The Life Of Jesus Christ In Its Historical Connexion

Christ was followed from the place above mentioned by a ruler [611] of the synagogue whose mind had been impressed by his words, and who came to ask what remained for him to do that he might inherit eternal life. It is clear that he was one of the self-righteous, and had as yet no just sense of his legal deficiencies and need of redemption. He probably expected to hear from the lips of the great Teacher himself that he had already done all that was requisite to secure eternal life; or merely that some additional exercises of piety were necessary; he himself being all the time perfectly content with his own moral condition. And in this spirit he asked the question, "Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Christ replied, "Why callest thou me good? [612] none is good save one, that is, God." The difficulty which appears to lie in these words, when compared with other declarations of Christ in regard to his person, will vanish if we keep in view the general sense in which the antithesis is expressed. God is good in a sense which can be predicated of no creature. He alone is the primal source and cause of all good in rational beings, who are created to be free organs of his revelations of himself. (It is the high import of true morality that the glory of God, the only good and holy one, is revealed in it.) Christ would not have exhibited, in his character as man, a model of perfect humility, had he not traced back to God all the good that was in him. But in the instance before us he doubtless had a special reason for answering thus; in any other case he might have allowed the title to be applied to him without incurring the charge of self-deification. We infer this from the fact of the answer itself, and also from the conduct of the questioner. The Saviour, looking into his heart, saw that he was vainly trusting in his own morality, and was most of all lacking in humility; and it was precisely these defects which Christ suggested to him, by declining for himself the epithet "good."

In regard to the subsequent words of Christ two suppositions are possible. (1.) The first would run as follows: Jesus did not at once answer the ruler's question, but put to him another, viz., whether he had kept the commandments, i. e., in their literal and outward sense, [613] without special reference to the law of love. He could not, of course, mean that this would secure eternal life; the Sermon on the Mount had already demanded a higher and purer obedience. Thus far he only described the lower stand-point -- that of a justitia civilis; with the intention to follow it up with the declaration (contained in v.22) that such a fulfilment would not suffice to gain eternal life; that one thing higher was still lacking. (2.) The second interpretation, and the one to which our own opinions incline, is as follows: Christ answers (Matt., xix., 17), "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments;" implying, doubtless, a true fulfilment of the law as representing the holiness of God, and, therefore, presupposing the existence of the all -- essential love in the specific duties mentioned (v.18, 19). But it is clear that Christ did not presuppose that the ruler had kept the commandments in this sense; on the contrary, seeing his wilful self-righteousness, he adapted his answers thereto, to make him conscious how far he was from that true obedience which is requisite for inheriting the kingdom. He thus gives the man occasion himself to express his self-righteousness: "All these have I kept from my youth up." When he adds, "What lack I yet?" Jesus tells him the one thing necessary: [614] "Exchange thine earthly wealth for heavenly treasure (tie highest treasure, a share in the kingdom of God, which none can secure but those who hold all other treasures as valueless in comparison with it); give thy goods to the poor, and come and follow me."

Christ commands him to follow, just as he was, without delaying to care for his possessions; expressing, in this particular command, the general thought: "The one thing which thou lackest, and without which none can enter into eternal life, is the denial of thyself and of the world, making every thing subordinate to the interests of the Divine kingdom." He chose the particular form, instead of the general rule, in order to convince the rich man of his lack the more strikingly, by pointing out his weakest side; for he clung to his wealth with his whole heart; to teach him, from his own experience of his love of the world, how far he was from possessing that love which is the essence of obedience to the law. [615]