Luke 18:19 Commentary and Bible Study

’Good Master’, the rich young ruler has said to Christ. Christ immediately challenges him, but what is wrong with those words? The Greek word he has used is ‘Teacher’, a title which is most often used by enquirers, or opponents, but which is also used on occasions by the disciples. But it is the word ‘Good’ that Christ picks up on. This young man has used it much too lightly and too thoughtlessly. The Lord is correcting his very casual use of words. Does he really know who he is speaking to – the Lord of Glory, the incarnate Son of God. Just as his claim to be willing to do anything in order to follow the Lord will be shown to be lightweight, so his terms of address are lightweight. He has approached Christ in a superficial manner, and the Lord will not let him get away with it. Words like ‘good’ should not just be thrown around. With every word we speak, we should consult our theology, our understanding of the whole truth of God’s word, and nothing we say should be inconsistent with the truth. The Scripture clearly teaches that man is fallen. How then can any mere man be described as good – the word is completely inappropriate and should not be used. People say, ‘My good man’, and it has become part of cultural speech, but the Christian needs to re-examine everything, and not just follow the example of other who do not think deeply enough about what they say. But the real problem was that the rich young ruler did no know who he was talking to, and this is what Christ wants to bring to his attention. Of course, if this man had truly known the Lord, the title ‘Good Master’ would have been in order, and many greater titles also. What Christ is certainly not doing here is saying that he does not deserve to be called ‘good’ because he is only a man, and the word ‘good’ only truly applies to God. In this response he is saying nothing about himself. He is speaking only about the understanding of this young man. The fact that he is the incarnate Son of God is set aside for the moment for the sake of this lesson – the first and most appropriate lesson that the rich young ruler needs to learn. There is only one who can rightly be described as good, and it is God himself. All good gifts that we receive come from him, and he is the only source of every good gift. He is eternally good, incorruptibly good, perfectly good – in him there is no shadow of turning. But unknown to this young man the one standing before him was also good, for it was the Son of God that was before him.