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.’ ” 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.”
Now in responding to the man the Lord asks him, “Why do you call Me good” His point is that if he views the Lord Jesus Christ as just another rabbi or teacher he should not be calling Him good, because as the Lord Jesus says, “No one is good but One, that is, God.” Therefore, whether it was a form of flattery meant to impress the Lord, or was simply his using a common greeting when inquiring of a rabbi, such an address only reveals the man’s own ignorance of not only the Lord’s Person, but the condition of humanity, and default himself. Therefore, the Lord also says to him, “But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Not that by keeping them anyone could earn eternal life for themselves (Eph. 2:8-9), but by stating as much the Lord Jesus in reaffirming both the goodness and unalterableness of God’s commandments, affirms to us all that they remain in effect from generation to generation, and so the Lord Jesus Christ in reaffirming them to us all now wants the man to see his own sinfulness, and thus his own inabilities to keep them to be justified by them (consider Romans 7, specifically verse 7).
Now in responding to the Lord Jesus the man again shows his ignorance of his own sinfulness by asking the Lord Jesus which commandments must he keep to enter into eternal life; as if certain commandments must be kept and others one can excuse themselves for failing in. No, the Law is clear that those who seek justification for themselves by their own righteousness must keep all the Law without fault to be justified by it, something which the Bible clearly reveals no one can do, and so we must all be justified by our own faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has fulfilled all of the righteous requirements of the Law for us, so that the grace of God can now be imparted to us all who believe and trust in Him alone (Gal. 2:16, 3:11; Titus 3:4-7). Now the Lord Jesus Christ cites to him just six commandments: “ ‘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.’ ” With the last commandment being not only the most poignant, but a summary of all the commandments in terms of God designs on how we are to treat each other.
With the rich man’s departure, the Lord Jesus now says to the disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now by saying as much the Lord Jesus was declaring what the rich young ruler just demonstrated, an unwillingness to move his trust from his riches to the Lord. For riches always seem to possess those who possess them, or are given to desires for them. Therefore, it is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven, not that the Kingdom of heaven is off limits to them, but that if given the choice between trusting in the unseen, or having and trusting in what they already see and possess they almost always chose the latter. In contrast those who are materially poor they generally don’t share the same bondage to one’s possessions as rich people do, indeed they generally don’t look to wealth and possessions, because for them those things are simply unattainable, and so trusting in God and looking to Him to provide for them is much more real and tangible (consider James 2:5).
Vs. 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.”
The Lord Jesus now goes a step further saying that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, because the rich persons “god” is their wealth and possessions. And so just as Jesus warned before, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Matt. 6:24
So, the rich persons greatest love and loyalty will always be towards their wealth and possessions, thus they by doing so shut themselves out of the Kingdom of God, for God will never take second place to anyone’s desires when they hold something as being more precious to them than Him.
Vs. 25-26 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.”
The disciples then having heard these things are totally thrown back by what Jesus has just said about the rich man, because they were reared in a culture where having wealth and possessions was a sign of having God’s blessing. Indeed, the Sadducees who basically controlled the then Jewish high priesthood and Sanhedrin council were all wealthy, and so such a statement by the Lord Jesus Christ was utterly shocking to the disciples. Therefore, upon hearing that the disciples ask the Lord, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus though is not shaken as the disciples are, and now says to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” For only God can change a heart to turn one from trusting their “riches” to trusting in Him.
Commentary
Vs.
16
Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have
eternal life?”
Having seen how the Lord Jesus received
and blessed the little children a certain young man who was a ruler in the
community and rich (Mark 10:17; Luke 18:27) now comes to Jesus saying to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may
have eternal life?” Now the man’s question to the Lord Jesus is
revealing, for in calling Jesus Christ a “Good Teacher” He had completely
missed the fact the Lord Jesus Christ is not just another teacher or rabbi, but
He is the Son of God. And so just as Peter had come to rightly believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, so too must everyone who wishes
to have eternal life (John 3:16). Second is the man wrongly thought that having
eternal life was something that one earned for themselves by doing a “good
thing”. As if by doing something “good” eternal life could be purchased for
oneself.
Vs.
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.”
Now in responding to the man the Lord asks him, “Why do you call Me good” His point is that if he views the Lord Jesus Christ as just another rabbi or teacher he should not be calling Him good, because as the Lord Jesus says, “No one is good but One, that is, God.” Therefore, whether it was a form of flattery meant to impress the Lord, or was simply his using a common greeting when inquiring of a rabbi, such an address only reveals the man’s own ignorance of not only the Lord’s Person, but the condition of humanity, and default himself. Therefore, the Lord also says to him, “But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Not that by keeping them anyone could earn eternal life for themselves (Eph. 2:8-9), but by stating as much the Lord Jesus in reaffirming both the goodness and unalterableness of God’s commandments, affirms to us all that they remain in effect from generation to generation, and so the Lord Jesus Christ in reaffirming them to us all now wants the man to see his own sinfulness, and thus his own inabilities to keep them to be justified by them (consider Romans 7, specifically verse 7).
Vs.
18-19
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.’ ”
Now in responding to the Lord Jesus the man again shows his ignorance of his own sinfulness by asking the Lord Jesus which commandments must he keep to enter into eternal life; as if certain commandments must be kept and others one can excuse themselves for failing in. No, the Law is clear that those who seek justification for themselves by their own righteousness must keep all the Law without fault to be justified by it, something which the Bible clearly reveals no one can do, and so we must all be justified by our own faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has fulfilled all of the righteous requirements of the Law for us, so that the grace of God can now be imparted to us all who believe and trust in Him alone (Gal. 2:16, 3:11; Titus 3:4-7). Now the Lord Jesus Christ cites to him just six commandments: “ ‘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.’ ” With the last commandment being not only the most poignant, but a summary of all the commandments in terms of God designs on how we are to treat each other.
Vs.
20
The young man said to Him, “All these things I have
kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
And so instead of seeing his own
sinfulness (as God’s commands always reveal a shortfall in our behavior, and
the many short comings in us, when we honestly examine ourselves by them) the
man’s response is an unequivocal declaration that he had kept all these
commands from his youth. For even though the outward act of not murdering or committing
adultery or of not stealing may not be done by us, no one amongst us is so pure
so as to never coveted, or contemplated hurting someone when angered, or
fantasized sexually, or hated, disliked, or been indifferent to their neighbor,
and so the man’s hasty response though sounding plausible on the surface is in
fact only surface deep, and thus does not qualify him for eternal life for his
trust was still in himself, in his own righteousness, not God’s. And yet the
Kingdom of heaven is waiting and open to everyone who sees their need and
repents and believes (Matt. 5:3).
Vs.
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.”
Therefore, in responding to him the Lord Jesus Christ now the Lord
touches on the very things that hold his heart, and that is his wealth. And so,
in revealing this to him, the Lord Jesus also gives him the solution to what is
holding his soul, and that is to go and sell what he has, promising him that if
he does he will have treasure in heaven, “and come,
follow Me.” For eternal life isn’t something that we earn for ourselves, nor is it
something that we attain too and then go about living our lives as we always have.
No eternal life by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ not only transforms our
entire person as we become partakers of Divine Nature, but also our whole experience
is brand-new and alive, as we begin a whole new beginning and life with the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so, we want to follow Him from the very beginning to the
very end.
Vs.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away
sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Instead of seizing on the opportunity to
be freed from enslavement to his possessions and follow the Lord Jesus Christ
to eternal life, the young man only turns away from him sorrowful, for he had great
“possessions”, possessions that possessed him, that only remain for season, and
yet would keep him from eternal life the most precious possession of all. And
so, the rich young ruler will only be remembered for all eternity for what he
walked away from, and what he could’ve had, a lesson for us all.
Vs.
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.
With the rich man’s departure, the Lord Jesus now says to the disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now by saying as much the Lord Jesus was declaring what the rich young ruler just demonstrated, an unwillingness to move his trust from his riches to the Lord. For riches always seem to possess those who possess them, or are given to desires for them. Therefore, it is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven, not that the Kingdom of heaven is off limits to them, but that if given the choice between trusting in the unseen, or having and trusting in what they already see and possess they almost always chose the latter. In contrast those who are materially poor they generally don’t share the same bondage to one’s possessions as rich people do, indeed they generally don’t look to wealth and possessions, because for them those things are simply unattainable, and so trusting in God and looking to Him to provide for them is much more real and tangible (consider James 2:5).
Vs. 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.”
The Lord Jesus now goes a step further saying that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, because the rich persons “god” is their wealth and possessions. And so just as Jesus warned before, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Matt. 6:24
So, the rich persons greatest love and loyalty will always be towards their wealth and possessions, thus they by doing so shut themselves out of the Kingdom of God, for God will never take second place to anyone’s desires when they hold something as being more precious to them than Him.
Vs. 25-26 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.”
The disciples then having heard these things are totally thrown back by what Jesus has just said about the rich man, because they were reared in a culture where having wealth and possessions was a sign of having God’s blessing. Indeed, the Sadducees who basically controlled the then Jewish high priesthood and Sanhedrin council were all wealthy, and so such a statement by the Lord Jesus Christ was utterly shocking to the disciples. Therefore, upon hearing that the disciples ask the Lord, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus though is not shaken as the disciples are, and now says to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” For only God can change a heart to turn one from trusting their “riches” to trusting in Him.
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
No comments:
Post a Comment