Rich Young Ruler
Mark 10:17–27; Luke 18:18–27
16 Now behold, one came and said to Him,
“Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal
life?”
17 So 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 bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your
father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ ”
KEY YOU CANNOT KEEP THE 10 COMMANDMENTS. SO THIS MAN
IS TOAST IF THAT IS WHAT HE IS TRUSTING IN THAT.
20 The young man said to Him, “All
these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to
be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
22 But when the young man heard that
saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 Then Jesus said to His disciples,
“Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When His disciples heard it,
they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
26 But Jesus looked at them and
said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things
are possible.”1
—Matthew 19:16–22
This
story, known as the story of the Rich Young Ruler, is a story on the
“Cost of Discipleship.” In Bonhoeffer’s stimulating book by
that title, this account is used as his basis for outlining the call
and cost of following Jesus. Some persons have seen in Matthew 19 a
counsel of perfection, of absolute chastity, complete poverty, and
unreserved obedience. But just as the passage on chastity (vv. 10–12)
cannot be pressed to mean an ideal of asceticism, this section can
hardly be made to teach a complete renunciation of possessions. Jesus
spoke to this man at the particular point of his need. As in the case
of Nicodemus, Jesus spoke of his need that something be done “to
him” by God beyond what he had thought he was doing for God; he
needed to be born from above. And Jesus did not say to Nicodemus, “Go
and sell what you have and give to the poor,” as though this
were a universal formula; rather he spoke to his problem of legalism,
of do-it-yourself religion. Here, for the rich young ruler, the issue
was the idolizing of wealth and a lack of compassion for the needy,
and Jesus addressed his problem directly. And our problem of
materialism needs a similar direct word. Let us not try to dodge the
implications of this passage. This account calls for a commitment to
reject secular materialism, whether it be Marxist or capitalist.
The story is found in Mark 10:17–22 and in Luke
18:18–30. Matthew tells us in verse 20 that the man was young. From
the several accounts we learn that he was an earnest man—“he
came running to Jesus”;—he was respectful—“he kneeled
to him”; he was interested in eternal life; he was religious in
practice, having kept the commandments from a lad; and he was
interested in finding peace—“What lack I yet?” But
when Jesus asked him to practice His claims, to let God actually be
God in his life, he couldn’t surrender the control of his life to
God.
In Matthew’s account the young man said, “Good
teacher, what good thing shall I do … ?” Jesus responded,
“Why do you call Me good?” The emphasis is on “Me.”
His comment that only God is good moves the man’s thought from his
standards to the divine standard. Jesus’ counsel was to keep the
commandments. It was as though He said, begin with what you know,
begin where you are, and begin by acting in obedience.
Matthew says the young man asked, “Which?” Perhaps
this was to justify himself, or to focus the issue more academically.
Jesus’ response outlines God’s injunction against killing,
adultery, stealing, false witness, and focuses his duty to parents.
But omitting reference to covetousness, Jesus added the summary of
the second table of the Law by the positive note, “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” Affirming his religious practice,
knowing that he is yet without joy and meaning in life, the young man
asked, “What do I still lack?” Here Jesus met him at the
point of his idolatry—he had held things as more important than the
will of God. It is covetousness, as Paul says, which is idolatry.
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect [complete], go, sell
what you have and give to the poor.” But the young man failed
to obey. In Bonhoeffer’s words, “Only he who obeys truly
believes, and only he who believes truly obeys.”
The story illustrates the meaning of eternal life as the
quality of life with God. The emphasis on “eternal” is not so
much on time as on the quality of life that partakes of God’s love
and purpose. And the conclusion to which Jesus moved the conversation
was to show that one cannot share God’s love without loving his
neighbor as himself. This story lends itself to a variety of
homiletical approaches. One suggestion is that the encounter of the
rich ruler with the Master involved (1) the most serious question, v.
16; (2) the most specific answer, v. 21; and (3) the most searching
decision, v. 22.
How
to Obtain Eternal Life
(19:16–22)
18
And behold, one came to Him and said, “Teacher,
what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He
said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is
only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the
commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said,
“You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You
shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father
and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The
young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I
still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete,
go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have
treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man
heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned
much property. (19:16–22)
At first one might wonder what kind of message Jesus was
trying to give this man who came to Him. The truth is summarized in
Jesus’ statement on another occasion: “So therefore, no one of
you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions”
(Luke 14:33).
Some years ago the young man in the seat next to me on
an airplane asked, “Sir, you wouldn’t know how I could have a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ, would you?” Taken somewhat
by surprise by his openness and seeming readiness for salvation, I
told him that he needed to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and
Savior. He said, “I’d like to do that,” and we prayed together
and rejoiced in his decision. He was on his way to a new job near our
church, so he was baptized and began attending services. But some
months later I was extremely disappointed to discover that he had
developed no interest at all in the things of the Lord and was living
in such a way that it was apparent he had not been transformed. He
soon disappeared from the church and has never returned.
Anyone who has done much personal witnessing has
encountered persons who make a profession of faith in Christ but
whose subsequent lives show no change in attitudes or behavior. And
when they indicate no love for God and Christ, no interest in the
Bible, in prayer, or in the fellowship of God’s people, there is no
good reason to believe they were ever saved.
Our Lord gave this young man a test. He had to make a
choice between Christ and his possessions and sin, and he failed the
test. No matter what he may have believed, because he was unwilling
to forsake all, he could not be a disciple of Christ. Salvation is
for those who are willing to forsake everything.
The incident recorded in Matthew 19:16–22 gives
insight into how some people who show great interest in the gospel
never come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. This young man
went away from Christ not because he heard the wrong message or
because he did not believe but because he was unwilling to admit his
sin, forsake all that he had, and obey Christ as Lord.
The Request to Jesus
And
behold, one came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I
do that I may obtain eternal life?” (19:16)
From verse 20 we learn that the one who came
to Him was a young man, and from verse 22 that he was wealthy.
Luke informs us that he was also a ruler (18:18), probably a ruler in
the synagogue, an especially honored position for a young man. He was
a religious leader-devout, honest, wealthy, prominent, and
influential. He had it all. Behold suggests how unusual and
unexpected it was that he would admit he lacked eternal life and come
to Jesus to find it.
Several factors are clear as we analyze this unique
encounter. First, He came genuinely seeking eternal life,
motivated by his sense of need for a true spiritual hope. The term
eternal life is used some 50 times in Scripture, and always
refers primarily to quality rather than quantity. Although eternal
life obviously carries the idea of being an everlasting reality,
it does not refer simply to unending existence. Even ancient pagans
knew that mere unending existence would not necessarily be desirable.
According to Greek mythology, Aurora, goddess of the dawn, fell in
love with a young mortal named Tithonus. When Zeus offered to provide
anything she wished for her human lover, she asked that he might
never die. The wish was granted, but because she had not asked that
Tithonus remain forever young, he continued to grow older and more
decrepit. Instead of being blessed, he was cursed to perpetual
degeneration.
If, as William Hendriksen insightfully observes, “
‘life’ means active response to one’s environment,” then
eternal life must mean active response to that which is
eternal, namely God’s heavenly realm. Just as physical life is the
ability to live and move and respond in the physical world, eternal
life is the ability to live and move and respond in the heavenly
world.
Eternal life is first of all a quality of
existence, the divinely-endowed ability to be alive to God and the
things of God. The Jews saw it as that which fills the heart with
hope of life after death. The unsaved person is spiritually alive
only to sin. But when he receives Christ as Lord and Savior, he
becomes alive to God and to righteousness (Rom. 6:1–13). That is
the essence of eternal life, the life of God’s own
Son dwelling within.
The young ruler could not have understood the full
meaning of what he asked for, but he realized there was an important
dimension to his present life, religious and prestigious as it was,
that was missing. Despite his high standing in men’s eyes, he knew
he did not have the God-given peace, rest, hope, assurance, and joy
of which the psalmists and the prophets spoke. He may have sensed
that he needed a closer relationship to God than he had. Simply by
asking that question of Jesus he showed himself to be beyond the
hypocritical religiosity of the scribes and Pharisees. He recognized
a deep spiritual need that, for all his religious efforts, was
unfulfilled. He knew he did not possess the life of God that
satisfies here and now and gives hope for the life to come.
The fact that he came to Jesus publicly and asked such a
personal and revealing question shows the man’s sincerity. He was
not haughty or presumptuous, but was humbly determined to find
satisfaction for the overwhelming need he felt in his life, and he
was oblivious to what people around him may have thought.
The young ruler not only knew his need but deeply felt
that need, and he was desperate. Many people who admit they do not
have eternal life nevertheless feel no need for it. They know
they are not alive to God and do not care. They know there is no
divine dimension to their lives but consider that fact irrelevant and
unimportant. They have no hope for the life to come but are perfectly
content to remain as they are.
The young ruler felt his need so keenly that, when he
heard Jesus was in the vicinity, he “ran up to Him and knelt before
Him” (Mark 10:17). He could not wait to ask this great Teacher how
to find the answer to his deep longing. He was not embarrassed by the
fact that he was known and respected by most of the people who
crowded around Jesus. He did not mind the risk of losing face with
those who probably considered him already to be religiously fulfilled
and specially favored by God.
Although he was probably in the midst of the multitude
of parents who had brought their young children to be blessed, this
man was not ashamed to request a blessing for himself. He was saying
to Jesus, in effect, “I need your help just as much as these little
children.” Just as the children submitted to Jesus by being taken
in His arms, the rich young ruler submitted by kneeling down before
Him. He prostrated himself before the Lord in a position of humility.
He appeared serious, sincere, highly motivated, and anxious.
This young ruler came seeking for the right
thing-eternal life-and he came to the only One who could give it.
Him, of course, refers to Jesus, who not only is the way to
eternal life but is Himself that life. “God has given us
eternal life,” John declares, “and this life is in His Son,”
who “is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:11, 20). There
was nothing wrong with his motivation, because it certainly is good
to desire eternal life.
By addressing Jesus as Teacher (didaskalos),
the young man acknowledged Him to be a respected rabbi, an authority
on the Old Testament, a teacher of divine truth. Although the two
other synoptic gospels report that the man also called Jesus “good”
(Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18), there is no reason to believe he considered
Him to be the promised Messiah and Son of God But he obviously
considered Jesus to have a stature of righteous character above the
typical rabbi. The authority of Jesus’ teaching and the power of
His miracles surely qualified Him as someone who knew the way to
eternal life. Even though he did not acknowledge that Jesus
was Messiah and God in the flesh, he had come to the right person
(cf. Acts 4:12).
Not only did the young man come to the right source but
he asked the right question: “What good thing shall I do that I
may obtain eternal life?” Many interpreters have criticized the
man for asking about what he must do, suggesting that his
question was works oriented. Doubtlessly he was steeped in the
Pharisaic legal system that had come to dominate Judaism and was
trained to think that doing religious things was the way to gain
divine favor. But taken at face value, his question was legitimate.
There is something one must do in order to come to God. When the
multitude near Capernaum asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we
may work the works of God?” He replied, “This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28–29).
The main point of the question was to discover how to
obtain eternal life, and that is the most crucial question a
person can ask. The entire purpose of evangelism is to bring lost
people to Jesus Christ in order that they may obtain eternal life.
The very purpose and meaning of salvation is to bring eternal life
to those who, because of sin, face eternal death (Rom. 6:23).
The issue on this occasion was the man’s salvation,
not some higher level of discipleship subsequent to salvation. Most
of the work of evangelism is to bring people to the point where they
sense their need for salvation, but this young man was already there.
He was ready to sign the card, raise his hand, walk the aisle, or
whatever. He was ripe and eager-what many modern evangelists would
consider a “hot prospect.”
The Response by Jesus
And
He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is
only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the
commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said,
“You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You
shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father
and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
(19:17–19)
Jesus’ response is even more amazing than the young
man’s request. He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about
what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter
into life, keep the commandments.”
Instead of taking the young man at face value and asking
him to “make a decision for Christ,” Jesus went much deeper in
searching out the state of his heart and tested his true purpose and
motivation. Instead of rejoicing that the man was apparently willing
to receive eternal life and encouraging him to simply pray a prayer
or affirm his faith, Jesus asked him a question in return that was
immensely disconcerting.
The Lord’s abrupt and seemingly evasive words, “Why
are you asking Me about what is good?” reveal that He could
read the man’s heart. He had asked about eternal life verbally, and
his heart was longing to know what good work could bring him that
life. Jesus’ comment that “there is only One who is good”
was perhaps a means of prying out of the man just who he thought
Jesus was. Did he realize that the One whom he was asking about
what is good was Himself the One who is good, namely, God?
Had he come to Jesus for divine help because he believed Jesus
Himself to be divine? Because the man made no response concerning the
only One who is good, it seems certain that he viewed Jesus as
no more than an especially gifted human teacher. He had indeed come
to the right source for the answer to his question and the
fulfillment of his need, but be did not recognize that Source for who
He really was.
Jesus did not respond by immediately showing the way of
salvation because the man was missing an essential quality. He lacked
the sense of his own sinfulness, and Jesus had to point that out.
Jesus’ next comment, “If you wish to enter into
life, keep the commandments,” was more than familiar to the
man. Jews were taught all their lives that the way into life
was through obedience to God’s commandments. Leviticus 18:5
clearly refers to such a truth: “So you shall keep My statutes and
My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord”
(cf. Ezek. 20:11). Perhaps Jesus was simply saying to the man, “You
know what to do. Why are you asking Me? I haven’t taught anything
that is not already written in the Scriptures. You are a learned and
devoted Jew and you know what God’s law requires. Go do it.”
Judged by the principles and strategy of much
contemporary evangelism, Jesus seems to have made a serious and
insensitive mistake. He not only did not take advantage of the man’s
obvious readiness to make a decision but He even seemed to be
teaching righteousness by works.
But Jesus knew this man’s heart was not ready to
believe in Him, just as the hearts of many people who express great
interest in Him are not ready to believe. The man had a deep longing
for something important in his life that he knew was missing. He
doubtlessly had anxiety and frustration and longed for peace, joy,
hope, and assurance. He wanted all the inner blessings the Old
Testament associated with spiritual life. He longed for God’s
blessings, but he did not long for God. He wanted to know what good
things he should do, but he did not want to know the only One who
is good.
Throughout history, and certainly in our own day, the
church has witnessed many questionable principles and methods of
evangelism, often exercised with sincerity and good intent. Undue
emphasis on such external acts as raised hands, cards signed, and
verbal decisions can lead many people-Christian workers and professed
converts alike-into believing salvation has occurred when it has not.
A premature and incomplete decision is not a decision Christ
recognizes as valid.
The gospel is not a means of adding something better to
what one already has, a means of supplementing human effort by
divine. Nor is it simply a means of fulfilling psychological needs,
no matter how real and significant they may be. Jesus did not die
simply to make people feel better by relieving their frustrations and
anxieties. And relief from such feelings is no certain evidence of
salvation.
Many people are simply looking for solutions to their
felt needs, but that is not enough to bring them to legitimate
salvation. Jesus therefore did not offer any relief for the young
man’s felt needs. Instead, He gave an answer designed to confront
him with the fact that he was a living offense to Holy God. Proper
evangelism must lead a sinner to measure himself against the perfect
law of God so he can see his deficiency. Salvation is for those who
hate their sin.
The young ruler must have sounded more than a little
perplexed as he asked, almost rhetorically, “Which ones?”
The implication seems to be, “I have read the commandments many
times. I memorized them when I was a small boy, and I have carefully
kept them ever since. How could I have missed any? Which ones
could you possibly have in mind?”
Jesus responded by quoting five of the Ten Commandments:
to not commit murder, to not commit adultery, to not
steal, to not bear false witness, and to honor your
father and mother (see Ex. 20:12–16). He then added the second
greatest commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself
(Lev. 19:18; cf. Matt. 22:39).
No words of Scripture would have been more familiar to
the young ruler than those. But again he missed Jesus’ point. Just
as he failed to recognize that the One to whom he spoke was Himself
God and the source of eternal life, he also failed to see that those
well-known commandments, and all the other commandments, could not
provide the life to which they pointed. If a person were able to
perfectly keep all the commandments throughout his entire life, he
would indeed have life, just as Jesus had said (v. 17). What He was
trying to show the man, however, is that no one is able to keep all
the commandments perfectly, not even one of them.
The Lord did not mention the first four of the Ten
Commandments, which center on man’s attitude toward God (Ex.
20:3–11), or the first and greatest commandment, “You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your might” (Deut. 6:5; cf. Matt. 22:38). Those commandments
are even more impossible to keep than the ones Jesus quoted. The Lord
therefore challenged the young ruler against the least impossible of
the commandments, as it were.
The Response to Jesus
The
young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I
still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete,
go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have
treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man
heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned
much property. (19:20–22)
The man’s response-“All these things I have kept;
what am I still lacking?”-was probably sincere but it was
far from true. Like most of the scribes and Pharisees, he was
convinced in his own mind that he had kept all of God’s law.
He told Jesus, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth
up” (Mark 10:20). Because the commandments concerning attitudes
toward God were just as familiar to the mart as the one’s Jesus
quoted, he obviously thought he had fulfilled those as well. His view
of the law was completely superficial, external, and man-oriented.
Because he had not committed physical adultery or murder, because he
was not a liar or a thief, and because he did not blaspheme the
Lord’s name or worship idols, he looked on himself as being
virtually perfect in God’s eyes.
By asking, “What am I still lacking?” he
implied that there either must have been a commandment of which he
had never heard or that something in addition to keeping the law was
required to obtain eternal life. It simply did not occur to him that
he fell short in obedience to any part of God’s known law. Because
his outward, humanly observed life was upright and religious, he
never suspected that his inner, divinely observed life was “full of
dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27). He would not
admit to himself that lust is a form of adultery that hate is a form
of murder, or that swearing by anything in heaven or on earth is a
form of taking the Lord’s name in vain (Matt. 5:22, 28, 34–35).
And it certainly never occurred to him that “whoever keeps the
whole law and yet stumbles in one point, … has become guilty of
all” (James 2:10).
Like most of his Jewish contemporaries, he totally
failed to see that the Mosaic commands were not given as means for
humanly achieving God’s standard of righteousness but were given as
pictures of His righteousness. The law was also given to show men how
impossible it is for them to live up to His standards of
righteousness in their own power. Obedience to the law is always
imperfect because the human heart is imperfect.
One of sin’s greatest curses is the spiritual and
moral blindness it produces. It would not seem to require special
revelation from God for men to realize that even the commandments
concerning their relationship to other men are impossible to keep
perfectly. What truly honest person would claim he has never told a
single falsehood of any sort, never coveted anything that belongs to
someone else, and always treated his parents with respect and
honor-much less that he had always loved his neighbors as much as he
loved himself? But one of Satan’s chief strategies is to blind
sinners to their sin; and because pride is at the heart of all sin,
there is a natural inclination toward self-deceit. And nothing is
more effective in producing self-deceit than works righteousness,
which is the basis of every man-made religion, including the
God-given but humanly corrupted religion of first-century Judaism.
The young ruler was aware of what he did not have
and needed to receive, namely eternal life. But he was not willing to
admit what he did have and needed to be rid of, namely sin. He
had too much spiritual pride to acknowledge that he was sinful by
nature and that his whole life fell short of God’s holiness and was
an offense to Him. His desire for eternal life was centered entirely
in his own felt needs and longings.
He had no hatred for sins that needed forgiving and no
admission of a heart that needed cleansing. He was therefore not
looking for what God needed to do for him but for what he still
needed to do for God. Like most Jews of his day, and like most people
in all times and cultures, he believed his destiny was in his own
hands and that if his lot were to improve it would have to be by his
own efforts. All he wanted from Jesus was another commandment,
another formula, another rite or ceremony by which he could complete
his religious obligations and make himself acceptable to God.
But salvation is for people who despair of their own
efforts, who realize that, in themselves and by themselves, they are
hopelessly sinful and incapable of improving. Salvation is for those
who see themselves as living violations of His holiness and who
confess and turn from their sin and throw themselves on God’s
mercy. It is for those who recognize they have absolutely nothing
good to give God, that anything good they receive or accomplish can
be only by His sovereign, gracious provision in Jesus Christ.
Paul spends three full chapters of Romans declaring the
sinfulness of man before he ever discusses the way of salvation. John
1:17 declares, “The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth
were realized through Jesus Christ.” Law always precedes grace; it
is the tutor that leads to Christ (Gal. 3:24).
Jesus took the focus off the young man’s felt
religious and psychological needs and placed it on God. He tried to
show the man that the real problem in his life was not his feeling of
emptiness and incompleteness, legitimate and important as those
feelings were. His great problem, from which those felt needs arose,
was his separation from God and his total inability to reconcile
himself with God. Scripture says, “God is angry with the wicked
every day” (Ps. 7:11 KJV). In himself this man not only fell far
short of God’s righteous standards but was, in fact, an enemy of
God and under His wrath (Rom. 5:10; Eph. 2:3). And God will not save
those who try to come to Him harboring sin.
Evangelism or personal witnessing that does not confront
people with their utter sinfulness and helplessness is not faithful
to the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter how much His name and His
Word may be invoked. A profession of Christ that does not include
confession and repentance of sin does not bring salvation, no matter
how much pleasant emotion may result. To tell an unbeliever that God
has a wonderful plan for his life can be seriously misleading. If the
unbeliever turns to Christ and is saved, God does indeed have a
wonderful plan for him. But if he does not turn to Christ, God’s
only plan for him is damnation. In the same way it is misleading and
dangerous to tell an unbeliever only that God loves him, without
telling him that, in spite of that love, he is under God’s wrath
and sentenced to hell.
God’s grace cannot be faithfully preached to
unbelievers until His law is preached and man’s corrupt nature is
exposed. It is impossible for a person to fully realize his need for
God’s grace until he sees how terribly he has failed the standards
of God’s law It is impossible for him to realize his need for mercy
until he realizes the magnitude of his guilt. As Samuel Bolton wisely
commented, “When you see that men have been wounded by the law,
then it is time to pour in the gospel oil.”
Instead of being wounded by the law, however, the rich
young ruler was self-satisfied in regard to the law. He diligently
sought eternal life, but he sought it on his own terms and in his own
power. He would not confess his sin and admit his spiritual poverty.
Confession of sin and repentance from sin are utterly essential to
salvation. John the Baptist began his ministry preaching repentance
(Matt. 3:2), Jesus began His ministry preaching repentance (4:17),
and both Peter and Paul began their ministries preaching repentance
(Acts 2:38; 26:20). Peter even used repentance as a synonym for
salvation when he wrote that “the Lord … is patient toward you,
not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2
Pet. 3:9).
True conviction, confession, and repentance of sin are
as much a work of the Holy Spirit as any other part of salvation
(John 6:44; 16:8–9). They are divine works of grace, not
pre-salvation works of human effort. But just as receiving Christ as
Lord and Savior demands the action of the believer’s will, so do
confession and repentance. It is not that an unbeliever must
understand everything about confession, repentance, or any other
aspect of salvation. A person can genuinely receive Christ as Lord
and Savior with very little knowledge about Him and the gospel. But
genuine belief is characterized by willingness to do whatever the
Lord requires, just as unbelief is characterized by unwillingness to
do whatever He requires.
In another attempt to make the self-satisfied young
ruler face his true spiritual condition, Jesus said to him, “If
you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the
poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
In this context, complete is used as a synonym for salvation,
as it frequently is in the book of Hebrews, where the same basic
Greek word is translated “perfect” (see 7:19; 10:1, 14; 12:23).
Jesus was saying, “If you truly desire eternal life, prove your
sincerity by selling your possessions and giving what you have
to the poor.” If he truly lived up to the Mosaic command to
love his neighbor as himself, he would be willing to do what Jesus
now commanded. His willingness to obey that command would not merit
salvation but it would be evidence that he desired salvation above
everything else, as a priceless treasure or a pearl of great value
for which no sacrifice could be too great (see Matt. 13:44–46).
The ultimate test was whether or not the man was willing
to obey the Lord. The real issue Jesus presented was, “Will you do
what I ask, no matter what? Who will be Lord in your life, you or
Me?” That hit a sensitive nerve. Jesus demands to be Lord,
sovereign over all. There was no better way to find out if the man
was ready to accept Christ’s sovereignty than to ask him to give up
his riches. The Lord challenged his wealth to force him to admit what
was most valuable to him-Jesus Christ and eternal life or his money
and possessions. The latter was clearly the man’s priority, and
therefore for him salvation was forfeited.
The first part of Jesus’ command was quite capable of
being obeyed in the man’s own power. But he refused to comply with
it, not because he could not but because he would not.
He not only failed to keep God’s impossible commands but failed to
keep this one that was easily possible, proving conclusively that he
really did not want to do God’s perfect will and be spiritually
complete.
Mark tells us that as He gave the man that command,
“Jesus felt a love for him” (10:21). The Lord must have felt for
him as He did for Jerusalem as He looked out over that great city and
cried, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets
and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your
children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
and you would not have it” (Luke 13:34). Jesus was approaching the
time when He would shed His own blood for the sins of the rich young
ruler, and for the sins of Jerusalem and of the whole world. But as
much as He loved the man and desired for him not to perish, He could
not save him while he refused to admit he was lost. The Lord can do
nothing with a life that is not surrendered to Him, except to condemn
it.
It is possible the man did not even hear Jesus say,
“Come, follow Me.” He was so dismayed by the command to
sell his possessions and give to the poor that Jesus’ call to
discipleship did not register on his conscious mind. His call to
discipleship always falls on deaf ears when there is unwillingness to
give up everything for Him (see Matt. 8:19–22).
The young man did not want Jesus either as Savior
or as Lord. He was not willing to give Him his sins to be forgiven or
his life to be ruled. Therefore when he heard Jesus’ statement,
he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property.
Contrary to his own self-assessment, he did not live up to any of
God’s law, but he was especially guilty in the area of materialism.
The property he thought he owned really owned him, and
he would rather be its servant than Jesus’.
He went away grieved because, although he came to
Jesus for eternal life, he left without it. He did not desire it
above the possessions of his present life. He wanted to gain
salvation, but not as much as he wanted to keep his property.
Zaccheus was also a wealthy man. But when Jesus called
him, “he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.”
Spontaneously he volunteered to do essentially what Jesus commanded
the rich young ruler to 2
Many people miss the humor that our Lord sometimes used,
and this passage is an example of it. There are some people who hold
to the ridiculous explanation that there was a gate in Jerusalem
called “The Eye of the Needle,” that a camel had to kneel to pass
through it, and that therefore the Lord was saying that a man had to
become humble to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Well, that misses the
point altogether. Our Lord is talking about a real camel and a real
needle with an eye. My friend, let me ask you a very plain question:
Is it possible for a real camel to go through the eye of a real
needle? I think you know the answer—he won’t make it! It is
impossible. But would it be possible for God to put a camel through a
needle’s eye? Well, God is not in that business, but He could do
it. And only God can regenerate a man. That is the point our
Lord is making here. 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.
Many people today think they are going to be saved by
who they are or by what they have. You are truly saved when you find
out that you are a sinner, a beggar in God’s sight, with nothing to
offer Him for your salvation. As long as a person feels he can do
something or pay God for salvation, he can no more be saved
than a camel can be put through the eye of a needle.
When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly
amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? [Matt. 19:25].3
13–17.
Much assimilation from the parallel accounts in Mark 10:17–31 and
Luke 18:18–30 has been done in some texts; see ASV for a better
rendition of Matthew’s original. The little children, for
whom Jesus cared so much, were evidently of sufficient age to repond
to Him (not infants) and He bade them come unto me revealing
that, while all childhood professions may not be genuine, a child may
follow Christ. By contrast to their simple obedience came the complex
young rich man with all of his “hangups,” calling Jesus Good
Master, which the Saviour challenged, not as a denial of His
deity, but to impress upon this seeker the seriousness of the
implication. “Are you sure you really mean that?” would be a
modern paraphrase. The young man’s question, What good thing
shall I do? implies that he wanted to perform some work that
might gain him eternal life (salvation). Jesus’ challenge
was intended to elevate his concept of “good.” The glib comment
“good master” is followed by a request for something “good”
that he may do to gain heaven. Jesus’ concept of good was that
which is divine. Therefore, only an act of God could grant eternal
life. The Master’s reply, If thou wilt enter into life,
implies that the young man was still on the outside of such life.
The idea is this, if you want to gain eternal life, you
must first of all enter it! The imperative keep the commandments
(vs. 17) was intended to hit his point of pride, i.e.
self-righteousness. Jesus did not believe that mere outward keeping
of the commandments of the law brought anyone salvation. He had
already told Nicodemus earlier that he must be born again (cf. Rom
3:20; Gal 2:16). Why, then, did He tell this young man to keep the
commandments? The rest of the story reveals the answer. Jesus will go
to great lengths now to show him that he has not kept the
commandments and, therefore, is in need of God’s grace.
18–22. This list of commands in verse 18
centers on outward duties, rather than inward nature, which was the
young man’s real problem. He protested that he had kept these
outward demands. Jesus then revealed his real weakness. The law had
been summarized earlier by our Lord: “Love the Lord thy God, with
all thy heart” and “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Herein was
the young man’s real failure. His self-centered wealth and
luxurious self-righteousness had blinded him to his real weakness. To
expose this Jesus ordered, go and sell all your possessions
and give to the poor … and come … follow me (vs. 21). This
he would not do and went away sorrowful (grieved). What had
Jesus done? Simply, He had shown him that he had not kept the
commandments at all. He loved himself more than his neighbor (the
poor) and he loved his possessions more than God (follow me). This
passage teaches the seriousness of true discipleship, but it in no
way teaches the average man that he must sell his possessions in
order to be a Christian, or even a good one.
23–26. The further comment, That a rich man
shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven shocked the
disciples (note verse 25, “Who then can be saved?”) who accepted
the common notion of the day that the rich were blessed of God and
therefore certainly saved. To correct that misunderstanding, Jesus
explained the human difficulty for the rich to be converted. Hardly
(Gr dyskolōs) implies with extreme difficulty, though not
hopeless. The illustration of a camel going through the eye
of a needle has been interpreted as a camel hair rope going
through a needle; or an actual camel squeezing through a small gate,
“the eye of a needle,” next to the main. gate at Jerusalem; or
the absolute impossibility of a literal camel (Palestine’s largest
animal) literally going through a tiny needle’s eye. The latter
usage is most likely, following a similar Talmudic proverb about an
elephant. Note, that they were not in Jerusalem at this time and that
the first two suggestions, while very difficult, were within the
realm of possibility, whereas) the salvation of the rich is called
humanly impossible (vs. 26). In fact, all human nature is
incapable of saving itself and must rely on God’s efficacious grace
for that which is humanly impossible to become all things …
possible with God. The salvation of a rich sinner is just as
miraculous as the salvation of a poor sinner. Both are only possible
with God!
27–30. Peter’s response, we have forsaken
all … what shall we have? was most ill-timed and certainly
reflected a selfish motivation which would have to go. Nevertheless,
Jesus answered the question. In the regeneration (Gr
palinggenesia) refers to the renewed world of the future, the
kingdom of righteousness which is yet to come: “the new heavens and
the new earth.” While the term is used for individual rebirth in
Titus 3:5, here it looks to the future millennial kingdom where the
apostles will judge Israel (literally). Forsaking earthly
benefits will bring a hundredfold blessing and everlasting
life. Yet, while rewards will be abundant, attitudes are still
crucial and many who would be first shall be last
and the last shall be first. On the believer’s rewards see
W. Kroll, It Will Be Worth It All.4
1
The
New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 19:16–26).
Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
3
McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru
the Bible commentary: The Gospels (Matthew 14-28)
(electronic ed., Vol. 35, pp. 81–82). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
4
Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV
Bible Commentary (pp. 1934–1935). Nashville:
Thomas Nelson.
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