Chizuk Emunah (Pt 2) Under the Microscope: Chapter 19

Matthew 19:16 and subsequent verses, "And behold one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God"; an expression which proves that Jesus is not God. Then Jesus continued, "If thou desirest spiritual salvation keep the commandments." An injunction indicating that there is no salvation without the observance of the law of Moses. He [the querist] 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. Honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Further he said, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that which thou hast and give to the poor." The same is to be found in Mark 10:21. In Luke 18:22, Jesus thereby advises, "Sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor," etc. Jesus, in saying there is none good but one, that is God, taught his followers a monotheistic principle. He taught them at the same time that salvation depends on the observance of the Divine commandments. All these injunctions, given by Jesus, are renounced by Christians; and thus, having thrown off those inconvenient and onerous observances taught in the New Testament, they might well allege that the severe precepts of the Mosaic Law were abrogated, and must give place before a Lawgiver whose laws they think proper to disregard. We would ask, which precept is the most severe, that of Jesus, which demands that a man should divest himself of his property for the benefit of the poor, or the Mosaic Law, which ordains that a tithe only should be devoted to holy purposes, leaving the remainder at the free disposal of the owner of the property?

Quite the opposite of what Troki is claiming, this verse is implying Jesus' self-image as God incarnate. Notice that Jesus did not deny that he was good. He did not say "I am not good" or "I am not God." He let the man know just what it means to call someone good. Even today, we throw around terms without really understanding their meaning. Heresy has been historically a major charge. Today, we throw around the word "heretic" as though it meant very little. Jesus was correcting the man's light use of the term. As Lukyn Williams writes:

His reply cuts at the very root of much of the Jewish teaching of the time, subservience to mere authority. Human teachers, human institutions, however good they are, must not usurp the place of God. This young ruler, who assuredly has no real knowledge of the divine nature of Him whom he is addressing (and Jesus cannot at this stage enlighten him on this point without doing him more harm than good), is bid seek God rather than man. Alas, for the ever-recurrent need of the Lord's warning! Judaism has suffered, and is suffering, from insisting on tradition, instead of bidding men see that they come into touch with the living God.

The second attack that Troki uses is that Jesus taught his followers to live like Francis of Assisi. We should also note that Jesus is mentioning what a perfect person would do, and secondly, that this is a command to the rich young ruler, not some universal command to all of his followers at all times and places. Jesus knew that the rich young ruler valued money and status tremendously, and this was harming his ability to come close to God. The man thought he was just fine, hence his boasting that he had been so observant of the Law.

Randy Newman teaches based on this method. When conducting evangelism, you need to use questions in order to get the other person thinking. The rich young ruler was assuming that he was good, and trying to ask a holy man in order that he might boast in front of his friends. Jesus cut to the heart of the matter by questioning his very assumptions, calling into question his very motives in front of the crowd.

Also, Troki mistakenly believes that Jesus was asking people to behave perfectly. He was instead showing them that nobody else is perfect. Nobody else is truly good. We violate God's moral law all the time. Every time we lie, lust, act opportunistically, or pad our timesheets at work, we are violating God's moral law. The entire thrust of Romans is that nobody keeps God's moral law well enough to earn heaven. This is not to say that no one can in theory. This passage shows that it is the sins we commit that keep us out of heaven, and not some inherent sin nature or inherited sin from Adam. Again, the point in Romans is that Jesus knew that we all failed the test, and hence offered us a way out of our condemnation. If we would believe in him, then we can receive his righteousness.