About Lk 18 : 18-19

DragonFox91 · Feb 10, 2026

A New Dawn said:
I understand it to mean that Jesus is talking to someone who does not believe He is God but yet is calling Jesus “good”. Jesus is pointing out the irony to him.

That makes so much sense. Thank you for that. It's a hard verse I often struggled to understand but that makes sense to me.

peter2 · Feb 12, 2026

St_Worm2 said:
Hello Peter2, I've come to believe that the Lord Jesus' point (the one that He was really making to the rich, young ruler) was actually pretty direct (IOW, there wasn't a double or hidden meaning behind it). So, when he called Jesus "good teacher", and Jesus responded to him by saying that "no one is good except God alone", the point that I believe the Lord was attempting to make to the ruler (who tells us that he is a seeker, not a believer) was that, since God ALONE is good, that means that no one else can be ..

It was the answer i was asking from you, sorry, i missed the point, or i thought in this message you were just staging a dialog, under the dialog, between Jesus and the ruler. Please could you clarify ?

St_Worm2 · Feb 12, 2026

peter2 said:
It was the answer i was asking from you, sorry, i missed the point, or i thought in this message you were just staging a dialog, under the dialog, between Jesus and the ruler. Please could you clarify ?

I will try to (for now by basically copying what I just wrote to you in the other thread).

I used to believe what others in this thread do (that this passage, and specifically v19, is principally concerned with the Deity of Christ), but I've come to believe otherwise, NOT because Jesus isn't God, He is, but because, in context, I don't believe that that is the point that Jesus was attempting to make to the rich, young ruler when He was talking to him.

To be more specific, when the rich, young ruler asked the Lord what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, the Lord begins (in v19) to answer his question with another question (as we are all aware). The thing is, I don't believe that the Lord's intended purpose was to reveal His deity to the young ruler at that time (IOW, to reveal who ~He~ really is), RATHER, I believe the Lord's point (in v19) was to help the ruler see who and what ~he~ really is, instead (a lost sinner without any hope of inheriting eternal life on his own, IOW, a lost sinner who was in need of our merciful and gracious Savior, just like all of us are (because NONE of us are "good", and NONE of us, therefore, can inherit eternal life by keeping the commandments, commandments that, from the get-go, were never meant to tell us what we need to do to save ourselves but instead, that we CANNOT save ourselves, and that our only hope of inheriting eternal life is found in Jesus Christ, alone (who did what we cannot do by keeping the commandments of God for us .. cf 2 Corinthians 5:21).

To sum up, I believe that Luke 18:19 has taken on a different meaning than the Lord meant it to have because, in large part, it has been widely used by folks (like Jehovah Witnesses, Unitarians and other "Christian" cults) to attack the Lord's deity in a vain attempt to prove that He is not God. So (again) I believe that this idea (that the Lord Jesus is trying to get the rich, young ruler to understand who "He" really is in v19) is not supported by the context of the passage, but that the Lord Jesus is trying to help the rich, young ruler see himself for who ~he~ really is, a sinner in need of the Savior, a point that this young ruler was clearly/sadly missing .. e.g. Luke 18:20-21.

God bless you!!

--David
p.s. - we need to discuss Jesus' point in v22 too, but I'll leave that for later.

Luke 18

18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

20 “You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’ ”

21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”

22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

23 But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

peter2 · Feb 12, 2026

St_Worm2 said:
p.s. - we need to discuss Jesus' point in v22 too, but I'll leave that for later.

Luke 18 18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 “You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’ ” 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

When you'll be ready.. As for me, i've got no interrogation about this verse. i think it's too hard to observe

St_Worm2 · Friday at 6:26 PM

peter2 said:
As for me, i've got no interrogation about this verse. i think it's too hard to observe

Hello Pierre, granted, the command that the Lord Jesus gives to the rich, young ruler (in v22) is a radical one to be sure, so why did He give it in this case? Do you think that Jesus' command in this verse was still part of His answer to the ruler's original question, "what must I do to inherit eternal life", and if so, how, or do you think that it served a different purpose of some kind, and if so, what was that purpose? Here again is the passage,

Luke 18

18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

20 “You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’ ”

21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”

22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

23 But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

Another point worth mentioning is that this passage in not only used by those who wish to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus (and the Trinitarian nature of the Godhead), it's also used as a "proof text" by those who insist that "works" (meaning the works that 'we' do) are necessary for salvation .. e.g. Luke 18:20. This is something that is taught widely, as I'm guessing that you are already aware, not only by various "Christian" cults, but also by several of our churches too

So, there is even more to discuss about this very interesting but (admittedly) difficult passage, yes? It certainly makes it easy to see how important the command that is given to us in 2 Timothy 2:15 is!

God bless you!!

--David

peter2 · Friday at 10:43 PM

St_Worm2 said:
Hello Pierre, granted, the command that the Lord Jesus gives to the rich, young ruler (in v22) is a radical one to be sure, so why did He give it in this case? Do you think that Jesus' command in this verse was still part of His answer to the ruler's original question, "what must I do to inherit eternal life", and if so, how, or do you think that it served a different purpose of some kind, and if so, what was that purpose?

Good question !! I think : yes, this requirement is part of the bundle for eternal life ; and,
any response i could make would be subjective.
Here's mine :
i think through these pieces of Scripture, Jesus is teaching men to switch the center of their concerns : From materialisticly serving their own selves first, they have to learn to serve the poor first. But the loss of materialistic goods is rewarded with spiritual ones the poor are rich with

St_Worm2 said:
Another point worth mentioning is that this passage in not only used by those who wish to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus (and the Trinitarian nature of the Godhead), it's also used as a "proof text" by those who insist that "works" (meaning the works that 'we' do) are necessary for salvation .. e.g. Luke 18:20. This is something that is taught widely, as I'm guessing that you are already aware, not only by various "Christian" cults, but also by several of our churches too

I had already heard about it, without really knowing what to think.
But a long time ago, I had thought about the monopolistic turn that the value of “work” was taking in the official market. It seemed to me at the time that in this official market, it was the most efficient who came out on top and found work. My criticism at the time was that the least efficient among us (who may sometimes be just as willing) found themselves without the resource of employment. It was as if the servant with five mines had been given the mines of the one who had only two.
It still seems to me that, in our Western organization of work, where the master in the parable distributes to each worker according to his competence, our society invests 8 minas in the one (the most efficient) to whom the parable assigns five, and zero, respectively, in those (the least efficient) to whom the parable assigns two and one.
But I hope that in writing this, I am not making the parable say what it does not say. For in fact, the relationship between the one who received five minas and the one who received two is not addressed at all by Jesus. I hope I am not extrapolating too much.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

St_Worm2 said:
So, there is even more to discuss about this very interesting but (admittedly) difficult passage, yes? It certainly makes it easy to see how important the command that is given to us in 2 Timothy 2:15 is!

Thank you for reminding me of the vigilance to which Saint Paul invites us at the end of 2 Timothy 2. In my case, it is certainly not superfluous.

God bless
Pierre

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About Lk 18 : 18-19

DragonFox91

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peter2

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St_Worm2

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peter2

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peter2

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