In the Gospels, a rich, young man approached Jesus and said to him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus gave the infamous reply, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” This story is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke; critics of Jesus’ claims to deity often use it as ammunition in their case for a non-divine Jesus. It seems, they argue, that Jesus is denying deity here by refusing the title ‘good’ as it is something reserved solely for God. I contend that even a surface-level reading of this narrative does not even remotely support that conclusion.
I don’t see how Jesus’ clarification of God’s nature is equivalent to him denying deity. This is akin to someone coming to me and calling me, “Dr. Paul.” I respond by saying, “Why do you call me doctor? No man can be a doctor–only he who holds a doctorate.”
I can either mean one of two things:
1. No one can be a doctor unless he holds a doctorate.
2. I do not hold a doctorate.
3. Therefore, I am not a doctor.
or…
1. No one can be a doctor unless he holds a doctorate.
2. I hold a doctorate.
3. Therefore, I am a doctor.
By asking “Why do you call me doctor?”, am I denying my title? Of course not. I am simply clarifying what the title means. I am neither validating nor rejecting the title. In any case, I don’t have a doctorate (yet!) but the point still stands.
Let me give another analogy. Suppose we live in Metropolis and a clever, fellow journalist suspects Clark Kent to be Superman. He sneaks his way into Clark’s office and pulls no punches: “Hey Superman! Can I borrow a notepad?”
Clark replies: “Why do you call me Superman? Don’t you know that Superman is indestructible and has the ability to fly? Not to mention the whole laser vision thing…”
Well, that’s a relief! Clark’s clarification of Superman’s abilities is obviously a blatant admission of his non-Supermanness!
You can see how such reasoning is completely absurd, and yet this is what we see when critics use Jesus’ words in this passage to try to show his non-deity.
Having said all of that, let’s have another look at what Jesus said in this passage. He only said two statements:
1. Why do you call me good?
2. No one is good except God
The only piece of information that Jesus gave is this: No one is good but God.
There are 2 ways to understand his statement:
1. Only God is good.
2. I am not good.
3. Therefore, I am not God.
or
1. Only God is good.
2. I am good.
3. Therefore, I am God.
In this specific instance, from these words alone, Jesus does make known to us which of these he meant. It is both ignorant and presumptive of anyone to use this passage, alone, to argue for Jesus’ non-deity. Why should the first reading be the desirable one over the second reading? Jesus’ statement that only God is good does not, itself, tell us whether he was affirming or denying being God.
But if we keep reading, we find that Jesus sheds some light on what he meant.
Jesus answers the man’s original question about obtaining eternal life with this: “You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.'”
The man responds :”Teacher, I have kept all of these since I was a boy.”
Then Jesus finishes with: “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have then come, follow me.”
To summarize: In response to the man’s question, “What must I do to gain eternal life?”, Jesus responds by telling him to follow the commandments. But which commandments does Jesus list?
Notice that Jesus only lists the commandments that dealt with civil affairs. The Ten Commandments of Moses were divided into 2 parts: Laws on dealing with God and Laws on dealing with others. Respectively, these were the moral and civil laws. Jesus names the civil law for the young man and the young man responds like any good Jew would, “These I have kept since I was young.” The man was doing great on keeping the civil law, but not so much with the moral law. Instead of then quoting the first four commandments to the young man–the commandments that dealt with man’s relationship with God– Jesus told the young man, “Sell your possessions and follow me.” In other words, “Your god is your money. Get rid of that and follow me.” Jesus is equating obeying the moral law with following himself. The manner in which men can obtain eternal life is by getting rid of the false gods in their lives and following Jesus–replacing them with him!
This claim is monumental! And it gives us an answer to our initial dilemma. Did Jesus deny or affirm his deity in asking, “Why do you call me good?” I think the answer is clear in light of the rest of that conversation with the young man. Jesus equated following himself with keeping the moral law and obeying the commandments that governed man’s relationship with God. Thus, in bringing up this passage as ammunition for a non-divine Jesus, the critic shoots himself in the foot by bringing to the table a text in which Jesus clearly claims deity.