possessions a hindrance in the way to heaven
How nimbly does that little lark mount up, singing, towards heaven in a right line! whereas the hawk, which is stronger of body and swifter of wing, towers up by many gradual compasses to his highest pitch. That bulk of body and length of wing hinder a direct ascent, and require the help both of air and scope to advance his flight; while the small bird cuts the air without resistance, and needs no outward furtherance of her motion. It is no otherwise with the souls of men in flying up to their heaven. Some are hindered by those powers which would seem helps to their soaring up thither: great wit, deep judgment, quick apprehension, send about men with no small labour, for the recovery of their own incumbrance; while the good affections of plain and simple souls raise them up immediately to the fruition of God. Why should we be proud of that which may slacken our way to glory? Why should we be disheartened with the small measure of that, the very want whereof may (as the heart may be affected) facilitate our way to happiness? (Salter.)
The worth of heaven
Far beyond the treasures of Egypt, which yet is called Rahab because of the riches, power, and pride thereof. Oh! get a patriarchs eye to see the wealth and worth of heaven, and then we shall soon make Mosess choice. In the year of grace 759, certain Persian magicians fell into that madness, that they persuaded themselves and sundry, others that if they sold all they had and gave it to the poor, and then afterwards threw themselves naked from off the walls into the river, they should presently be admitted into heaven. Many were cast away by this mad enterprise. How much better (if without superstition and opinion of merit) Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, who being asked by certain ambassadors that came to his court what hounds he had, for they desired to see them, showed them next day a pack of poor people feeding at his table, and said, These are the hounds wherewith I hunt after heaven. (John Trapp.)
Deteriorating influence of riches
Many a Christian do you find among the rich and the titled, who, as a less encumbered man, might have been a resolute soldier of the cross; but he is now only a realization of the old Pagan fable-a spiritual giant buried under a mountain of gold. Oh! many, many such we meet in our higher classes, pining with a nameless want, pressed by a heavy sense of the weariness of existence, strengthless in the midst of affluence, and incapable even of tasting the profusion of comfort which is heaped around them. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The danger and misery of self-deception
I. The state and character of the person who here addresses the Lord.
1. We discover many circumstances which are calculated at first sight to impress us with very favourable sentiments of his state and character. He was young; engaging manners; amiable disposition. He exhibits a pleasing combination of many attractive qualities.
2. How inadequate his conception of the corruption of his own heart. What good thing can he do?
3. The defective views which he entertains of his own guilt.
4. He is not better acquainted with the secret bias of his affections than with his depravity and guilt.
II. The conduct of our Lord on this occasion.
1. He does not promote the self-deception and thus augment the danger. He does not compliment the young man on his moral attainments. He acts the part of a true Physician and Friend; palliatives will only increase the disorder.
2. Compassionate regard.
3. Admirably suited to the peculiar circumstances of his case. Christ mentions the law as a corrective to his pride and self-sufficiency.
4. Eminently calculated to prove in the highest degree beneficial to his most important interests.
(1) The misery of a state of self-deception.
(2) That in removing the specious covering which self-deceit imposes, and in disclosing the sinner to himself, consists one important part of the duty of a minister.
(3) Reflect on that disposition of heart which Christ requires of His people. Follow Me. (E. Cooper.)
The Christians life-long work after confirmation
What lack I yet?
1. A thorough devotion to Gods service.
2. A spirit of prayer.
3. A due appreciation of the work that God has appointed you to do.
4. You may lack patience.
5. You require to be incited to perseverance. (J. H. Norton, D. D.)
The great question answered
The path a soul treads when it comes to Christ is one of beauty. To come to Jesus is a noble and manly act. It is a soul drawn by the good; rising above sinful forces which have enslaved it; of special interest to see the young come to Christ. The conditions necessary to such an approach are illustrated in the young man-
1. He believed that the character of this life determines that to come.
2. He believed that obedience to God was the first principle of religion.
3. He desired to exhaust his powers in perfecting his character.
4. He had faith that Christ would show him the way of salvation. What lack I yet?
I. Self-renunciation. Sell that thou hast. This embraces a recognition of the supreme right of God over the soul. God gave all; this leads to an abandonment of selfish pursuits. Why religion makes this demand.
1. Selfishness is deceitful and delusive; it does not see mans real interests; it does not comprehend the Divine relations of man;it looks only at things seen.
2. Selfishness and self-love dwarf manhood; narrow the thought and corrupt the affections; they shut out noble sentiment which leads men to deeds of daring.
3. There must be this self-abandonment to allow a higher ideal of life to possess the soul. That man who is full of himself can contain nothing beside. He must forget himself who would live after the pattern shown him on the mount.
II. Religion demands Christ consecration.
1. Supreme affection for Christ. The heart must be first given to Him.
2. The purposes of the heart must be turned to Christs cause.
3. The influence must be for God.
4. Human passions must be at Gods disposal. Is the demand too rigorous, and does it embrace too much?
It may encourage us to yield full submission to call to mind a few precious facts.
1. It assimilates us to a likeness of Christ. His soul exceeded all bounds and barriers, and poured out its life an immortal benediction upon His enemies. The widowed mother, whose midnight toil earns bread and raiment for her darling ones, is embalmed in poetry and song; the artist weaves a crown of glory about her brow. But such labour and consecration is yet only that of a true heart and human impulses. But he who is consecrated to Christ is Godlike.
2. It brings peace to the heart. Men who are vacillating are unhappy. No soul rests so perfectly at ease as that one which has its home on Gods altar.
3. It centralizes and makes the man strong. Scattered men are weak. A consecrated man is a felt man.
4. It enlivens and sets the life on fire. Men go to sleep and are frozen, as the fairy city celebrated in story. God breathes on the powers of the man consecrated; he is set on fire by the breath of Jehovah. Such a life will have given back to it from God, in its new realm, a better being. The curtains are now withdrawing. See, yonder the field is fairer and the sward is all green! There that life runs on and on and on for ever! It gathers to itself all that was of possible value on earth in the years of its pilgrimage, and, having yielded obedience to the conditions of its noble being, enters upon that higher life of love and joy for which it has been fitted by a faithful stewardship. (J. W. Holt.)
Christ and good people
The gospel indicates three particulars in regard to their mutual relations.
I. There is a point which attracts them to each other. A noble young man; although surrounded by great wealth, he has not yielded himself to youthful frivolities, but has kept his spirit intent on higher aims than earthly qualifications. He is modest enough to be conscious of imperfection, and to make inquiry where there is an opportunity to learn. He retains enthusiasm, and the object of his enthusiasm is no inferior one. Such people must feel the attraction of the person of Jesus Christ. They love the good, and Christ is the good One. All their ideals are realized in Jesus. The rich young man felt this. But this attraction was mutual. Jesus came to seek the lost and to save the sinner; much more would the purity of this naturally noble heart receive His recognition. Neither is this mutual attraction for a moment merely; the attraction remains, though the discipline required is hard to understand; an inner impulse draws us to Him.
II. There is a point which separates them from each other. At the very point where the Lord exerts the strongest power of attraction upon the naturally noble, their separation begins. It is a necessity of the case. Our Lords word about the good, and the mention of the commandments, had been designed to awaken distrust of self. Then comes the unheard-of demand, Sell all, etc. He was touched in his hearts core. Christ exposes the point in which this good person was not good. Christ wants complete persons for His followers; it takes a complete person to win the prize of eternal life. If you want to be perfect you must renounce the secret reservations you oppose to the rigour of the Divine commands, put away the lusts which hamper the inner man. Renew your heart; put a new object in its centre. But for the sake of one thing you will turn away from your Saviour, in spite of all your noble efforts and ideal endowments.
III. This separation must be realized in order truly to find the Lord. When the physician performs an operation, it is because he wants to heal; and when our Lord seems to discourage nearer approach it is because He wants to deepen the reason for it, so that after they unite nothing shall be able to separate them. Hence we believe this young mans separation was not final. He will return, no longer fiery and with a surplus of power; for with God all things are possible. It was necessary that he should be impressed with the requirements of Christ, for as long as he can say, All these things have I kept, a Redeemer is superfluous-a Moses or a Socrates would suffice. But when he learns to despair of his own strength, then he arrives before the gate of salvation and stretches imploring hands for a Redeemer. Therefore Christ first destroys this young mans merit; and this is the more difficult from his high virtue. In the light of Jesus little sins becomes great. To sacrifice for Him for love is to lose nothing. His yoke is easy. (E. Dryander, D. D.)
What lack I yet?
This young man was hungry for improvement; that was all right. But there were other things for which he had a stronger hunger. Morality is the endeavour according to a mans power to obey laws, and I will divide moralities into five different kinds.
1. We call that physical morality which consists in the knowledge of men, and of those physical laws which surround them. Thus a man is immoral who violates law in eating and drinking and sleeping.
2. Next is social morality. Men are obliged to obey those laws which connect them with their fellow men; also as members of the household; as neighbours.
3. Next comes civil morality. Men are organized into states and nations.
4. Business morality.
What is the relation of obedience in these different spheres to the nature and character of men?
1. All these observances are external. They are not in their nature internal at all. They leave out entirely the vital question of character. A man may be obedient to physical law, and yet be proud. Man is a creature of two worlds; so that when he is called to the other sphere the physical elements which he has accumulated here drop off. The spiritual only he carries with him.
2. This lower morality leaves out of view the higher human relations to God. A man may be an atheist and yet good in lower respects; but it is not fair to measure his genial qualities by his atheism as he has been brought up amidst Christian influences. A man has an immortal self as distinguished from his physical, social, and civil self; what about that part of him which is to live for ever? Are there no laws higher than those which belong to secular affairs, which apply to the higher reason and the moral sense. Are there no laws for faith, imagination in its dealings with religion, which connect a man with the invisible, universal, and infinite? Is there no morality which reaches beyond the earthly sphere? Morality is not complete without religion. There are practical uses in the inferior forms of morality; from them we learn the typical forms of the higher religion. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar, etc. The lower moralities are schools, as it were; it is a great preparation for religion. Generally speaking the higher you go the more difficult is the achievement. Few men are competent to be eminent artists. In realizing the higher conceptions of religion there are inherent difficulties: but some make it harder than they need. The sun may shine on a slate roof for ever, and yet the garret beneath it may be dark; but make the roof of glass and the sun Will shine through. Let your higher life have the best care. (H. W. Beecher.)
The centred principle of character
There are multitudes of men who live moral lives, generous lives, lives that are good in a thousand respects; but it does not come to this, that their whole being is centred in God and spiritual things. It is centred, rather, in the possession of wealth. (H. W. Beecher.)
Selfishness may be associated with many virtues
I remember watching, last summer, spiders that burrowed in the crevicess of a trellis where the wind had borne much dust. I noticed that the hole where they lay lurking looked dark and ugly. I also noticed, as I sat one day watching, a vagrant spider taking a morning glory, in full blossom, and spin his web over the mouth of it. And there never was a prettier nest in this world-a nest more richly gemmed with beauty-than this was. But, after all, it was the same spider, whether he lay in the dark hole at the corner of the trellis, or in the blossom of that exquisite flower. Now, selfishness may weave its web in the dusky places, or in the hideous-looking recesses of a mans disposition, or about the mouths and graces of sweet affections; but it is the same selfishness after all. The place is changed, and the appearance of the surroundings is changed, but the spider is not changed. So, the point to be remembered is that in every man there is a centre around about which his life really swings. There is a balance-point, and it preponderates one way or the other. The great influences of life weigh down toward the flesh, or else they go toward the spiritual. You may change the circumstances of a mans life, and it may be modified one way or the other; but after all there is a predominant force in his character, and that controls all the minor forces. (H. W. Beecher.)
Morality not to be despised
Again, a selfish-centred man, clothing himself with all manner of Christian graces and aspirations, is not to be condemned as if these graces and aspirations were of no account. Here is a point where ministers have trouble in preaching to men. When we see men embowered under external moralities, and attempt to teach that morality is not enough, the impression arises that we undervalue morals. I do not undervalue morals any more than the taxcollector undervalues a hundred dollars, when I go to pay my taxes, and offer him that amount, when my bill is five hundred. He says: I will not take it. It is not enough. He does not despise the hundred dollars. He merely says: You must put more with it. And I do net despise morality because I say that it does not rise high enough. It is good as far up as it goes. So is a grape-vine good as far up as it goes, when it is two or three feet high: but it does not arrive at what it was planted for until it reaches that point where it has blossoms and clusters. It is the cluster that determines its value. (H. W. Beecher.)
Refined selfishness
A man may love poetry and music, and have generous impulses which draw him toward a higher range of life; but after all, it is only a polished form of selfishness, or selfness that is manifesting itself in him. It is self that is at the bottom. I do not say that it is not better that a man should be refinedly selfish than coarsely selfish. It is a great deal better. It is better that man should be intellectually selfish than coarsely selfish. It makes social intercourse easier. It makes it easier for men to get along with each other. And if the centre of a mans disposition is selfish, and at the same time he has aspirations and refinements, and generosities and kindnesses, I do not say that he is no better for having these things: I say that as a member of society he is a great deal better. He energizes society. He adds something to those elements which take away attrition and harshness and rudeness from society. But he is not inwardly better; for nothing makes a man better within until the centre of his life and character are changed. Every blossom that you put upon a man who is radically selfish, and is going to be selfish, the worse you make it for him. The prettier you make a mans selfishness, the more music there is that accompanies it, the more flowers there are that decorate it, the more balm there is along with it, the more sunlight there is shed upon it, the more it is painted with glowing colours, the better is it for society; but the worse it is for him, because these things delude; because they are satisfying; because they bide the mischief; because they do not let him see what an unforgiveable and what a demoralizing quality selfishness is. (H. W. Beecher.)
The need of an inner spiritual change
What is that change? It does not consist in doing a few more things, or in adding a few more excellences, as the young man thought it did. Good Master, what new thing shall I do? What new prayer shall I say? What extra morality shall I take on? What other charities and bounties shall I bestow for mans relief? I should be glad to add to my stock of excellences. That was the purport of the young mans inquiry. The Master said to him, in substance: Your whole character is wrapped up in your position. You are rich, you have large estates, and you know it and you stand centred in them. And now, with this centre, you want to add various excellences. Go sell all these, give them away, and take up)our cross and follow Me. That brought him to a decision instantly. Choosing between the higher and the lower, he took the lower, and went away sad and grieved. And Christ everywhere brought men to this choice. If you are to be Christians, Christianity does not mean having some few things on a selfish basis. You must change the foundation of your life. You must pass over from the animal, up from the lower, away from the predominantly self-seeking life that is in all of us by nature. You must come into the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of love. Beneficent love, love for others, and not for yourself, must be the predominant, the governing tendency. (H. W. Beecher.)
Religion more than an outward addition
Being possessed of all that could gratify his senses, he did not mean to be over-indulgent in it, but he did not want to give it up. Being in this position, he wanted, not to exchange it for anything else, but simply to have sprouting up around about him, over-arching him, and embowering him, flowers of spiritual and poetical aspirations, and all manner of Divine feelings, so that he should have both things-his feet rooted in this earth, and his head placed in the other life. He wanted to take this world first, and then superadd the kingdom of God as a polish to it. He wanted all spiritual excellence to sit, as it were, in the clouds above him, like an orchestra, and play sweet music to him, while he sat below, on a level with the earth, sensuous, and indulging himself selfishly. (H. W. Beecher.)
The spiritual must supplant the physical life
Men have wanted, in every age, to have both worlds-a thing which Christ said was impossible. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Our Saviour taught this young man that the spiritual life must supplant the physical life. The two can co-exist; but the spiritual life must be in the ascendency, and must control the lower physical life. Our Saviour taught all the way through His life that spirituality cannot be simply the complement of secularity. It cannot be a parasite growing on the boughs of worldly prosperity. If a man is to have the kingdom of God, he must make that first, and that must be supreme. Or, to change it to a more psychological statement, if a man is to be truly a Christian, his spiritual nature must predominate and bear rule over everything else that is in him. You cannot have the temporal, lower nature strongest, and then expect the spiritual nature to please it and play down to it. And yet, that is what men are attempting to bring about everywhere. Every person has some dominant point. There is no uncentred character anywhere. There is a point in every mans character which rules, and to which everything is brought for comparison and settlement. This point often seems to shift and change; but, after all, there is some point in a mans character which you may say is the dominant point, and before which all things above it and below it have to come into judgment. It is this that gives character to a man, and determines whether he is high or low, good or bad.
Religious impressions soon shaken off
After a shower in the night, if you go out in the morning, it is scarcely safe for you to go near a bush or a tree, because if you touch it, there will rain down such multitudes of drops on you. I sometimes think this church is like a tree that has stood out in the open air, and collected the dew. Every leaf is covered with it. If you shake the tree, down comes a shower of drops. I see you moved to tears every Sunday. I know that you follow and enjoy the service of prayer and of song and of preaching. You have much deep religious feeling, and a great deal of thought. The pews are full of young men and young women who are going to Christ and saying: Master, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Christ says, by me, to-day, to every one of you, It is not adding one good thing to another that you need but that you should rise from the centre of selfishness, and go over to the centre of true Divine benevolence, by the power of the Holy Ghost, without which power no man can rise to the higher level. (H. W. Beecher.)
The price of a great ambition
Yours is a great ambition, and, withal, a very noble ambition: are you prepared to pay the price for your great ambition? You are a man of the very finest impulses, but you live in a fine house and know nothing of hardship, and while these things may do for your old life, the new to which you aspire demands sacrifice and surrender. Sell up all, and let us know how much is due to an impulsive temperament and how much to inherent nobility. If it be due to that no change of circumstances will matter. It was a Spartan-like call to duty, but did he not look, like a Spartan youth, equal to it? (J. W. Thew.)
Nobility worthy of the highest culture
I apprehend that here lay the chief reason of our Saviours great demand upon him. Is it not precisely because he is so good that that demand is so great? Is it venturesome to say the Master would not have made such a demand upon an inferior mind to his? That was not simply because, being a young man, he was better able to bear it: it was because, standing already, as he does, so high, occupying such a vantage ground-shall I put it this way-the Masters ambitions are fired, He sees him on such a level, and He would have him, at one grand stride, take the highest level of all. As when you have a lad at school of more than ordinary promise, you keep him longer there, you say the lad shows signs of genius, and the opportunity of becoming a genius shall not be wanting. Here are signs of uncommon goodness and greatness, and the opportunity should be afforded for accomplishing good. This view is borne out by the story. Sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, is not given in answer to the question, What good thing shall I do? but in answer to the question, What lack I yet? It is not, If thou wouldst be saved, sell all that thou hast; it is, If thou wouldst be perfect. It is not merely a question of eternal life, but of eternal distinction. It is not a mere matter of getting through the curriculum, but of getting through it with honours. (J. W. Thew.)
The whole surrender
I. There is a certain spurious sort of religion which because it is not complete (or perfect) is useless. A vessel may look very well, but if it have a hole in the bottom, it will hold nothing-useless for want of being perfect.
II. The whole surrender. The decisive act which consecrates all to the kingdom:-must be done by the man himself. Not even God can do it for you. It was useless for Christ to say Follow Me as He was, for his body only could have followed, his anxieties would still have been with his possessions. It was also a prudent provision against approaching persecution.
III. How can I go and sell? By a full consecration to God. Like the whole burnt-offering, every portion must be consumed on the altar.
IV. It is an awful consideration that the word of life itself is powerless to persuade a covetous will, (W. I. Keay.)
On being right in the main.
1. He displayed a degree of moral earnestness.
2. He employed the language of veneration.
3. He was well instructed in Biblical ethics.
4. He was inordinately attached to worldly possessions.
Christs conduct showed:
1. That He compels men to look at the logical consequences of their own admissions.
2. That personal regard may be entertained where full moral approbation cannot be expressed.
I. The necessary limitations of the most careful religious training.
II. That the final attainment of education is the conquest of the heart.
1. That Christ-following involves self-abnegation.
2. That Christ-following must be the expression of the souls supreme love.
3. That Christ-following means self-giving.
III. That lack of one thing may be lack of everything.
IV. That the sincerity of men must be tested according to their peculiar circumstances. What is a test to one man may be no test to another. A man must be prepared to surrender what he values most. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The lack of one thing the lack of all
The garden is beautifully laid out: the straight lines and the curves are exact; the terraces are arranged with artistic taste; but no seed is sown,-and the summer says, One thing thou lackest. The machinery is perfect: cylinder, piston, valve, are in excellent order; no flaw is in the wheel, no obstruction in the flue; finer engine never stood on the iron way; everything is there but steam,-and the intending traveller says, One thing thou lackest. The watch has a golden case, the dial is exquisitely traced and figured, the hands are delicate and well-fixed; everything is there but the mainspring-and he who inquires the time says, One thing thou lackest. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Sins as great possessions
There are sins so rooted, so riveted in men, so incorporated, so consubstantiated in the soul, by habitual custom, as that those sins have contracted the nature of ancient possessions. As men call manners by their names, so sins have taken names from men, and from places; Simon Magus gave the name to a sin, so did Gehazi, and Sodom did so. There are sins that run in names, in families, in blood; hereditary sins, entailed sins; and men do almost prove their gentry by those sins, and are scarcely believed to be rightly borne, if they have not those sins. These are great possessions, and men do much more easily part with Christ than with these sins. But then there are less sins, light sins, vanities; and yet even these come to possess us, and separate us from Christ. How many men neglect this ordinary means of their salvation, the coming to these exercises, not because their undoing lies on it, or their discountenancing, but merely out of levity, of vanity, of nothing, they know not what to do else, and yet do not this. You hear of one man that was drowned in a vessel of wine, but how many thousands ill ordinary water! And he was no more drowned in that precious liquor than the)-in that common water. A gad of steel does no more choke a man than a feather or a hair. Men perish with whispering sins, nay with silent sins, sins that never tell the conscience they are sins, as often as with crying sins. And in hell there shall meet as many men that never thought what was sin, as that spent all their thoughts in compassing sin; as many who, in a slack inconsideration, never cast a thought upon that place, as that by searing their conscience, overcame the sense and fear of that place. Great sins are great possessions, but levities and vanities possess us too; and men had rather part with Christ than with any possessions. (J. Donate.)
Estimate of the ruler
He was not a spiritual man; there was really nothing spiritually good and loveable in him: nothing truly gracious, as a Puritan divine would call it. He was but a natural man after all-a beautiful specimen of the natural man, as Dr. Chalmers said of some one, but still only a natural man. Nature had indeed done much for him, all it could for him; it had endowed him with riches, power, a high moral nature, an amiable, warm, frank, loving, loveable disposition. See here what nature can do; she can raise her favourites very high in the scale of humanity, so as to compel the homage even of the Saviours love and admiration. See here what nature cannot do; she cannot carry any one across the boundary that separates the kingdom of God from the world; she can bring him to the very threshold, but there she leaves him; there she is powerless; there her weakness is made known. (A. L. R. Foote.)
Giving up all for Christ
The words are terribly clear, sharp, and stern. Francis of Assisi heard them once. Straying into a church, they were in the lesson for the day which was read. The words seized on his conscience; they haunted him, they tormented him. He sold everything but the bare garment which clothed him. Still the obedience seemed to fall short of the Saviours command. So he stripped himself even of his poor raiment; and they clothed him there in the church, for very shame, in a peasants tunic, which he wore on till death. (J. B. Brown.)
Human perfectibility
It is as if our Lord had said, Thou aimest at perfection and on the footing of this thou art looking for eternal life; thou indulgest the dream of human perfectibility. Well, I will put thee here to the test: sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor. What! dost thou hesitate? What, then, becomes of thy favourite doctrine of perfectionism? Ah! thy fond idol is dashed to pieces, and by thine own hand, too; and wilt thou still indulge in such a golden dream? Is this all the length thy doctrine of human perfectibility can carry thee? If-an important qualification this-if thou wouldst be perfect! Who can fail to see a delicate yet severe irony here? The Saviour is not teaching the doctrine of perfection in any sense, but is trying to wean him from a theory which was deeply rooted in his mind, and which was exercising so prejudicial an influence over him. (A. L. R. Foote.)
Possessions that possess
Every man hath some such possessions as possess him, some such affections as weigh down Christ Jesus, and separate him from Him, rather than from those affections, those possessions. (Dr. Dotage.)
Not wise to go from God
That no man that ever went from Him went by good way or came to good end. There is none good but God; there is centrical, visceral, gremial gold, goodness in the root, in the tree of goodness, God. (Dr. Dotage.)
The regulation of conduct
Conduct may be regulated in two ways:-
1. By the hand.
2. By the heart: as with a watch so with the life. The face of the watch may be made to represent the truth by simply altering the hands, or it may be corrected by touching the interior works. Here is a young man who says, What shall I do to make my watch tell the hour accurately? He is answered, Thou knowest the great clocks by which time is kept in the city. He replies, All these have I observed. He is then told to open his watch and correct the regulator. So is it with human life: many seek to correct it by the outside; they search for models, they inquire for foot-prints; but they neglect the life-spring within, and consequently never get beyond the affectation of artificialism, or the stiffness of Pharisaic conceit. (Dr. Parker.)
But how is this spiritual lack to be supplied?
How is this hiatus in human character to be filled up? How shall the fountain of holy and filial affection towards God be made to gush up into everlasting life, within your now unloving and hostile heart? There is no answer to this question of questions, but in the person and work of the Holy Ghost. If God shall shed abroad His love in your heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto you, you will know the blessedness of a new affection, and will be able to say with Peter, Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. You are shut up to this method and this influence. To generate within yourself this new spiritual emotion which you have never yet felt is utterly impossible. Yet you must get it, or religion is impossible, and immortal life is impossible. (W. G. T. Shedd, D. D.)
The remorse occasioned by enlightened reason on the rejection of Christ
There is no misery comparable to that which follows after a near access to happiness; nor any sorrow so quick and pungent as that which succeeds a preconceived, but disappointed joy. Neither was the proposal unreasonable, because usually practised, even by the most worldly, it being frequent with men to sell an estate in one place to buy another in a more convenient. We may observe in this passage these four things considerable-
1. The person making the address to Christ, who was one whose reason was enlightened to a solicitous consideration of his estate in another world.
2. The thing sought for in this address, viz., eternal life.
3. The condition upon which it was proposed, and upon which refused; viz., the sale and relinquishment of his temporal estate.
4. His behaviour upon this refusal. He that deliberately parts with Christ, though for the greatest and most suitable worldly enjoyment, if but his natural reason is awakened, does it with much secret sting and remorse.
I. I shall show whence it is that a man actuated by an enlightened reason finds such reluctancy and regret upon his rejection of Christ. It may proceed from these causes-
1. The first may be taken from the nature of conscience, that is apt to recoil upon any error, either in our actions or our choice. After a good action, though never so difficult, so grim, and unpleasant in the onset, yet what a lightsome, refreshing complacency does it leave upon the mind! What a fragrancy, what a cheerfulness, upon the spirits! So, on the contrary, an action morally evil and irregular. A man no sooner displeases God but he presently displeases himself. No sooner is the action past but conscience makes the report. As soon as David cut off a piece of Sauls robe how quickly did his heart smite him! An impure heart, like a foul gun, never vents itself in any sinful commissions but it recoils. It is impossible to sequester and divide sin from sorrow. That which defiles will as certainly disturb the soul. As when mud and filth is cast into a pure fountain, it is not so much said to pollute, as to trouble the waters. And do you think that this young man had not the experience of this? He departed indeed, but it was sorrowful, his conscience ringing him many sad peals within, hitting him in the teeth with the murder of his soul; that he had foolishly and irrationally bartered away eternity for a trifle, and lost a never-returning opportunity, in its improvement invaluable, and in its refusal irrecoverable.
2. The second cause of this trouble and reluctancy that men find in the very instant of their rejecting Christ is taken from the usual course of Gods judicial proceeding in this matter, which is to clarify the eye of reason to a clearer sight of the beauties and excellences of Christ in the very moment and critical instant of his departure. God can affect it with a sudden, instantaneous view of a good. It is like a sudden lightning that flashes in the face, but alters not the complexion; it is rather vision than persuasion; it struck his apprehension, but never changed his resolution. This is another cause that whets the sting, that enhances the vexation, and sends him away sorrowful.
3. The third and last cause of the anxiety that a sinner feels upon his relinquishment of Christ, if his reason be enlightened, is because there is that in Christ and in the gospel, even as they stand in opposition to the best of such enjoyments, that answers the most natural and generous discourses of reason. For the proof of which I shall produce two known principles of reason into which the most severe, harsh, and mortifying commands of the gospel are by clear and genuine consequence resolved.
(1) The first is that the greatest calamity is to be endured rather than the least sin to be committed.
(2) A second principle is this, that a less good is to be forsaken for a greater-an aphorism attested to by the natural, untaught, universal judgment of reason. Now to reduce this principle to the case in hand we are to demonstrate two things. 1st. That the good promised by our Saviour to the young man was really greater than that which was to be forsaken for it. Christ opposed eternal life to the young mans possessions, and what comparison is there between these upon terms of bare reason? 2nd. The second thing to be demonstrated is that the good promised by our Saviour was not only greater in itself, but also proposed as such with sufficient clearness of evidence, and upon sure, undeniable grounds.
II. To show the causes that, notwithstanding all this remorse of conscience, the soul is not brought in the issue to reject and shake hands with Christ.
1. The first cause is from this, that the perceptions of sense overbear the discourses of reason. The young man desired eternal life; but he had no notion of the pleasure of it, what kind of thing it was; but he knew and found the sweetness of an estate, so that the sensible impressions of this quickly overcame and swallowed up the weak and languid conceptions that he had of the other.
2. The second cause or reason of this final rejection of Christ is from the prevailing opposition of some corrupt affection, which being predominant in the soul, commands the will and blears the eye of the judgment, showing it all things in its own colour by a false and partial representation. Come to the sensual and voluptuous person and convince him that there is a necessity of his bidding farewell to all inordinate pleasure in order to his future happiness; perhaps you gain his reason, and in some measure insinuate into his will; but then his sensual desire interposes and outvotes and unravels all his convictions. As when by much ado a vessel is forced and rowed some pretty way contrary to the tide, presently a gust of wind comes and beats it further back than it was before.
3. The third cause, inducing men to relinquish Christ contrary to the judgment of their conscience, is the force and tyranny of the custom of the world. And amongst other dissuasives from following Christ the young man could not but be assaulted with such as these: What! part with all for a new notion of another world? Sell land to buy hope, be preached out of my estate, and worded out of such fair farms and rich possessions? He would do like the world though he perished with it; swim with the stream, though he was drowned in it; rather go sociably to hell than in the uncomfortable solitude of precise singularity to heaven-the jollity of the company made him overlook the broadness and danger of the way. Now the inferences and deductions from the words thus discussed are these:
(1) We gather hence the great criterion and art of trying our sincerity, which is by the test of such precepts as directly reach our peculiar corruptions.
(2) The issue of the whole action in the young mans not closing with Christs proposals about eternal life, and his sorrowful departure thereupon, lays before us a full account of that misery which attends a final dereliction of Christ.
(a) Of that which is eternal.
(b) But it bereaves even of temporal happiness also, even that which it promises, and which only it designs, and for the retaining of which it brings a man to part with his hopes of that which is future and eternal. (R. South, D. D.)
Man ruled by his affections
In sum, the economy of the soul in this case is like a public council sitting under an armed force; let them consult and vote what they will, yet they must act as the army and the tumult will have them. In this sense every soldier is a commander. In like manner, let both the judgment and the will be for Christ, yet the tumult of the affections will carry it; and when they cannot out-reason the conscience, they will out-cry it. (R. South, D. D.)
If Christ ever wins the fort of the soul, the conquest must begin here: for the understanding and will seem to be like a castle or fortified place; there is strength indeed in them, but the affections are the soldiers who manage those holds, the opposition is from these: and if the soldiers surrender, the place itself, though never so strong, cannot resist. (R. South, D. D.)
The evil temper varied
Now, as in a tree, it is the same sap and juice that spreads itself into all that variety of branches: some straight, some crooked, some of this figure, some of that: so it is the same stock and furniture of natural corruption that shoot forth into that great diversity of vices, that exert such different operations in different tempers. And as it is the grand office of judgment to separate and distinguish, and so to proportion its applications; so herein is the great spiritual art of a prudent ministry, first to learn a mans proper distemper, and then to encounter it by a peculiar and suitable address. Reprehensions that are promiscuous are always ineffectual. (R. South, D. D.)
Sincerity tested
Observe the excellent method that Christ took to convince this person. Had he tried him by a precept of temperance, chastity, or just dealing, He had never sounded the bottom of his heart: for the civility of his life would have afforded a fair and satisfactory reply to all these: but when He came close to him, and touched upon his heartstring, his beloved possessions, the man quickly shows himself, and discovers the temper of his spirit more by the love of one particular endeared sin, than by his forbearance of twenty, to which he stood indifferent. (R. South, D. D.)
Every mans sincerity is not to be tried in the same way. He that should conclude a man pious, because not covetous, would bring but a short argument; for perhaps he may be lustful or ambitious, and the stream be altogether as strong and violent, though it runs in a different channel. (R. South, D. D.)
Sins of omission
When the archer shoots at the target, he as really fails to strike it if his arrow falls short of it, as when he shoots over and beyond it. (Dr. Shedd.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv16–18 16. Behold, one came and said. Compare Mark 10:17–27,…
16. Behold, one came and said. Compare Mark 10:17–27, and Luke 18:18–30. We learn from verse 20 that he was a young man; from Luke 18:18, that he was a ruler, probably of a synagogue, although these were usually elderly; from verse 22 (Matthew) that he was rich, which probably accounts for his holding office, at an unusual age; and from Mark 10:17, that he came running to Jesus and kneeled to him. Good Master, what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life? Whether he had before heard Christ or not, he had learned that eternal life belonged to heirs, the heirs of God, his children, and had to be inherited.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v16 Mat_19:16. Good Master.—The better MSS. omit the adjective, and…
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat_19:16. Good Master.—The better MSS. omit the adjective, and it has probably been added here by later copyists to bring the passage into a verbal agreement with the narrative of St. Mark and St. Luke. From the prominence given to it in the form of our Lord’s answer, as reported by them, we may reasonably believe that it was actually uttered by the questioner (Plumptre).
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Mat_19:17. Why callest thou me good?—Here again the older MSS. give a different form to our Lord’s answer (See R.V.). Keep the commandments.—The questioner is answered as from his own point of view. If eternal life was to be won by doing, there was no need to come to a new Teacher for a new precept (Plumptre).
Mat_19:20. From my youth up.—Omitted in R.V., as in oldest MSS., but not in the parallel passages.
Mat_19:21. If thou wilt be perfect.—If thou wishest to be characterised by full-orbed “goodness” (Morison).
Mat_19:23. Hardly.—I.e., with difficulty (see R.V.).
Mat_19:24. It is easier for a camel, etc.—It has been suggested that the needle’s eye was an expression in common use for a narrow gate into a city intended for foot-passengers only, and through which, if a camel could squeeze at all, it would first need to be unladen and entirely stripped of trappings and encumbrances. Very possibly this explanation may be right, but it is not necessary to scrutinise closely what is so obviously the language of hyperbole. The object is to stamp on the mind and memory the idea of extreme difficulty, and it has been shown by Dr. John Lightfoot that a Talmudist used for the same purpose a phrase still more hyperbolical: “an elephant going through the eye of a needle” (Fraser).
Mat_19:25. Who then can be saved?—Since everyone has more or less of the same love of the world (De Wette). The question shows that the disciples took their Master to be referring not to men of great wealth alone, but to a much larger class (Canon Duckworth).
Mat_19:27. What shall we have therefore?—There is something in Peter’s question that abundantly betrays his spiritual imperfection. There was too great eagerness for reward. Arnot somewhat plainly says, “His eye was on the main chance.” But still there was transparency of character and ingenuousness manifested by the question which he put. And then, too, it must be borne in mind that regard to reward is right in its own place; although, assuredly, its place ever has been, and must for ever be, as it deserves to be, in a very subordinate sphere of moral motives (Morison). The answer of Christ shows that all true sacrifice shall have its reward, but all that looks like sacrifice is not really such; therefore “many that are first shall be last.” Among the Twelve there was a Judas (Carr).
Mat_19:28. The regeneration.—“The renewal of things,” “the return to a perfect state,” otherwise called “the restitution of all things,” nearly = the kingdom of God (cf. Mat_17:11) (Carr). There is to be a “new birth” for mankind as well as for the individual (Plumptre). Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones.—What approximations to a literal fulfilment there may be in the far-off future lies behind the veil (ibid.). In at least one instance the words, absolute as they were in their form, failed of their fulfilment. The guilt of Judas left one of the thrones vacant. The promise was given subject to the implied conditions of faithfulness and endurance lasting even to the end (ibid.).
Mat_19:30. Many that are first, etc.—See on Mat_19:27.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_19:16-30
The perils of wealth.—Long as this passage is, it will be found to turn on one topic throughout, viz., on that “love of money” of which the Apostle tells us that it is the possible “root” of all ill. It will be found also to tell us, in regard to this evil, almost all we require—its special malignity, e.g. on the one hand, and its only cure, on the other.
I. Its special malignity.—We may see this, first, in the kind of cases attacked by this evil. They are often such as appear to be proof against everything else. See this exemplified in the “young man” who here comes to the Saviour (Mat_19:16). How earnest and right his desires! How perfect his aim! “That which was good” (Mat_19:16). How well ordered his life! Even if we suppose his testimony about himself (Mat_19:20) to refer only to externals, what a record it was! No impurity, no falsehood, no dishonesty, no failure in duty towards his parents; nothing, in short, for which even the Saviour could, so far, reprove him! How simply lovely, in short, such a life! We can hardly wonder at what we are told about it in Mar_10:21. What we do wonder at is that there was yet “one” form of excellence in which this young man was “lacking” (Mat_19:21)—one form of evil before which he was found to succumb. How deadly an evil, therefore, this form of evil must be in itself! We may see this, also, in the next place, in the kind of results it produced. Consider what was actually done by this subtle evil in this, so far, eminent case. This is very soon told. When things were put here to the test—when this most exemplary youth (in so many respects) was invited to be “perfect” indeed, and to show that he was ready to do anything rather than fail in his aim in any direction—then he fell at a stroke. Then his inward faith in the all-surpassing importance of worldly gain came out of its secret hiding place, and stood, as it were, in his way (Mat_19:22). From one point of view, he was asked, no doubt, to do much. But he was promised still more. He was to part with treasure on earth. But he was to gain treasure in heaven. He was asked to do, therefore, what he knew in his heart to be both the “good” and the “wise.” But he was unable to do it. The “deceitfulness of riches” bewildered his judgment and benumbed his desires, so that he could not do, therefore, what it yet made him bitterly “sorrowful” to be unable to do. See the effect, therefore, in this most pitiable sorrow, of this wide fountain of evil. Never, surely, were fairer hopes more disastrously shattered. Never, surely, goodlier vessel wrecked so near to its port! What evil, therefore, can be greater than that which brought about such an end?
II. The only cure of this evil.—Where alone, for example, on the one hand, an available remedy can be found, viz., in something, of course, which should be of greater strength than the greatest strength of mankind. The Saviour will be found to bring His disciples to this conclusion by degrees. How hard it is, He says first, for those who have riches at all to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mat_19:23). How hard it is because of the fact that, where this is the case, the man who has once, in consequence, tasted their sweetness and seen their effect is always tempted to “trust” in them too (Mar_10:24); and to think of them, therefore, as this “young man” did, as though nothing could stand in their place. In which case, of course, it becomes “impossible” for him to suppress the love of them in his heart (Mat_19:24). How should a man be able to give up that which he believes to be all? Only God Himself can bring his bewitched steps into the pathway of life (Mat_19:26). How alone, next, the benefits of the remedy in question can be secured by ourselves. We see this by the way in which, in this passage, in the case of some who had overcome the evil in question (Mat_19:27), the Saviour strengthens them in their decision. He does so, on the one hand, by solemnly assuring them that all shall be well with such in the end; that a time is coming in which there shall be a wholly altered condition of things on the earth, in which He Himself shall be seated on the throne of His glory, and all those who have truly followed Him shall have their share in the same (Mat_19:28). He does so, on the other hand, by assuring them that, even meanwhile, things shall be for their real good in a most pre-eminent way, all that they may so have to lose in this life for His sake being made up to them a “hundredfold” more (Mat_19:29). This is, therefore, how He would have us resist this temptation, viz., by working at these counterbalancing gains. To avoid thinking too much of the present and transitory, think more of the future and permanent. To avoid being deceived by earthly riches, fix your eyes on the true. “Set your affections,” in a word, “on things above,” where they “ought to be fixed.” Nothing else is so sure! Nothing else so safe! Nothing else so transcendently gainful in the very best sense! And nothing else, therefore, so able to deliver us from this most insidious and most fatal of snares!
One other thought, to conclude. These solemn cautions are not addressed to rich men, but to poor. The love of money is not a danger to those only who possess it. To no men, probably, does affluence sometimes seem more alluring than to those who see it afar off. Does not the last commandment also teach us the same? It is not to those who have, but to those who desire to have, that its language is addressed. Let all men, therefore, beware of covetousness, whoever they are!
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat_19:16-22. A sad story.—We have here one of the saddest stories in the Gospels. It is a true soul’s tragedy. The young man is in earnest, but his earnestness has not volume and force enough to float him over the bar. He wishes to have some great thing bidden him to do, but he recoils from the sharp test which Christ imposes. He truly wants the prize, but the cost is too great; and yet he wishes it so much that he goes away without it in deep sorrow, which perhaps, at another day, ripened into the resolve which was too high for him then. There is a certain severity in our Lord’s tone, an absence of recognition of the much good in the young man, and a naked stringency in His demand from him, which sound almost harsh, but which are set in their true light by Mark’s note, that Jesus “loved him,” and therefore treated him thus. The truest way to draw ingenuous souls is not to flatter nor to make entrance easy by dropping the standard or hiding the requirements, but to call out all their energy by setting before them the lofty ideal. Easy-going disciples are easily made—and lost. Thorough-going ones are most surely won by calling for entire surrender.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mat_19:16-26. The requirements of the King.—I. We have the picture of a real though imperfect moral earnestness, and the way Christ dealt with it.—Matthew tells us that the questioner was young and rich. Luke adds that he was a ruler,—a synagogue official, that is—which was unusual for a young man, and indicates that his legal blamelessness was recognised. Mark adds one of his touches, which are not only picturesque, but character-revealing, by the information that he came “running” to Jesus in the way, so eager was he, and fell at His feet, so reverential was Hebrews 1. His first question is singularly compacted of good and error. The fact that he came to Christ for a purely religious purpose, not seeking personal advantage for himself or for others, like the crowds who followed for loaves and cures, nor laying traps for Him with puzzles which might entangle Him with the authorities, nor asking theological questions for curiosity, but honestly and earnestly wanting to be helped to lay hold of eternal life, is to be put down to his credit. He is right in counting it the highest blessing. Where had he got hold of the thought of “eternal life”? It was miles above the dusty speculations and casuistries of the Rabbis. Probably from Christ Himself. He was right in recognising that the conditions of possessing it were moral, but his conception of “good” was surface, and he thought more of doing than of being good, and of the desired life as payment for meritorious actions. In a word, he stood at the point of view of the old dispensation. “This do, and thou shalt live,” was his belief; and what he wished was further instruction as to what “this” was. He was to be praised in that he docilely brought his question to Jesus, even though, as Christ’s answer shows, there was error mingling in his docility. Such is the character—a young man, rich, influential, touched with real longings for the highest life, ready, so far as he knows himself, to do whatever he is bidden, in order to secure it. We might have expected Christ, who opened His arms wide for publicans and harlots, to have welcomed this fair, ingenuous seeker with some kindly word. But He has none for him. We adopt the reading of the Authorised Version, in which our Lord’s first word is repellent. It is in effect, “There is no need for your question, which answers itself. There is one good Being, the Source and Type of every good thing, and therefore the good, which you ask about, can only be conformity to His will. You need not come to Me to know what you are to do.” He relegates the questioner, not to his own conscience, but to the authoritative revealed will of God in the law. On another occasion He answered a similar question in a different manner (see Joh_6:28-29). Why did He not answer the young ruler thus? Only because He knew that he needed to be led to that thought by having his own self-complacency shattered, and the clinging of his soul to earth laid bare. The whole treatment of him here is meant to bring him to the apprehension of faith as preceding all truly good work.
2. The young man’s second question says a great deal in its one word. It indicates astonishment at being remanded to these old, well-worn precepts, and might be rendered, “What sort of commandments?” as if taking it for granted that they must be new and peculiar. The craving for more than ordinary “good works” shows a profound mistake in the estimate of the ordinary, and a fatal blunder as to the relation between “goodness” and “eternal life.” So Christ answers the question by quoting the second half of the Decalogue, which deals with the homeliest duties, and appending to it the summary of the law, which requires love to our neighbour as to ourselves. Why does He omit the earlier half? Probably because He would meet the error of the question by presenting only the plainest, most familiar commandments, and because He desired to excite the consciousness of deficiency, which could be most easily done in connection with these.
3. There is a touch of impatience in the rejoinder, “All these I have kept,” with more than a touch of self-satisfaction. The law has failed to accomplish one of its chief purposes in the young man, in that it has not taught him his sinfulness. Still he was not at rest.
4. His last question is a plaintive, honest acknowledgment of the hungry void within, which no round of outward obedience can ever fill.
II. Now comes the sharp-pointed test, which pricks the brilliant bubble. Mark tells us that Jesus accompanied His words with one of those looks which searched the soul, and bore His love into it. “If thou wouldst be perfect” takes up the confession of something “lacking” and shows what that is. The principles involved in the precept is medicine for all, and the only way of healing for any.
III. Then comes the collapse of all the enthusiasm.—His earnestness chills at the touch of the test. One sign of grace he does give, in that he went away “sorrowful.” He is not angry nor careless. He cannot see the fair prospect of the eternal life, which he had in some real fashion desired, fade away, without a pang. If he goes back to the world, he goes back feeling more acutely than ever that it cannot satisfy him. He loves it too well to give it up, but not enough to feel that it is enough. Surely, in coming days, that godly sorrow would work a change of the foolish choice, and we may hope that he found no rest till he cast away all else to make Christ his own. A soul which has travelled so far on the road to life eternal as this man had done, can scarcely thereafter walk the broad read of selfishness and death with entire satisfaction.
IV. Christ’s comment on the sad incident.—He has no word of condemnation, but passes at once from the individual to the general lesson, of the difficulty which rich men (or, as He explains it in Mark, men who “trust in riches”) have in entering the king dom. The reflection breathes a tone of pity, and is not so much blame as a merciful recognition of special temptations which affect His judgment, and should modify ours.—Ibid.
Mat_19:17. The goodness of God.—The notion of goodness is inseparable from the notion of a God. We cannot own the existence of God, but we must confess also His goodness.
I. What this goodness is.—
1. The bounty of God.
2. The goodness of God comprehends all His attributes. All the acts of God are nothing else but the effluxes of His goodness, distinguished by several names, according to the objects it is exercised about; as the sea, though it be one mass of water, yet we distinguish it by several names, according to the shores it washes and beats upon. When He confers happiness without merit, it is grace; when He bestows happiness against merit, it is mercy; when He bears with provoking rebels, it is long-suffering; when He performs His promise, it is truth; when He commiserates a distressed person, it is pity; when He supplies an indigent person, it is bounty; when He succours an innocent person, it is righteousness; and when He pardons a penitent person, it is mercy; all summed up in this one name of goodness.
II. The nature of this goodness.
1. He is good by His own essence.
2. He is the prime and chief goodness.
3. This goodness is communicative.—Without goodness He would cease to be a Deity, and without diffusiveness He would cease to be good (Psa_119:68).
4. God is necessarily good.
5. He is also freely good.—It would not be a supreme goodness, if it were not a voluntary goodness. It is agreeable to the nature of the highest good to be absolutely free, to dispense His goodness in what methods and measures He pleaseth.
6. This goodness is communicated with the greatest pleasure (Psa_21:3).—It is the nature of His goodness to be glad of men’s solicitations for it.
III. The manifestations of this goodness.
Conclusion:
1. If God be so good, how unworthy is the contempt or a buse of His goodness (Jer_2:5).
2. It is matter of comfort in afflictions.
3. Imitate this goodness of God (Mat_5:44-45).—Anon.
Mat_19:21. Christ’s demand of the young ruler.—Commentators stumble over the difficulty of this command. But it came to others, and they stood the test. It came to Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, when Christ bade them leave all to follow Him, to become fishers of men. It came to Paul, when Christ bade him crucify his pride, and go into Damascus, and take his instructions from one of the despised and persecuted Christians, who would tell him what he should do. It came to Luther, when Christ bade him forsake the church of his fathers and of his childhood; to Coligny, when Christ bade him abandon wife and home and peace; to William of Orange; to the Puritans; to John Howard; to David Livingstone. In one form or another it comes to every Christian; for to every would-be Christian the Master says: “Give up your property, your home, your life itself, and take them back as Mine, and use them for Me in using them for your fellow-men. He who cannot, does not, do this, is no Christian. He can do naught but go away sorrowful: in this life, if he is keen of conscience; in the life to come, if a false education has lulled his conscience into uneasy slumber, but slumber so deep that only the judgment day can awaken it.—L. Abbott, D.D.
Christ’s demand.—There seems to be a twofold danger.
1. On the one hand, lest while trying to explain the words of Christ, we should find ourselves to be only explaining them away.
2. On the other hand, lest by insisting on their literal and universal application, we should destroy Christian liberty, should put the letter for the spirit, rules for principles, and so degrade the gospel into a system of purchase in which a certain outlay secures unfailing return.—Canon Duckworth.
A surgical case.—Clearly it is a surgical case; the medicine of the commandments will not do; there must be the insertion of the knife, “Go and sell,” etc.—J. M. Gibson, D.D.
St. Anthony.—It was from the story of the rich young man in the gospel that the famous Anthony, the very patriarch of Monachism, inferred that it was his duty to abandon his ancestral estate and live in solitude and poverty. There is no question of the ardour and sincerity of the man; but as we read what history has to tell of the moral and social effects of Monachism, we cannot but reflect how much better it would have been for all Christendom if Anthony had lived on the estate which he inherited, and used his means and position for the honour of Christ and the gospel among the ignorant peasantry around, rather than have passed his life in the desert, injuring his own body by gratuitous hardships, maintaining mysterious combats with fiends, and so leading hundreds and thousands of misguided men into a similar pursuit of an illusive, ascetic perfection.—D. Fraser,D.D.
Hindered by one thing.—It is the things which are apparently the smallest that prevent the greatest results. A slight defect in the finest bell and it ceases to sound, a lost key and the richest money-chest is useless. The day of battle has arrived, the troops are admirably disposed, the despatches of the general fly here and there; suddenly the horse of the adjutant stumbles on a stone; he arrives a quarter of an hour too late, and the battle is lost. So it is in spiritual matters. Many a man who has got safely over the Rhine has been drowned in a little brook. Sin has no more dangerous delusion than to convince a man that he is safe if only he avoids the so-called flagrant transgressions.—A. Tholuck, D.D.
Mat_19:20-21. Christ’s test.—The rich young ruler presented fine certificates—of his own composition. Christ didn’t tear them up, but He did what you tradesmen do with an applicant for a vacancy; He gave him a bit of work to try his hand on. The gentlemanly commandment-keeper wrote no more certificates.—John McNeill.
Mat_19:22. Self-inflicted sorrow.—I. Who was He?—
1. A young man.
2. A well-to-do young man.
3. A young man of considerable Mark 4. A pre-eminently virtuous young man.
5. A young man who was anxious about the life to come.
II. Where had he been of late?—He went away. From whom, or from what place? Christ has answered the man’s interrogation; Christ has responded to his entreaty; Christ has given him a definite and conclusive answer. He came running, he goes lagging. He came complacently; he goes resentfully. He came as one who would lay a giant’s hold upon eternal life; he goes with no shadow of a hold upon eternal life. He was sorrowful as he went away; but go away he did, right clean away. And Jesus, looking intently after him, as he went, intimated to His disciples that he was gone for good and all; that of his ever entering into the kingdom of God there was little hope now. In vain his acknowledged moral excellence. In vain his religious anxiety. In vain his fellowship with the good Master. In this, the momentous crisis of his being, something had interposed which had marred and ruined all. What could it be?
III. Why had he gone away?—
1. Had Christ’s behaviour to him been unkindly? Some teachers are morose, ungenial, supercilious, austere.
2. Had Christ’s treatment of the case been inconsiderate?
3. Had Christ’s direction to him been unreasonable? Then, why did he go away? Alas! he loved his possessions more than he loved his soul! He would not forego the present for the future. He would not cease to be what he was that he might become something better. Whatever his solicitude about eternal life, that solicitude was secondary, not supreme. And what a thing it was to let go! what a thing it was to determine to let go! You are struck with the infatuation of the man! But mind that you are not infatuated too! Think now.
1. In character you resemble him.
2. In procedure you resemble him.
3. In disposition you resemble him.—W. Brock, D.D.
Going away from Christ.—“He went away.” What more, what else could he do? He faced alternatives stubborn and fixed when that reply came to him from Jesus. He must decide for himself now. He did decide.
I. Why did he go? He had great riches, and the alternative seemed hard. But this was not a reason; it was only a test. Jesus did not want his money. He said, “And give to the poor.” No, there were two reasons why the young man failed.
1. What Jesus required involved the entire revolution of his life. He was a member of the Sanhedrin; he must now become instantly a true Christian. He must immediately avow Jesus as the Messiah, and become a defender of the faith which that whole nation hated. All this involved a sudden change in his history. He was not ready for it.
2. The other reason, however, was probably the critical one; it was his unregenerate heart that lay at the bottom of the refusal.
II. How did he go?
1. In low dejection of heart. This young ruler, under pressure of spiritual need, had come to find a path out from his sense of guilt and leading to eternal salvation. He only met heavier admonitions laid on his already sore conscience. Formerly he imagined he had done his entire duty, and still he had wondered why he was not safe and easy in his mind; now he saw that he was as hollow as a hypocrite, and his trouble of heart was explained by the fact that he might have known bettor; so the trouble was worse.
2. He went away thoroughly unsettled as to his future. There remains for him nothing possible except a religious compromise, and that will never give him rest.
3. He went away pitied and mourned by those who loved him.
III. Where did the young ruler go?
1. He went back to the world. It would be a question whether he idolised his old treasures as he once did, whether he was as amiable or as popular as he had once been. Men who stifle their best emotions, and try to hush their noblest convictions, are sure to get soured after a while, and grow unhappy and cynical; and then they are not agreeable. He went back to his old companions. It would be likely to sting in his mind a little, this recollection of the time when he went forth to find Jesus, and actually kneeled down in the road before Him. Some of his Jewish comrades would taunt him, too, with having once set out to become a Nazarene.
2. He went on to his grave. It was to be expected that there should be a proud funeral at his abode some while after this, and that he should be laid with his fathers ostentatiously, with much pomp and attention of social show.
3. He went on to the judgment. The will that refused, the heart that was hard, the pride that was unsubdued, the avarice that was imperious, the determination which fixed his future destiny where he is now, never were put into his coffin for a moment, never had any place whatsoever in the ashes of his tomb.
4. He went “to his own place.” Character decides destiny. If any one is ready to turn away from the Lord where is he going next?—C. S. Robinson, D.D.
Christ left sorrowfully.—It was, we may suppose:
1. The sadness of loss. “And cannot I have eternal life? Is the way so hard? Are the terms so difficult? Must I relinquish so great a prize, bear so heavy a cross?”
2. The sadness of disappointment. “Must all I sought and thought I saw in prospect vanish thus?”
3. The sadness of self-conviction. “Ah! He is right. I did not know myself. It is I, not He, that is to blame,” etc.
4. The sadness of shame. “And I have gone to Him, and He has seen me through. Oh! that look of gentle pity; those tender tones; that hard but loving invitation. He said not “go,” but “come.” And I have left Him, declined His offer, spurned His precepts,” etc. But the sorrow did not prevent his going; did not make Christ relent; did not keep Him from saying, “How hardly,” etc. There are special times when we may be said to leave Christ; when we are brought very near to Him, and have to make an election, and perhaps for ever. Such a time is that of deep religious conviction. Such a time is that when we are obliged by outward circumstances to take a stand. A new position in life compels us to come out afresh, and either as His servants or His foes. Some painful enterprise of sin forces on conscience a decision. A companionship promising pleasure and advantage, requires by its rejection that we honour, or by its acceptance that we renounce, the Saviour. It matters not what we leave Him in spite of, if we leave Him. The greater the difficulties in leaving Him the more sad and fearful the forsaking. And in leaving Christ we leave all.—A. J. Morris.
Hindrances to inquirers.—Sometimes the inquirer may not himself suspect just what the hindrance is until he is probed. In some cases it is a besetting sin that has got a mastery of the heart. In other cases it is an evil habit, or a course of sinful practices or secret sensualities, or dishonest methods in business, or something else’ that must go out before Jesus Christ will come in. Dr. Charles G. Finney tells us that he once had a man on his knees beside him, and the man promised to surrender everything to God until it came to his “business.” The man bolted at that test point, and said: “I can’t give that to God, for I am a liquor seller.”—T. L. Cuyler, D.D.
Mat_19:23. The perils of wealth.—“Who ever heard,” exclaims Paulus de Palacio, “such theology? It was unknown,” he adds, “to the Stoics. It was unknown to the Platonics. It was unknown to the Peripatetics.” It is true theology, nevertheless. It is one of the most difficult things in the world to deal conscientiously with riches—that is, to keep a good conscience and be rich. It is easy to be rich and honest in the human plane of things. But to take up riches to the higher plane, in which the will and wish of God are recognised and adopted as the rule of life, and consequently as the rule of giving and of keeping, is one of the severest possible tests to which the human heart can be subjected. Happy is the man of opulence who does not shrink from ascending to that platform.—J. Morison, D.D.
Mat_19:25. The great question.—“Who then,” etc.? an admission that all men share the same guilt and love of the world. How may a rich man enter heaven?
I. It is always difficult in his peculiar circumstances.
II. It is impossible, if in mind and heart he cleaves to his wealth—the Pharisees.
III. It becomes possible by a miracle of Divine grace—Joseph of Arimathea.—J. P. Lange, D.D.
Mat_19:27-29. “What shall we have therefore?”—
1. Albeit it be little that we suffer for Christ, yet we think much of it.
2. Howsoever it be not worthy to speak of what we do or suffer for Christ, yet the least thing done in sincerity is not despised by Christ, but highly esteemed and richly rewarded, for Christ promiseth a reward.
3. Christ doth not narrowly mark the infirmitics of His own, but doth cherish the smallest beginnings, and fomenteth the smoking flax, as here may be seen in His answer to Peter. Peter’s speech smelleth of pride, yet He passeth it over, saying, “Verily I say unto you,” etc.
4. Although Christ doth not always answer His people’s expectation by giving them the very thing which they look for, yet He will not fail to give them a better thing; as here the Apostles dreamed of an earthly kingdom and of earthly honours to be given unto Christ and themselves. This He will not give them, but He leadeth them higher, showing them that what they loved to have in this life should be given them in substance, and in a more eminent way, in the life to come.
5. The day of judgment shall be a sort of regeneration, wherein our bodies and souls shall be renewed perfectly, for glory and immortality.
6. At that day Christ, even in His human nature, shall be seen to reign in glory, suitable to His Divine majesty.
7. Such as follow Christ must be resolved for Christ’s sake to be deprived of what is dear unto them in this life, if He shall be pleased to put them to trial. That is imported in “Every one that forsakes houses,” etc.
8. What men do lose for Christ shall breed them gain a hundredfold even in this life, because the comforts and privileges of Christ’s kingdom are a hundredfold better than anything they can be deprived of.
9. Besides what spiritual gain is gotten in this life to such as suffer for the gospel, life eternal is also given for an inheritance in the world to come, which is able to make up all losses sustained for Christ.—David Dickson.
Mat_19:29. The hundredfold.—What is the meaning of the promise, that which gathers into itself all its various senses and aspects, and reconciles them? Perhaps it may be summed up and expressed under these three heads:—
I. We find in Christ, in loving and serving Him, all that makes our natural kinships and our possessions of real worth to us.—Our kinships and possessions are valuable to us and reach their true end only as they minister to our welfare and culture, as they develop our various faculties and powers, as they furnish us with opportunities of serving our fellows, and both enable and incline us to avail ourselves of them.
II. We find in Christ corresponding, yet superior, relationships and pos sessions to those which we resign for His sake.—Houses and lands, kinsfolk and friends, are intended for our culture in virtue and righteousness and charity; they are also the express types of higher kinships which are open to us, and of more enduring riches. From the father of our flesh we derive our first and best conception of the Father of our spirits. The love of woman helps us to apprehend and trust the love of Christ. The obedience and simplicity of childhood speak to us of the wiser simplicity and nobler obedience of discipleship. The corruptible treasure on earth symbolises, in many ways, the immortal treasure in heaven. And if we leave, or lose, any of these typical relationships and possessions for Christ’s sake, we gain that which they typify.
III. In virtue of our oneness with Christ we possess all things and persons in a deeper, truer way.—Strictly speaking, a man’s property is exactly what he can appropriate; that, and not a jot more. But on what does the power of appropriation depend? Obviously on the kind of life that is in us, on its volume and quality, on the vigour and variety of its faculties, and on the manner in which these faculties have been trained and developed. He who has most life in him, and in whom this life has been best cultivated, will infallibly possess himself of most that is really valuable and enduring. He will see farther into men, and be able both to do more for them and to get more from them, than those can do in whom there is less life, or a life less cultivated and accomplished. All events and all changes, all kinships and possessions, will have more to say to him, and will more variously and profoundly minister to his culture and to his welfare. And it is precisely this great blessing which the Lord Jesus offers to us. He offers us life of the highest quality, in the richest abundance.—S. Cox, D.D.
Self-denial and its reward.—I beg leave to think that only a hearty recognition of the Divinity of Jesus Christ can save both the claims and the promises from the charge of absurdity and blasphemy.
I. What Christ demands from us.—He seems to divide the thing into two, and between them He places all the more sacred and precious things of life—family ties, brother and sister, wife and children, and all these He says we are to surrender—for His sake. Well, if there is any one thing that modern Christianity does not need to be taught it is that the New Testament is not to be translated literally, as people say. It is a vast deal easier for a man outwardly to abandon than to abandon in his heart and desire. Christ explains the words of my text in another of His sayings. If any man loves so and so more than Me he is not My disciple. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. The life is the man.
1. The inward abandonment of everything we possess.—That is to say that honestly we shall put all these things of which we can say, “I have them”—houses, lands, mills, factories, balances at our bankers, pictures, home, honestly we shall put all these second, and put Jesus Christ first.
2. An inward abandonment of all the people that we love is as imperative as an inward abandonment of all the possessions that we have, and just in the same position as in regard to the former so in regard to this. A mother’s tenderness; a father’s care; a wife’s self-sacrifice; children’s love; all these are to be rigidly subordinated to the supreme love of Christ and all these are to be put aside, to be put aside gently and tenderly, with a very loving hand, but yet with a very firm one, to be put aside if they would at all avail to cross the path along which our eye should travel, and our heart with our eye, unto Him.
II. The great and wonderful promise which our Lord sets forth.—It falls into two parts. A hundredfold they shall receive; eternal life shall inherit.
1. How, in regard to the thought shall receive a hundredfold?—I suppose the ordinary interpretation given to such a promise as that is something like this, which is perfectly true and very beautiful—to point out how after a man does keep earthly brethren or earthly love second, and make Christ first, all the things He so gives away become more precious; how religion puts a new spirit into everything; how the love of home held in subordination to the love of Christ, and all illuminated and irradiated by that love, derives a higher sweetness than under any other circumstances, etc. And in like manner outward things—houses and lands and so on, held as from Him and subordinated to Him, used according to His will and for His sake—how they all become to be enjoyed with a higher power and blessedness, and how better is the dinner of herbs with God there than great revenues without Him; and all that is wonderfully and beautifully true. But that I do not think goes to the bottom of the words here, and it would be a self-contradictory assertion to a man to say, “Do not care so much about the world, because if you will only do that you will make a great deal more out of it.” I think, therefore, we must go a great deal deeper than that thought and see what is the hundredfold compensation that the text promises to us. What? Jesus Christ. If you will give up houses and lands for Me, you will get Me, and I am a hundredfold or, as it is in some places, manifold, I am infinitely more than you would give up.
2. And “shall inherit everlasting life.”—As I take it, the language of my text points rather to the everlasting ages inherited beyond the grave. There is one point that strikes me as significant, and that is the variety of the expressions of these two clauses, “shall receive a hundredfold; shall inherit everlasting life.” “Receive,” as the result of a certain course of conduct, “inherit,” not as the result of a certain course of conduct. The Bible does not represent that eternal life is given to a man by reason of anything that he does. The Bible represents to us that eternal life is given to us by reason simply and solely of God’s great love in Jesus Christ, and that all we have to do is simply to take the gift which is freely given to us.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
The joy of giving up all for Christ.—A friend once told me what had been the happiest time in his life. It was soon after his conversion from infidelity; but that conversion involved the loss of friends and fortune. For all, however, he found amends in Christ; in Christ who had saved his soul, who had awakened in him the hope full of immortality, and with whom he could walk and talk the live-long day, telling Him all that was in his heart, and feeling his own being refined and exalted by the ennobling fellowship. And the happiest hour was in the city of Paris, when he sat down on a stone in the Champs Elysées, with no friend in all the place, and with just two sous in his pocket. “For now,” he felt, “Christ is all to me. I have no other friend; I have no other joy.” The equipages rolled past; the gay people shouted and laughed, but none of them all felt so rich or so happy as the stranger who, there on the stone, sat under Christ’s shadow with great delight; not another friend in all the place, but the Saviour at his side; just a penny in his pocket but so rich in his new friendship, that happiness flowed from every feature, and he felt “I have all and abound.”—The Church.
The power of supreme love to Christ.—There is no way of getting away from the tyrannous dominion of the world except by having given ourselves to our dear Lord and letting His love rise up in our souls, and then just as the electric light in our streets makes the gas we thought to be so bright look red and smoky and dim, so this better light in our hearts will dwarf the beauty and dim the brightness of all other lights by reason of its purity and strength.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mat_19:30. Reversals.—I. Enforce this saying with respect to the final judgment.—
1. In the judgment of reason many things that were first come to be last, and the last first.
2. The judgment of life also illustrates the text.
3. Our text is still more confirmed by the judgment of history.
4. We turn for the chief illustration of our text to the judgment of eternity. The final judgment will in many cases be the opposite of human judgment, because of the difference of its rule, and because of the difference of its manner of judgment.
II. A few practical inferences.—
1. In view of this first judgment, we may be patient in the midst of the inequalities and injustice of the present time.
2. Let us be prepared, through Christ, for this strict and just judgment.
3. In view of such a judgment how intensely true we should be.
4. Let us beware how we seek to be first at that day. He is most likely to be first who seeks not to be first, who forgets such seeking in the anxiety of his desire to be and to do good.—A. Goodrich, D.D.
The last shall be first.—I. Consider some illustrations of this truth.
1. Historical.—Jews cast out, etc.
2. From social life.—Those with religious disadvantages often go to the front.
3. With regard to mental acquisitions.—The last in Bible knowledge often the first in rich experience and Christian usefulness.
4. From human character.—The worst become the best, while the good often make but little progress.
II. Make an application of this truth.
1. It may check presumption.—Let not those boast who think themselves first now.
2. It may prevent despair.—Let those who feel themselves among the last persevere.—J. C. Gray.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v16 Mat 19:16-30; Mar 10:17-31; Luk 18:18-30. Mark: “And He,…
THE RICH YOUNG MAN
Mat 19:16-30; Mar 10:17-31; Luk 18:18-30. Mark: “And He, traveling along the road, one running and kneeling clown asked Him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One; God.” This statement of our Savior is generally woefully misunderstood and erroneously construed, even preachers, standing up in the pulpit, having the audacity to look the people in the face and find here an unanswerable argument against holiness, alleging that even Jesus refused to be called good, deducing the conclusion, with an air of triumph, that nobody can be good, much less holy. May the blessed Holy Spirit now flash the light through your mind, and give you the true exposition of this passage! Jesus was almost constantly turning the edge of His opponent’s argument into the admission of His own Divinity. The high and primitive sense of the adjective “good” is only applicable to Go. The word “God” is a contraction of “good,” because God is the very essence, quintessence, and concentration of all good. Now when the young man calls Jesus good, instead of correcting him, He accepts the situation: “You call Me good, and so I am. Now since God alone is good, you call Me God, which is right,” thus turning the admission of the young man into the substantial affirmation of His Divinity; not only for his benefit, but that of the multitude who followed Him from day to day. While in the primitive sense, God alone is good, and all goodness emanates from Him (as John says, “God is light; yet the sun shines, but he shines by the light which God gives him); and while no man is good in a primary sense, because a good man would mean one who had never sinned; yet we may be righteous, because a righteous man is simply a justified sinner; and it is equally true that we may be holy, because a holy man is nothing but a sanctified sinner. The term good is variously used in subordinate senses, and not only applied to saints, but in common parlance even to sinners, animals, and things without life; however, in those cases, all the good they have has emanated from God.
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“You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor thy father and thy mother.” Matthew says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” “And he, responding, said to Him, Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth. Jesus looking on him loved him, and said to him, One thing is wanting unto thee.” Here Matthew says, “If thou dost wish to be perfect, go, sell as many things as you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven.” This interview took place out in Perea, east of the Jordan.
Though our Savior is constantly surrounded by the Pharisees, you must not conclude that this young man is one of them. The truth of the matter is, he is far from them, even at the opposite pole of the battery. While the Pharisees were full of pride, haughtiness, and self-righteousness, this young man is very humble, as we see him come kneeling down before Jesus, and making earnest inquiry, “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Luke tells us he is a ruler of the people. He certainly shows up a very beautiful, moral, and religious character, in the fact that he has kept the commandments of the Decalogue from his youth. No wonder Jesus loved him. The simple solution of the whole problem recognizes this young man as a paragon Old Testament saint, walking in all the commandments of the law and the prophets blameless. He evidently has lived up to all the light of his day and dispensation. So he has nothing to do but receive Jesus, and move forward into the gospel dispensation — i.e., the kingdom of God whose normal standard is perfection, as you here see specified. Jesus responds to him, “If you wish to be perfect,” illustrating the fact that His dispensation requires perfection i.e., spiritual manhood, the standard of the old dispensation being spiritual infancy. There was no trouble in the case of this amiable and promising young ruler till he declined to accept the Savior’s condition of discipleship, thus halting in the old dispensation after it had expired and become null and void. He was certainly a very fine subject of gospel grace, having nothing to do but meet the condition, which is Christian perfection, and pass from the law and the prophets into the kingdom of heaven.
“And he, being grieved at the word, went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.” Jesus knew his heart, and went for his idol unhesitatingly. Adam the First must die before you can become a perfect Christian, with Adam the Second enthroned to reign without a rival. All the unsanctified have their besetting sin, in which the diversified appetites and passions, constituting the members of old Adam, concentrate their forces, make a general rally, and turn loose all the impetuosity of earth and hell to break the power of grace and ruin the soul, world without end. While this young man, having kept all of these commandments faithfully from his youth, living in beautiful harmony with his dispensation, exhibits the irreproachable character of a paragon Old Testament saint, yet that phase of inbred sin which he was weakest to resist, as it held a tighter grip on him than any other, was the love of money, which had been augmented and intensified by his vast possessions.
When the contractors began the Queen & Crescent Railway, they went to King’s Mountain, because they had a solid mile of tunnel to excavate, by far the heaviest job on the route of fifteen hundred miles. A wise general, invading a country, always attacks the chief citadel first. Jesus knew that money-love was the serious trouble of this young man, and if he yielded there, victory flashed all along the embattled line, and He could rely on him as a paragon disciple. O how many preachers studiously avoid those things against which they feel assured their people will kick! Jesus, our only Exemplar, gives the trumpet no uncertain sound. This young man would have yielded outright if He had not put the sword to the throat of his idol. Luke says, “He went away very sad.” O how wonderfully history repeats itself! This young man lost his justification because he refused to consecrate all his possessions, the necessary antecedent to Christian perfection. Multitudes of the Jewish Church, in a similar attitude, enjoying justification before God because they walked in all the light they had, keeping all of the commandments, living under the law, without reprehension, faithfully anticipating the coming Messiah, forfeited their justification because they did not walk in the new light thrown on their way by the Shiloh of prophecy. If this young man had not met Jesus, doubtless he would have lived and died an irreproachable Old Testament saint and made his way to Abraham’s bosom.
God holds us responsible for all the light we receive. If we do not walk in it appreciatively, we invariably backslide. Therefore Jesus is called “the Stone of stumbling,” because multitudes, like this young man, stumbled over Him and fell, and they are still doing the same. God raised up Luther to pour new light upon the Church in his day and time. While his reformation was a blessing to many, it was the occasion of many stumbling and falling. The same is true of every great revival. While the present holiness movement is a God-send to myriads, it is the death-knell to multitudes, who unfortunately reject the light it brings, like this man stumbling over entire consecration.
“Jesus, looking round, says to His disciples, How shall those having riches with difficulty enter the kingdom of God! But the disciples were amazed at His words. Jesus again, responding, says to them, Children, how difficult is it for those having put their confidence in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished exceedingly, saying to one another, Indeed who is able to be saved? And Jesus, looking on them, says, With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” So far as the record warrants, there is not a presumption in favor of the salvation of this amiable young man, who is not only a member, but an officer in the Church, and, most consolatory of all, his religious character utterly irreproachable. It is a simple case of stumbling over perfection, and thus failing to pass from the dispensation of the law and the prophets into that of Christ — i.e., the kingdom of heaven whose standard is perfection. I believe, the reason why the disciples were so astonished over the utterances of Jesus, in reference to the difficulty in the way of salvation to the rich, was because the patriarchs in many instances were very wealthy; e.g., Abraham and Job, millionaires. There has been an awful squirming and dodging, twisting and floundering, especially on the part of the popular clergy, to evade and explain away these plain statements of Jesus relative to the difficulties in the way of saving the rich. Some have said that “camel” means rope, used about a ship, which of course could go through the eye of a large needle. Kamilos means “rope.” Though that word looks much like kamelos, “a camel,” you see they are entirely different words. Hence there is no truth in the exegesis. It is a miserable dodge to evade a square issue.
Again, I have heard, over and over, that there are small gates entering through the wall of Jerusalem, called the “Needle’s-eye.” This is utterly untrue. I have made two visits to Jerusalem — the one ten days, and the other seven — in which I was very active, running all over it and round it repeatedly, so that I am this day better acquainted with Jerusalem than any other city in the world. As it symbolizes heaven, whither I am a pilgrim journeying, I studied it with a flaming enthusiasm, diligently investigating everything that could throw light on the Word of God. The city has but eight gates leading through the wall: The Joppa gate, on Mount Zion, looking westward, opening through the west wall, a short distance from the northwest corner. Then, as we proceed, turning eastward, we next come to the New Gate, leading through the north wall. Then, proceeding eastward, we come to the Damascus Gate, looking toward the north. Pursuing the north wall, we next arrive at Herod’s Gate. Now, passing the northeast corner and turning southward, we come to St. Stephen’s Gate, so called because it is said that the mob dragged him out through that gate when they stoned him to death. It is known in Scripture as the Sheep Gate. (John 5.) Proceeding southward, we next arrive at the Beautiful Gate. (Act 3:2.) This gate has been closed twelve hundred and sixty years, since the Mohammedans captured the city, on account of a Moslem prophecy that they can hold the city no longer than that gate is kept closed. Now the wall is on the high summit of Mount Moriah, the deep and impassable Valley of Jehoshaphat yawning beneath. Consequently there are no gates in this region, as there could be neither egress nor ingress. Pursuing the wall southward, turning the corner, we now travel westward, along the south wall, still on the summit of Moriah, till we reach a high valley between Moriah and Zion, where we arrive at the Excrement Gate, which leads out into the deep Valley of Jehoshaphat, and is used to carry, the offal out of the city; hence its name. Now the wall ascends Mount Zion westward, with a number of angles and offsets southward, by way of accommodation to the trend of the mountain. High up on the summit, in the City of David, we come to David’s Gate. These are the only entrances through the wall, with the exception which was made in 1898, when the emperor of Germany visited the city. They actually removed a section of the wall near the Joppa Gate for his convenient royal ingress and egress. Hence, you see, the report about the Needle’s-eye and the camel, ex necessitate divested of his burden in order to enter, is a fond fabrication to comfort the rich, but utterly untrue.
I hope you have no sympathy with any attempt to explain away the plain Word of God. What an insult to Jesus thus utterly to emasculate, eviscerate, and excoriate His Word till it is utterly divested of all its force! Remember you have to meet it at the judgment-bar precisely as it is. So I entreat you to take it now, without addition or subtraction, and never encourage any attempt to explain it away. I emphasize this point because I have heard more preaching on this subject than any other; i.e., a labored effort to explain away the plain and unmistakable Word of God. All such evasion is foolish, fanatical, and Satanic. Jesus specifies in this paragraph that, while the salvation of the rich is impossible with man, with God all things are possible. What is the solution of this? God can give the millionaire grace to consecrate all on His altar, unreservedly and eternally to be used for His glory. In that case the millionaire becomes as poor as Lazarus. “Without the sanctification no one shall see the Lord.” (Heb 12:14.) Hence, as God is no respecter of persons, we all stand on the same platform. If we do not consecrate all to God, we can not “be perfect,” as Jesus here tells the young man. Heaven is a perfect world, consequently nothing imperfect can enter there. In this statement we do not mean Divine perfection, which belongs to God only, nor angelic perfection, which belongs to angels alone; but Christian perfection, which means a complete work of grace in the elimination of all evil out of the spiritual organism. As Jesus alone can do this, we must unreservedly consecrate all to Him, in order that He may sanctify us wholly. As Jesus here says, the impossibility is with man, in case he does not make a perfect consecration, which God can not do for him, as that would ignore his free agency; but He can and will give him all the grace he needs to do it himself, of his own free will and accord. Then, when man puts all on God’s altar, there is no trouble about sanctification, as that is the work of Omnipotent Grace. This whole subject, as delivered by the Savior, is perfectly lucid and consistent. O how many, like this rich young Church officer, hesitate to put all their possessions on God’s altar, and go away sorrowing! Happy is the poor man who has s~ little to consecrate! Yet multitudes of them fail just like the rich. Jesus saves none but beggars. If you own a gold-mine, and do not turn it over to God to be used for His glory, you can not be saved.
Mat 19:27. “Then Peter, responding, said to him, Behold, we have left all things, and followed Thee; what then shall be to us? Jesus said to them, Truly I say unto you, that you who have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son of man may sit upon the throne of glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The regeneration here mentioned does not mean that personal spiritual birth peculiar to all the children of God, but it is a continuation of the subject under consideration with reference to this rich young Church officer, whose life was so beautiful under the law and the prophets; and his qualification to pass out into the new dispensation, receiving his own Christ with joyful enthusiasm, and becoming a citizen of His kingdom, a bona fide member of the gospel Church, had all failed because of his delinquency in meeting the condition, i.e., consecrating all his vast wealth to God — and thus getting in position for the fiery baptism to sanctify him gloriously at the Pentecost then speedily coming on. So the regeneration here means the transition out of the old into the new dispensation. As Peter well knew that he and his apostolical comrades had forsaken their fishing-boats, nets, companions, homes, employment, and everything to follow Jesus, and now having seen the sad failure of this eminently promising young man, at the very point of total abandonment where Peter knew that he and his brethren had succeeded, he proceeds to interview the Savior in reference to what is coming. There, amid the contrast of the two diametrically opposite attitudes the faithful disciples, on the one side, meeting the condition; and the young ruler signally failing and going away — our Lord proceeds to answer Peter’s inquiry by the thrilling assurance that when He shall sit upon the throne of his glory, they shall all sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. We know that our Lord was soon glorified when He ascended from Mount Olivet; and in due time these apostles did divide up the world, and go to their diversified fields of labor — the Jameses taking Judea; Matthew, Ethiopia; Mark, Egypt; Matthias, Judas’s successor, Abyssinia; Thomas, India; Jude, Tartary; Bartholomew, Phrygia; Philip, Syria; Simon Zelotes, the British Islands; Andrew, Armenia; John, Ephesus; Peter, Rome; and Paul, Western Asia and Eastern Europe. Of course, they all enjoyed episcopal supremacy in their diversified fields of labor.
But you must bear in mind that this wicked world did not let them live very long till they all suffered martyrdom, John being miraculously delivered, and, as we believe, finally translated. Hence this was but a preliminary fulfillment of our Savior’s glorious promise, whose verification is evidently reserved for the Millennial Theocracy, when the saints will rule with Christ (Rev 20:6), the apostles in their normal attitude enjoying the supremacy, and Israel populating the whole earth, Satan having been removed, and the glory of the Lord inundating the world, and, as He says here, when He shall sit upon the throne of His glory, then shall you “sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel;” i.e., ruling them. Christ came the first time, in His humiliation, to suffer and to die; but He comes the second time, on the throne of His glory, to conquer and to reign. Here we certainly do see a recognition of apostolical supremacy in the rulership of the world. There are now just about twelve national divisions on the globe. So the world seems to be getting ready for these twelve apostolical thrones. Of course, our Lord must come in His glory, cast out Satan, raise the dead members of the bridehood, and reunite soul and body and translate the living. The first resurrection, at the pre-millennial coming of our Lord, will prepare the way for His glorious kingdom, when He shall sit on the throne of His glory, and the saints will judge the world (1Co 6:2); i. e., rule the world. I am so glad that I believe the whole Bible. Therefore I am looking for wonderful things.
“And every one, whosoever has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife, children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundred fold, and inherit eternal life. But many first shall be last, and last shall be first.” Here you see again that the Jews are coming into the kingdom after all of the Gentiles. One of the cheering omens of the Lord’s near coming is the rapid gathering of the Jews into the Holy Land, and their conversion to Christianity in all the world. Luke says that the one leaving all and following Jesus shall receive a hundred-fold at this time, and in the age to come eternal life. We find some people certifying that there is no coming age after the present. Here, in Luk 18:30, we have it positively specified. You find the same in Heb 6:5, and also in Mat 12:32. I am satisfied it occurs elsewhere in the New Testament, but certainly three clear and unequivocal witnesses are sufficient. In these passages, the E. V. says “world to come;” but the Greek used by our Savior is not cosmos, “world,” but aion, “age.” Hence these are certainly plain allusions, not only to the coming millennium, which will be the Edenic Age of the world restored back, but the Celestial Age, that shall follow the final glorification of the earth subsequently to its purification by the great fiery baptism simultaneously with the final judgment, the glorification following, transforming it into a new earth and a new heaven, or firmament
(Revelation 21), and finally conferred, as a soldier’s bounty, on the glorified saints, here to enjoy an eternity of heavenly bliss with myriads of unfallen angels, with whom, as our loving escorts, we will wing our flight from world to world, admiring the glory of Omnipotence, bespangling millions of bright celestial spheres which never knew sin nor sorrow. At the same time, with our angelic escorts, and accompanied by our sainted friends, always delighted to visit the New Jerusalem, the celestial metropolis, honored with Jehovah’s throne, and the center of universal gravitation, around which all celestial worlds speed their flight, and which this world, on her final restitution and celestialization, will so approximate as to enjoy a grand and conspicuous view, and to receive the copious illuminations of the Divine glory. (Rev 21:9-27.)
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v16 Section 6. (Mat 19:16-30; Mat 20:1-16.)
Section 6. (Mat 19:16-30; Mat 20:1-16.)
Human limitation, and how overcome.
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The sixth section shows us man in his creature place, limited necessarily because of this, but still more as fallen and in his sins; but it shows us also how God, who alone can; overcomes for him the straitness of his condition, and brings him out (as the psalmist says) into a large place.
This is developed in two ways, which are in beautiful connection, while yet very different: as regards the salvation of the sinner, and as regards the reward of a saint. For rewards there are, in which divine love sovereignly displays itself, for they are "mercy" (2Ti 1:18) and not a claim of right; as the Lord has emphatically taught us to say, when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants: we have done but that which it was our duty to do.
Creature merit is thus impossible, - a doctrine which destroys at once not only the supererogatory works and merits of the saints as Rome teaches them, but very much else held quite outside of Rome; while it makes eternal life for the sinner (such as we all are) only possible to grace.
But, alas! we are as naturally self-righteous, as we are absolutely without the least true claim to righteousness. If we will look around, we may quite easily find the Pharisee in the felon’s coat; and nearer still, in our own hearts, the spirit of Pharisaism ready to spring out from under the shadow of the Cross itself; its God-ordained condemnation.
Here we have the beginning and the end of it, as we may say, the self-assertion of the sinner and of the saint; and in the last case creeping, if it might be, into heaven itself in the abuse of the truth as to rewards. In the glimpse of heaven which immediately follows we shall have at last a scene from which it will be perfectly and forever banished. The victory of divine grace over us will then be fully accomplished.
1. We begin here with a question addressed to the Lord, not, as so often, by one tempting or caviling, but, on the contrary, earnestly seeking the way of life: "Teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"
It is "what good thing:" he does not doubt at all that some good thing is what is needed. Too many are on that road to allow him to doubt its being the right one. At the same time he is conscious of a lack, -not self-satisfied, and yet, as we see directly, with no conviction of sin; no thought of inability to attain his goal, if only the means were pointed out to him. Yet there were many instructors on such points whom he must, with the anxiety that he has, have sought out, but had not gained satisfaction from them. He confesses himself ignorant of the way of life, and has confidence, as it seems, that Christ can teach him. All this is encouraging, and yet he is on the broad way still with the multitude (no sign for good, that) and expecting God to give eternal life to the doer of "some good thing."
The Lord meets him, therefore, where he is: not as we might have expected, perhaps, with the gospel and the declaration of His grace, for he has as yet no need of grace. Law must do its work with him, for "by the law is the knowledge of sin." Yet He does, at the same time, intimate the result, and so had the law itself done with its unrent veil, Cod in the darkness, - whether men realized it or not: witness and warning on God’s part can never be wanting, and so here: "Why askest thou Me about that which is good? there is One good," and only One.
That blocks the way for the legalist entirely; which yet in a sense the Lord opens directly, that one who must learn by experience may do so: "but if thou desirest to enter into life, keep the commandments."
There was nothing fresh to be pointed out as to such a path. The law had long since precisely defined every thing, and not left men to search for some good thing additional or other than this. It is true they had not found life in this way, and hence resulted the uneasiness that prompted such inquiries as that of the young man now. But the law had nevertheless precisely defined all the good required: "the man that doeth these things shall live in them." True, "that which was" thus the way "to life, I found to be to death," says the apostle; and so will all true experience find it, a "ministration of death" (2Co 3:7), - the very thing man needs to shut him up to the grace of God in Christ.
But the young man has not received this ministration of death: he had no "sentence of death in himself, that he should not trust in himself, but God that raiseth the dead." He was unsatisfied; the light of God was not on his path, - that he knew. There was no burden of sin to be lifted. He lacked, but confessedly knew not what he lacked. How many are in just such a condition! rich, and comfortably able to thank God for that; ignorant of such trials as even a Job had to learn before the depths of his heart could be made known to him, but, like him, not at rest. As to "commandments," which did the Master mean? The Lord tests him by the second table of the law, the human side, summing it all up in "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." But he is with Saul of Tarsus, "touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless." There is no shadow upon the honest face with which he turns to Him he is questioning, with the assertion; "All these have I kept; what lack I yet?" And then the bolt falls for him out of a summer sky: "If thou wouldst be perfect, sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
People ask, how could the Lord make that the condition of eternal life for him? But it was the law that had made that necessary which would have made this easy - that he should love his neighbor as himself: and this he had declared he actually did. Why not, then; sell what he had, and give to the poor? Would it be more to him than giving it back to himself, to give to the neighbor whom he loved as himself?
Evidently the Lord is but searching out a heart that sorely needed it. He does not make it a condition of eternal life; for that is a gift which He Himself had come to acquire for us; but He speaks to the young man according to the character which he professed; adding to it that tender assurance of a heart open to him, which was ready to give him a place among His followers and intimates. "Jesus, beholding him, loved him," says Mark in connection with these very words. And this love, may we not hope, might, even spite of present failure, wake up to consciousness of its condition the heart that could now, alas! turn from it, though grieved, to enjoy in its now exposed selfishness its "great possessions."
2. But of this we have no knowledge. The Lord makes use of this case now to impress upon His disciples the difficulty, nay, the impossibility, of a rich man entering into the Kingdom of God. The camel may more easily pass through a needle’s eye, He says; and we must leave these words in all their simplicity, - the thing completely passes nature. The camel is, no doubt, the suited figure of one burdened with his possessions, after the manner of the young man here. The things of the world thus claim and control the natural man; and how often is their influence seen upon one who is through grace a Christian! Only the almighty grace of God can change this, that is, can change the nature of man; and so, when in dismay the disciples ask, "Who then can be saved?" the Lord assures them, salvation is not of self, but of God.
3. The question of Peter cannot but suggest how readily in a saint also the spirit of self-seeking can intrude into the most sacred themes and places. The Lord’s answer perfectly recognizes and provides for this, which comes out presently in a more offensive form in the other two of His most privileged disciples. But we may be thankful for that which exposes what is our own need as well as theirs, and has been the occasion of such an answer to it as we find here.
"Peter answered and said unto Him, Behold, we have left all and followed Thee: what shall we have then? And Jesus said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, that ye who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This is found only in Luke and in this Gospel, and in perfect suitability with the character of it. It shows us how literally the reign of the saints with Christ is to be taken; and in the term "regeneration" applied to the millennial Kingdom presents an instructive parallel between the work of God in the individual and in the world at large. That these are, in fact, in correspondence with one another, the first chapter of Genesis has already made us fully aware (see notes). The only other place in which we find this word "regeneration" (paliggenesia) is in the epistle to Titus (Tit 3:5) and it is there applied to the individual state: "according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." In the present state of the world sin not only dwells, but reigns; in the coming Kingdom sin exists but reigns no longer, as in the soul that has truly bowed Christ; then comes the change of the heavens and earth, as for the saint the bodily change into His likeness; and so finally for each, sin neither reigns nor exists. Thus there is a complete parallel between the ways of God in grace with the individual and with the world at large, a unity which is the stamp of the perfect workmanship of the One God in every sphere of His working, whatever may be the variety also which testifies to His infinite resources.
The Lord goes on to assure us that His love can forget nothing of whatever any disciple of His may have renounced for His name. He shall receive a hundredfold and inherit everlasting life. These distinctive rewards, whatever may be the blessing in them, we must remember always to keep apart from what is the common portion of believers, which it is good to realize, as being simply the fruit of Christ’s work for us, must be by far more blessed than anything which even in divine mercy can be accorded to our own. The place of children with God, of membership in the body of Christ, - these and such things as these are to us the fruit of divine grace alone, and have nothing whatever to do with reward of our work. This is so simple that there should be no need even of mentioning it; and yet many Christians confound, more or less, things so different as these; as even the "many mansions" of our Father’s house have been taken to imply different degrees of reward, and to put the children of God at various degrees of distance from their Father, - the very thing which assuredly is most opposite to the Lord’s intention of comfort in it. But, in fact, the legality of the human heart is such as to make the whole matter of reward require the most jealous guarding from abuse; and this the Lord proceeds now to supply in the parable which follows here.
4. The meaning of the parable is given both at the beginning and the close; so earnestly is it pressed upon us. We must not allow ourselves to be carried away from this by any supposed demand of special features, as to which we are cautioned here in the same way as in the case of the previous parable of the unmerciful servant (Mat 18:23). There it is "a man; a king"; here, "a man, a householder." In the application we are bidden to remember that we must distinguish between the ways of men and the ways of God, even where the one may be taken to illustrate the other. God certainly does not "hire" laborers after the manner of men; where work in His vineyard is in question; but this is human misunderstanding of His way. The prodigal still afar off may talk of the "hired servants" of his father’s house; but we are not to take this as a representation of the actual truth. And the very design of the parable here is to warn us by the issue against such perversions. It would seem, therefore, plain that to seek to interpret everything in it as if it stood for absolute truth would be to fall in measure into the very misconceptions from which it is intended to deliver us.
(1) The agreement with the laborers illustrates but the legality of souls who so misconstrue the Lord’s gracious recompense of what is done for Him. Just so far as this is made the end for which we labor, it is clear that the character of what is done is deteriorated, and its value to Him lost. We are living to ourselves, the misery from which divine grace has delivered those that are Christ’s.
We are not, therefore, to conceive of this either, as if any child of God could be a mere hireling. The principle, given broadly in the parable, is by this means put before us in its proper repulsiveness, and the picture is an ideal one solely. Were we to take it as literally exact, we should have to imagine God giving in the day of recompense some stipulated measure of reward to those who have worked for it; which, whether it were saint or sinner, would be positive error. Recognizing it as ideal only, the lesson remains, and with no perplexity.
(2) In those who are called to labor at various hours in the day, we find the thought of a stipulated agreement more and more given up, and those who go into the vineyard becoming correspondingly more dependent upon the goodness of the householder to give to them as he sees fit. To those called at the third hour it is simply said, "Whatsoever is just I will give you." At the sixth and ninth hours, "what is just" becomes a more and more slender hope. In the case of those at the eleventh hour, nothing seems to be said of this at all:* they are left entirely to the owner of the vineyard to give as he please, or not.
{*Though some ancient MSS. add a similar clause but the oldest and the drift of the parable are against it.}
(3) At the end of the day, the laborers are called and paid; and then those called at the eleventh hour receive a whole day’s wages. Of those called at the intermediate hours we are told nothing, but it is implied that they all receive the same: for when the first come, expecting to receive more, they also are paid every one a penny. From this some have deduced the doctrine of an equality of reward for all; but that is not the doctrine of Scripture; and the rewards here are plainly according to the moral of the parable given to us, that the "first shall be last and the last first:" which again is not equality.
(4) It is the first alone who murmur: it would be impossible for any of the rest, one would say, to do so; for they are all, in fact, overpaid. Ah, were we not, how little would we any of us receive! In the day of reward will there be a legalist found to murmur against the amount of his recompense? Surely, not one; all is again only ideal here. And yet even the first can only complain that they have not received more than they bargained for.
(5) The answer of the householder to one of those that murmur brings before us the conditions which have determined that result of which they now so foolishly complain. They cannot say they have not received what they contracted for. They had got what was just; grace they had not trusted nor sought: how can they complain that to those who were dependent upon it it has been shown? - and indeed in the measure in which they were dependent.
For them it was a matter of bounty, not of right; for the giver of it, had he not the right to be bountiful? What I am entitled to must be measured by what I am; what grace shall give can only be measured by what God is. Human measure and divine! put it at the best you can for man, what a difference here!
The more we think of our service, the less must we think of Him to whom the service is done; the more we imagine claim, the less must His grace appear: that the first should thus be last is absolutely simple. Think of it as the Lord once put it, a supper at which the guests take their places as they estimate themselves. No one here, however, says to another, "Give this man place." They are permitted to assign to themselves just the rank they claim. Only, when the King comes in to take His own place among the guests, He takes it at the opposite end of the table from that which they imagined! Then; of course, "the first is last and the last is first;" and yet their places are decided by their own self-measurement.
"For many are the called," says the Lord in closing, "but few the chosen ones:" words which here tell us that among the guests few are they that are according to His mind indeed. Alas! how slow we are indeed in the true judgment of self! how difficult is it for divine grace to obtain full possession of us!
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v16 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [C. The Rich…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [C. The Rich Ruler].
C. THE RICH RULER. PERIL OF RICHES. REWARD OF SACRIFICE. PARABLE OF THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD. (In Peræa.) aMATT. XIX. 16-XX. 16; bMARK X. 17-31; cLUKE XVIII. 18-30.
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b17 And when he was going forth into the way, abehold, bthere ran acame bone ca certain ruler bto him, and kneeled to him, and asked aand said, csaying, bGood Teacher, awhat good thing shall I do, that I may have bmay inherit cto inherit eternal life? [The action of this young man in running and kneeling shows that he was deeply anxious to receive an answer to his question, and also that he had great reverence for Jesus. He seemed to think, however, that heaven could be gained by performing some one meritorious act. He made the mistake of thinking that eternal life is a reward for doing rather than for being, a mistake from which the Roman Catholic Church [543] developed the doctrine of "works of supererogation."] 19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, i even God: aWhy askest thou me concerning that which is good? One there is who is good [To the address of the young man, viz.: "Good Master," Jesus replies, "Why callest," etc., and to his question, "What good thing," etc. Jesus replies, "Why askest," etc. The ruler using the inconsiderate, conventional language of the thoughtless, had taken an unwarrantable freedom with the word "good." Jesus shows that if his language had been used sincerely it would have committed him to a declaration of great faith, for he had addressed Jesus by a title which belongs only to God, and he had asked Jesus the question concerning that of which God alone was fitted to speak. As the ruler had not used this language sincerely Jesus challenged his words. The challenge showed the ruler that he had unwittingly confessed the divinity of Jesus, and thus startled him into a consideration of the marvelous fact which his own mouth had stated. This is done because the young man would need to believe in the divinity of Jesus to endure the test to which he was about to be subjected-- 1Jo_5:5.] but if thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments. [By referring the ruler to the commandments, Jesus not only answered the question as to obtaining life, but he emphasized the confession of his divinity contained in the question, "Why askest," etc. God, who knows what is good, had revealed that good in the commandments which he had given. Yet the ruler had asked Jesus to be wise above God's revelation, and to propound a law or rule of goodness in addition to that already given, and of such a nature as to more fully insure the attainment of life by obeying it. The ruler's question reveals that common weakness in man which prompts him to look to his fellow-men for religious and moral instruction; forgetting that only God can propound the absolute standards of goodness. We should note, too, that the young man, being under the law given through Moses, was bidden to attain life by keeping the law. After the death of Christ a new law [544] was given. Had the man waited until that time, he would have been directed to this new law, and obedience to it would have been required. Compare Act_2:37, Act_2:38, 2Th_1:8, et al.] 18 He saith unto him, Which? And Jesus said, c20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do aThou shalt cnot commit adultery, Do aThou shalt cnot kill, Do aThou shalt cnot steal, Do aThou shalt cnot bear false witness, bDo not defraud, a19 Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [The ruler still sought for some prominent commandment, but was referred to the last six of the Decalogue, these being at that time more frequently violated than the first four. For the last commandment, "Thou shalt not covet," Jesus substitutes its equivalent, "Do not defraud," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," the last being a summary of all the six-- Rom_13:9.] b20 And he a20 The young man saith bsaid unto him, Teacher, cAll these things have I observed from my youth up. awhat lack I yet? [He had kept these commandments as far as he knew his heart and as far as he understood their import.] b21 And Jesus cwhen he heard it, blooking upon him [gazing earnestly and searchingly at him] loved him ["agapan." See Jam_2:10], go, sell that which thou hast, csell all bwhatsoever thou hast, cand distribute bgive cunto ato the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. [The command to sell all is not a general one, but a special precept needed in this case, 1. To dispel the ruler's self-deception. On the negative side his character was good, but on the positive it was deficient. He had done his neighbor no harm, but he had also done him very little good. 2. To show impartiality. The invitation of Jesus shows that the ruler desired to be in some manner a disciple, and hence he is subjected to the same [545] test which the other disciples had accepted, and of which Peter soon after speaks. Paul also was rich in self-righteousness like this man, but cheerfully sacrificed all, that he might follow Christ ( Phi_3:6-9). Moreover, the reference to treasure in heaven and the invitation to follow Christ tested the ruler's obedience to the first four commandments of the Decalogue as condensed in the great summary or first commandment. ( Mat_22:37, Mat_22:38.) Though the ruler perhaps did not fully realize it, those who heard the conversation must afterwards have been impressed with the great truth that the ruler was called upon to make his choice whether he would love Christ or the world, whether he would serve God or mammon. The whole scene forms an illustration of the doctrine expressed by Paul, that by the law can no flesh be justified ( Rom_3:20), for perfection is required of those who approach God along that pathway; those, therefore, who have done all, still need Christ to lead them.] a22 But when the young man heard that saying, cthese things bhis countenance fell at the saying, che became exceeding sorrowful; band he went away sorrowful: cfor he was very rich. bhe was one that had great possessions. [He was not offended at the extravagance of Jesus' demands, for he was not one of the most hardened of the rich. He belonged to that class which hold Christ and their wealth in nearly an even balance. The narrative shows us how uncompromisingly Jesus held to principle. Though the ruler was sorry to turn away, and though Jesus loved him, yet the Lord did not modify his demand by a hair's-breadth to gain an influential disciple.] c24 And Jesus seeing him blooked round about, and saith asaid unto his disciples, bHow hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! aVerily I say unto you, It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. [ 1Ti_6:9, 1Ti_6:10, 1Ti_6:17-19. It should be remembered that Judas heard these words only a few days before he sold his Lord.] b24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in [546] riches to enter into the kingdom of God! [The possession and use of riches is permitted to the Christian, but their possession becomes a sin when the one who owns them comes to trust in them or in any way suffers them to interfere with his duties toward or relations to God.] a24 And again I say unto you, c25 For it is easier for a camel to enter in bto go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. [The needle's eye here is that of the literal needle, and the expression was a proverbial one to indicate that which was absolutely impossible. Lord George Nugent (1845-6) introduced the explanation that Jesus referred to the two gates of a city, the large one for beast of burden, and the small one for foot-passengers. This smaller one is now called "The Needle's Eye," but there is no evidence whatever that it was so called in our Saviour's time. In fact, as Canon Farrar observes, we have every reason to believe that this smaller gate received its name in late years because of the efforts of those who were endeavoring to soften this saying of Jesus.] a25 And when the disciples heard it, they were astonished exceedingly, c26 And they that heard it said, bsaying unto him, aWho then bThen who can be saved? a26 And Jesus blooking upon them saith, c27 But he said, bWith men this is impossible, but not with God: for all things are possible with God. cThe things which are impossible with men aree possible with God. [The Jews were accustomed to look upon the possession of riches as an evidence of divine favor, and the heads of the apostles were filled with visions of the riches and honors which they would enjoy when Jesus set up his kingdom. No wonder, then, that they were amazed to find that it was impossible for a rich man to enter that kingdom, and that, moreover and worse than all, riches appeared to exclude from salvation itself: that even this virtuous rich man, this paragon of excellence, could not have eternal life because he clung to his riches. But they were comforted by the assurance of Jesus that though the salvation of some men might present more difficulties than the salvation of others [547] --might, as it were, require a miracle where others only required simple means, yet the gracious, mighty God might still be trusted to overcome the obstacles. It is impossible for any man to save himself, so that in every case of salvation God is called upon to assist man in accomplishing the impossible. God can so work upon the rich man's heart as to make him a dispenser of blessings.] a27 Then answered Peter c28 And bbegan to say unto him, aand said unto him, bLo, we have left all, cour own, band have followed thee. awhat then shall we have? [The negative conduct of the rich man reminded the disciples of their own positive conduct when confronted with a similar crisis ( Luk_5:11), and the "all" which they had left was by no means contemptible, though perhaps none of them could have been said to have held great possessions. The mention of treasure in heaven, therefore, set Peter to wondering what manner of return would be made to them to compensate them for their sacrifice.] 28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [By the term "regeneration," Jesus in this case means the period in which the process of regenerating men would be in progress; i. e., the period of the mediatorial reign. After his ascension Jesus sat upon his throne ( Act_2:33-35, Heb_1:13, Mat_25:31, 1Co_15:24-28). And on the day of Pentecost next following, he began this process of regeneration. Having enthroned himself, Jesus enthroned the apostles also, not as kings but as judges, having jurisdiction over all questions of faith and practice in the earthly kingdom. During their personal ministry, they judged in person; and since then they judge through their writings. True, we have written communications from only a part of them, but judgments pronounced by one of a bench of judges with the known approval of all, are the judgments of the entire bench. Moreover, the passage must be construed metaphorically, for the apostles are [548] judges in the church of Christ--the true Israel--and not over the literal twelve tribes of Jacob. And again, the twelve who then heard Jesus speak were not all enthroned, Judas having fallen from his position before the day of enthronement, and Matthias and Paul were afterwards added to the group. Jesus here causes the number of the judges to correspond to the number of the tribes, to indicate that there will be a sufficiency of judgment commensurate to the need.] 29 And every one { bThere is no man that ahath left houses, bhouse, cor wife, or brethren, bor sisters, or mother, or father, cor parents, bor children, or lands, for my sake, amy name's sake, band for the gospel's sake, cfor the kingdom of God's sake, 30 who shall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the world to come eternal life. b30 but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come ashall inherit eternal life. [The rewards of Christian self-denial are here divided into two parts--the temporal and the eternal. The earthly joys--the rewards "in this time"--shall outweigh the sacrifices made for the kingdom. The return, of course, will not be in kind, houses for house, and fathers for father, etc., but spiritual relationships and blessings which compensate abundantly for whatever has been resigned ( Mat_12:49, 1Ti_4:8). But these joys shall be mingled with the bitterness of persecution, for no pleasure is perfected in this world, but only in the inheritance which lies beyond-- 1Pe_1:4.] 30 But many shall be last i that are first; and first that are last. b31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first. [The promise of large recompense which Jesus had just given was apt to tempt some to labor not for love, but for the rewards which might be reaped thereby. Jesus corrects this spirit by the statement, and the parable that follows which illustrates it, and which ends with the same sentiment. See Lev_19:13, Deu_24:15], the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward [his overseer], Call the laborers, and pay them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. [Thus following the order indicated by Mar_7:22, 1Sa_18:9, Pro_23:6-8, Pro_28:22, Deu_15:9). The lord had done no wrong to those who had labored longest, for he had paid them what they had bargained for and earned. If he chose to be generous with those whose misfortune had prevented them from being hired earlier in the day, no one had any just cause to murmur.] 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last [The meaning of this parable has often been misunderstood by those who fail to note the maxim with which Jesus begins and ends it. This maxim acts as a safeguard in the interpretation of it; the parable also in turn guards against misunderstanding the maxim. The maxim can not be applied to Judas; for, though he then stood high in honor and afterwards fell into disgrace, yet he stands outside the pale of the maxim as interpreted by the parable, for in the parable both the first and the last were received and rewarded by their master, while Judas was rejected of Christ and received no reward. The term "last," therefore, must be applied to those who were included among the accepted laborers, and not those who were excluded from that class. In the parable, the denarius or shilling stands for the gift of [551] eternal life. The vineyard represents the Lord's field of work in the world. The evening is the close of the Christian dispensation, and the coming of Christ to judgment. The parable as it unfolds and develops suggests that in no case was the reward earned by the inherent merits and toil of the laborers, but was rather bestowed because of a desire on the part of the householder to that effect, just as eternal life is bestowed, not by merit, but by covenant grace ( Rom_2:6, Rom_2:7, Rom_4:3-5, Rom_5:16-21). The main object of the parable is to show that longer labor does not necessarily, as the apostles and others might think, establish a claim to higher reward. Degrees of difference there no doubt will be, but they form no account in the general covenant of grace in which the one great gift is offered to us all. As the gift can be no less than eternal life, there must of necessity be a difference in the ratio of service which is rendered for it, since it will be bestowed on the octogenarian and the child, upon Paul who made good the confession of his faith through years of toil, and the dying thief who passed to his reward while his voice of confession was, as it were, still ringing in the ears of those who heard it ( 1Co_15:8-11, 2Ti_4:6-9). The murmuring and envy of those who had labored longest is merely part of the parabolic drapery, introduced to bring out the answer of the householder, and to make plain the point to be illustrated. There will be no envy among those who inherit eternal life. By thus speaking of the envy, however, and showing how ineffectual it was, Jesus warns us to be prepared not to cherish it. The parable is not intended to teach that the characters of men will be exactly similar in the world to come. Paul will not be Peter, nor will Martin Luther be identical with Hugh Latimer and John Knox. God may award eternal life to the character which we are forming, but we should be careful what kind of character we bring to receive the gift. The lesson is that works are valued qualitatively and not quantitatively. Nor may the parable be rightly used to encourage hope in death-bed repentance. It certainly does teach that, however little the labor which a man does in the Lord's vineyard, he will receive the final reward if only he [552] be really in the vineyard; that is, if he be really a child of God. But whether a man who repents on his death-bed actually becomes a child of God is a different question, and is not touched by the parable. Certainly the eleventh-hour laborer who had stood idle all day only because no man had hired him, and who came into the vineyard as soon as he was called, can not represent the man who has been called by the gospel every hour of his life, but has rejected every call until his sun has sunk so low that he knows he can do but little work when he comes. In order to represent this class of sinners, the eleventh-hour men should have been invited early in the morning, and should have replied, "No, it is too early; we will not go now." Then they should have been invited at the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours, and should have made some equally frivolous excuse each time, then, finally, at the eleventh hour, they should have said, "Well, as you pay a man just the same for an hour's work as for a day's work, and as we are very anxious to get your money, we believe we will now go." Had they acted thus, it is not likely that they would have found the vineyard gates open to them at all. Yet such is the sharp practice which some men attempt in dealing with God.]
[FFG 543-553]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v16 The Dangers of Riches.
The Dangers of Riches.
v. 16. And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?
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v. 17. And He said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God; but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
v. 18. He saith unto Him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
v. 19. Honor thy father and thy mother, and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
The evangelist introduces the story in a lively manner: Lo! Christ was on His journey through Perea, and the experience which Matthew had recorded in the first verses of this chapter may have been repeated often. People were always coming with various matters which they wanted to bring to Christ’s attention. In this case, one man came, a ruler, Luk 18:18, probably a rich young ruler of some small synagogue, as some versions imply. Here was a frank, sincere, open heart, weary of the endless disputings of the scribes and Pharisees, earnestly seeking the truth. He is even now more than half convinced that he will find it with Jesus. Good Teacher, he calls out, what good shall I do that I may have eternal life? In order to lead him to the knowledge of all truth, Jesus, first of all, takes up the question as he has put it. He wants to test him as to his understanding of his own request: Why callest thou Me good? He does not mean to decline the title as not being applicable to Him, but to God only, nor as a mere appellation of courtesy. The accent and position of the word "Me" rather implies: Do you know that in calling Me good, you are placing Me on a level with God Himself, and rightly so? Far, therefore, from rejecting the honor, Christ rather joyfully takes up the word and emphasizes its full import and significance. He now proceeds with the second test; So far as your wish to enter eternal life is concerned, you, as a ruler of a school, ought to have the information; the way you yourself have taught is that of the fulfillment of the Law. The young man was sincere enough, but he was suffering with the same amount of self-righteousness that every other person does by nature. In such cases it is necessary to refer to the Law of God and preach complete fulfillment of every commandment. If a person then has his eyes opened and freely acknowledges his insufficiency and sinfulness, then there is a chance for the knowledge of the Savior and for the faith in this Redeemer which alone brings to heaven. Two significant facts: If it were not for man’s natural depravity and his blindness in spiritual things, he could, indeed, get to heaven by fulfilling the commandments. A complete keeping of the Law earns life everlasting, Luk 10:28. Keeping the commandments is also enjoined upon the Christians as an exercise in sanctification. "The commandments must be kept, or there is no life, but only death. For even faith is nothing, where love, that is, the fulfillment of the commandments, does not follow, 1Co 13:2. For Christ, God’s Son, has not come, nor did He die for that reason that we should freely be disobedient to the commandments, but that we might fulfill the commandments through His help and assistance. Therefore as it is said: Works without faith are nothing, so it is also true: Faith without fruit is also vain. For work without faith is idolatry. Faith without work is a lie, and no faith."
In order to open the eyes of the young man, who again frankly asks. What kind? Which do you mean? Those of Moses or those of the elders? Jesus slowly recites the chief commandments of the second table of the Decalogue, placing the summary of the entire table in the last place. He hoped that the mere hearing of the list from the lips of another might cause the man to think, to reflect, to apply the words to himself, to examine his heart properly. But even the last commandment did not so much as stir his conscience.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 18 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Here the scene shifts to a different time when Jesus explains to a rich man what it will cost to follow him.
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Behold
The word "behold" alerts us to a new person in the story. Your language may have a way of doing this.
good thing
This means a thing that pleases God.
Why do you ask me about what is good?
Jesus uses this rhetorical question to encourage the man to think about his reason for asking Jesus about what is good. AT: "You ask me about what is good" or "Think about why you ask me about what is good." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Only one is good
"God alone is completely good"
to enter into life
"to receive eternal life"
translationWords
Jesus
teacher
good
eternity
life
command
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v17 19:17 Why ask me? The man, as a Jew,…
19:17 Why ask me? The man, as a Jew, should have known that God’s standard of goodness is clearly reflected in his commandments. The man’s questions (also 19:20) show that he was not trusting in the adequacy of God’s revealed will. • only One . . . is good: The man may have believed he could act with perfect goodness on his own, whereas only God is truly good and thus the source of all goodness. • keep the commandments: Jesus has in mind either leading the man to see his sinfulness by asking him to do the impossible, or more probably, restating that good works are a telling gauge of the truthfulness of a person’s faith (see 7:13-27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.