“And he said vnto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandements.”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
19:17 Why callest thou me good - Whom thou supposest to be only a man. There is none good - Supremely, originally, essentially, but God. If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments - From a principle of loving faith. Believe, and thence love and obey. And this undoubtedly is the way to eternal life. Our Lord therefore does not answer ironically, which had been utterly beneath his character, but gives a plain, direct, serious answer to a serious question.
Mt 19:17 Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is,] God. The Revised Version, following the Siniatic, Vatican, and some other manuscripts, leaves off "good" before "Master" in Mt 19:16, and changes this to, "Why asketh thou me concerning that which is good"? Still, Mark and Luke give the question in the form of the Common Version as here (Mr 10:18 Lu 18:19); hence we are justified in adhering to the text as above. Some have seen in these words of Christ an affirmation that he was not divine. To these, Stier replies: ``Either there is none good but God, Christ is good, therefore Christ is God; or, there is none good but God, Christ is not God, therefore Christ is not good.'' There is no answer to these syllogisms but to deny the sinlessness of Christ. If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. The Lord had evidently asked his first question to prepare the way for this direction. He has, in saying that no man is absolutely good, said that no man can keep the commandments perfectly.