'The rich young ruler ' confusion .

Does Jesus mean what he says here ?
18¶And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

19¶And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

20Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

21¶And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

22¶Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

23¶And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.


Using the observation method of
1) Who?
2) When?
3) Where ?
4 ) what?
5) why?

What do these verses say?
We here a lot about what these verses ' teach ' ,infer , assume , and imply . Many, many theologians and commentators teach what these verses are supposed to teach and imply . But is this done at the cost of what it actually says ?
Can Jesus really mean what he says here ?
What say you ?

The Bible must be properly INTERPRETED. Many things are implied in Scripture.

Good day, Throughfaith!

Many have been confused about this verse. I'll paraphrase what Jesus is saying:

Why do you call Me good? None is good, save one, that is, God. Therefore, since you are calling Me good, then realize who I am.

At first glance it would appear that Jesus is denying His divinity. However, He is doing just the opposite and is proclaiming to be God.

And yet, this is not to us today.

Why not? All those who love their wealth more that eternal life are in the same boat as this young man. The lesson in this narrative is eternal. The love of money is the root of all evil, and covetousness is indeed idolatry. Also, pastor-elders are reminded over and over again that they must not be in the ministry for filthy lucre's sake. Yet we find many on radio and television who have become obscenely wealthy on the backs of poor Christians.

When preachers are making millions while ordinary Christians are barely surviving, there is a serious need to apply the lesson of the Rich Young Ruler. People in general are told that they cannot serve God and Mammon (money) at one and the same time. And that is exactly what is illustrated in this story.

What's wrong with what Jesus really says ?

Yes but he is saying what is true .

What did the Lord have you part with when you got saved? Were you asked to sell everything? I wasn't asked to part with anything or do anything, just believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Why not? All those who love their wealth more that eternal life are in the same boat as this young man. The lesson in this narrative is eternal. The love of money is the root of all evil, and covetousness is indeed idolatry. Also, pastor-elders are reminded over and over again that they must not be in the ministry for filthy lucre's sake. Yet we find many on radio and television who have become obscenely wealthy on the backs of poor Christians.

When preachers are making millions while ordinary Christians are barely surviving, there is a serious need to apply the lesson of the Rich Young Ruler. People in general are told that they cannot serve God and Mammon (money) at one and the same time. And that is exactly what is illustrated in this story.

What does repentance mean if not a total conversion (Acts 3:19)? That in itself means turning away from all sins and idolatry, and turning to Christ for salvation. This mans idol was his wealth. Your idol may have been something else. When the sorcerers in Ephesus (Acts 19:19) were saved they literally burned their expensive books on witchcraft to show that they were done with their old life.

What does repentance mean if not a total conversion (Acts 3:19)? That in itself means turning away from all sins and idolatry, and turning to Christ for salvation. This mans idol was his wealth. Your idol may have been something else. When the sorcerers in Ephesus (Acts 19:19) were saved they literally burned their expensive books on witchcraft to show that they were done with their old life.

What does repentance mean if not a total conversion (Acts 3:19)? That in itself means turning away from all sins and idolatry, and turning to Christ for salvation. This mans idol was his wealth. Your idol may have been something else. When the sorcerers in Ephesus (Acts 19:19) were saved they literally burned their expensive books on witchcraft to show that they were done with their old life.

There's nothing "wrong" with what Christ says. But Jesus made many enigmatic statements which must be properly interpreted and understood. When He asked this young man "Why are you calling me good?" what Jesus was really saying is "I am not merely good, I am God". Therefore He told unbelieving Jews that if they did not believe that He was I AM (God) they would die in their sins.

So the first thing that this young man needed to do to obtain the GIFT of eternal life was to wholeheartedly believe that Jesus is very God. Christ was correcting this man every step of the way, since He also knew that deep down the Rich Young Ruler would not abandon his wealth for eternal life.

Good day, Throughfaith!

Many have been confused about this verse. I'll paraphrase what Jesus is saying:

Why do you call Me good? None is good, save one, that is, God. Therefore, since you are calling Me good, then realize who I am.

At first glance it would appear that Jesus is denying His divinity. However, He is doing just the opposite and is proclaiming to be God.

Yeah thats not the bit in question . Its more the requirement Jesus gives in order to inherit eternal life . Its certainly not the Gospel we preach.

As Nehemiah mentioned, Jesus is the One who searches the hearts and minds. As proof of this you will remember the event where Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. He told her to: "go and get your husband. She said I have no husband. And Jesus said, "you are correct in saying that you have no husband. In fact you have had five husbands. And the man that you are with now is not your husband. What you have said is quite true."

I demonstrated this to show that Jesus new people hearts. Now that said, compare what Jesus said to the rich young ruler with Zacchaeus. Jesus told the rich young ruler to go and sell all that He had and give to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven. But the man went away very said, because he was very wealthy. Zacchaeus in the other hand, when Jesus came to have dinner at his house, Zacchaeus said, "Look Lord! From now on I give half of all I own and if I have wronged anyone, I will repay it fourfold." And did Jesus say, 'sorry Zacchaeus, that's not good enough! Your gonna have to sell your house and all that you own in order to be My disciple?"

The reference to sell all that you own, is akin to when Jesus said, "unless you love less than Me your father and mother, sister and brother, wife and children, lands, houses and even your own life, you are not worthy of me. It just so happened that He tested that young rich ruler on this and he failed the test.

Each time we see Jesus reading people's hearts ,minds ect we are left in no doubt , because the text more or less says this is the case . Just like the examples you gave. This is not the case with the young ruler . As the verses stand, there is nothing wrong with what Jesus says . Under the law .

Oh, but it is indeed the case! Jesus specifically told the rich young ruler that because He knew his heart. He didn't say that to Zacchaeus did He?