by jimwalton » Fri May 21, 2021 3:34 pm
The man (we will learn from the whole story) thinks of goodness in a legalistic way (Kohlberg's Stage 4: I'm good if I don't break laws).
Of all the things the ruler said for Jesus to capitalize on, this is a surprise. One would think Jesus would be eager to let him know how to be saved. But first things first. This is a very subtle and gentle reply to a man who thinks heaven and salvation are to be earned (“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”). Jesus is letting him know very directly that heaven is not earnable, that it’s not a matter of works (what I do), and that goodness doesn’t cut it. The only being really capable of earning their way is God himself, who has no sin, but then, He has nothing to earn either.
Jesus, as usual, goes to the heart of the matter before the matter is even out. He knows the man's idea of goodness is defined by human achievement. In answer to the question about salvation, Jesus wants to put the man's focus totally on God, who alone can give eternal life. It has nothing to do with anyone's goodness, good works, or being a moral person.
In saying this, Jesus is not denying His own divinity—there's no disclaimer here ("Hey, dude, you've got me wrong. Don't treat me as God, OK?"). His intent, instead, is to motivate the man to think differently about his own assumed path to eternal life.
This is not to be understood as a repudiation to the man, or disclaimer on the part of Jesus. Rather, he was inviting the ruler to reflect on the meaning of his own words. If He (Jesus) was good, and only God is good, the ruler was making an important confession even while being unaware of it. Jesus cleverly takes the "confession" of His deity, accepts it, and then uses it to turn the man's mind to the inadequacy of the man's own goodness for achieving the thing sought: eternal life.
In other words, this verse can't legitimately be used to claim that Jesus is denying His own divinity. Part of the problem with that is that to understand Jesus's concept of Himself, we have to take all of what Jesus says to put it together into a total picture. Sure, you can yank this verse out as if it's the only verse in the New Testament where Jesus makes a comment about His own identity, and maybe come up with the idea that He denies His deity here. But we can't just take such things by themselves. As we examine all of Jesus's words, His self-identification as deity is easy to see, so this verse shouldn't be taken in contradiction to that.
Secondly, Jesus often (and habitually) uses question to turn the conversation back on the inquirer to get to the heart of the matter. We are always wise to see Jesus's statements from this viewpoint, since He does it so often. This is another reason not to assume His question for the man is a self-denial of His own divinity.
Last bumped by Anonymous on Fri May 21, 2021 3:34 pm.