Luke 18:28 Commentary and Bible Study

Then Peter says this: ‘Lo, we have left all, and followed thee’, and sometimes people think maybe that is rather a proud thing for Peter to have said. ‘This rich young ruler – he won't give up his riches, but we have left all and followed you’, but that is not the spirit in which he says it. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he told the rich young ruler to give up everything and follow him, had made him a promise. He had said, ‘If you do that it will be a test of what you really want. In your case, because you so love your riches, it will test you. Are you really still for yourself, or are you for me?’ And so he said to him, ‘If you leave all your riches, you will have treasure in heaven’, and Peter thinks to himself, ‘We have done that. We have left everything. Will that treasure in heaven, which was promised to the rich young ruler, come to us?’ That is the spirit in which he says this to the Lord. It is really almost a question. You can almost finish the verse if you like and say, do we get this eternal inheritance which you spoke of?