Evidence for God from Science

In Mark 10:18 it states "Why do you call me good?' "No one is good but god alone."

But isnt jesus god

Im so very confused,

Hi Murray

When Jesus said, "Why do you call me good?" He was merely asking a question in order to teach.

He was not saying, "I am not good."

Rather, He was saying, "Don't assess anyone's goodness based on human standards of goodness."

Then Jesus immediately told the rich man that the ONLY standard of goodness is God Himself...

In the verse previous to the one you quoted, a rich man came to Jesus in order to find out how to have eternal life...

It is clear that the rich man had no idea of the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Rather, the rich man regarded Jesus as being merely a Rabbi -- a teacher of religious principles. That is why he addresses Jesus as 'Good Master' or 'Good Teacher".

Obviously the rich man believed that Jesus had Himself obtained eternal life. If the rich man hadn't believed that, he would never have come to Jesus for advice on how to go to heaven.

Moreover, the rich man believed that Jesus had earned eternal life because Jesus was a "good" person...

In summary, the rich man was sorely in error on three vital points...

Error #1 - The rich man thought Jesus was merely a man -- a great teacher, yes -- but merely a man.
Error #2 - The rich man thought this "mere man" had achieved such a degree of "human goodness" that He had EARNED eternal life in Heaven.
Error #3 - Accordingly, the rich man believed that he, too, could earn eternal life merely by doing good deeds under his own steam...

Thus, Jesus taught the rich man the same lesson He had taught in His "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew chapter 5).

Namely, "good" isn't good enough. You have to be as perfect as God Himself...

The main point that Jesus taught the rich man was that he couldn't achieve God's state of perfection. Therefore, he couldn't obtain eternal life by his own good works.

The bottom line -- eternal life can be obtained only as an out-and-out gift from God, through faith in Jesus...
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.'' (Mt 19.21)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph 2:8-9)

Hope that helps you.

Very good answer.

Jesus immediately questions the man's understanding of good to extract exactly what the man was asking. "Why do you call me good?" Jesus commonly answered questions with questions. See the question from the teacher of the law also.
You see, in response, the RYR could have confessed Jesus as the son of God. "You are good because I believe you are the son of God!" In doing so, the rest of the dialouge likely never happens.

In the case of the RYR, eternal life, was something he simply wanted to add to his estate. How could he obtain it, was the question. Was it for sell? We know this man was proud, because when confronted with the law, he tells Jesus that he has kept the law. He hadn't. So Jesus throws a hand grenade into his worldview. Essentially saying, "you think eternal life is for sale? Well, sell everything you own, and give it to the poor." This exposes this man's concept of eternal life, and exposes what he really values in this life. Eternal wealth for wordly wealth? No way dude. And he left dissapointed.

Contrast this account to the faith of the centurion. The centurion hadn't kept any commands since his youth. He simply trusted that Jesus was who He said He was. The son of God. And he was a Gentile on top of that. Yet he had heard enough to understand the testimony of Jesus. On the other hand, here was a young, wealthy, Jewish ruler, and he didn't get it.

I under stand this part, but he says the only one who is good is god, but jesus is god so therefore he is good. But he just said he is not good , so then he is not god :/

O, im still so confused

Murray wrote:I under stand this part, but he says the only one who is good is god, but jesus is god so therefore he is good. But he just said he is not good , so then he is not god :/

O, im still so confused

where does Jesus say that He is not Good? Jesus, being God, knew the man's heart. Did the man think of Jesus as a teacher, but not God? Was Jesus saying that only God is good so that He could hear from the man if he believed Jesus was God?

"why do you call me good, nobody but god is good" But HE IS GOD so then why is he upset about somebody calling him good!

"why do you call me good, nobody but god is good" But HE IS GOD so then why is he upset about somebody calling him good!

Because Jews had a habit of assigning goodness to works and men, when that rich man approached Jesus, to him Jesus was a good man, not God and so when he addressed him thus, Jesus gave him an important lesson that no one is good except God. That virtue does not lay inherently in human beings.

Okay, here is the deal. Like what was said above, Jesus answers questions with questions. The question:

Good teacher, how does one attain eternal life?

The answer:

Why do you call me good?

Jesus wasn't saying that he isn't good, he was questioning what the man's idea of good is. In fact, this very passage indicates that Jesus is God because it relates his goodness to God alone.

In other words, the passage can be reworded as follows:

Question:

Good teacher, how does one attain eternal life?

Answer:

You do not know what good is. Good is only with God, and no man can be God. Only by grace can you be saved through me.

It pretty much means the same thing, but Jesus worded it the way he did because the rich man did not know any other way.

kmr wrote:Okay, here is the deal. Like what was said above, Jesus answers questions with questions. The question:

Good teacher, how does one attain eternal life?

The answer:

Why do you call me good?

Jesus wasn't saying that he isn't good, he was questioning what the man's idea of good is. In fact, this very passage indicates that Jesus is God because it relates his goodness to God alone.

In other words, the passage can be reworded as follows:

Question:

Good teacher, how does one attain eternal life?

Answer:

You do not know what good is. Good is only with God, and no man can be God. Only by grace can you be saved through me.

It pretty much means the same thing, but Jesus worded it the way he did because the rich man did not know any other way.

Makes much more sense now