Luke recorded the occasion when a rich young ruler came to Jesus with a question: “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18).
When we talk about this passage, we often begin with Jesus instructing this man to keep the commandments contained in the Law of Moses (Luke 18:20). The man responded that he had done this from his youth (Luke 18:21). So Jesus told him what else he needed to do to inherit eternal life: “Sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor…and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22). This man was unwilling to do this and departed (Luke 18:23).
Jesus pointed out that there is more to our service to God than being able to soothe our conscience by completing a checklist of things that will please God. Keeping God’s commandments are certainly important; but we must also love others, be willing to help those in need, and be ready to make sacrifices in our service to God. This man was not ready to take these extra steps.
But the part of the conversation that is sometimes overlooked is when Jesus commented on this man calling Him, “Good Teacher.” In response to this, Jesus said, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19).
How are we to take Jesus’ statement? Was He saying He was not good and, therefore, not God? Or was He saying that He was good and the reason this man could call Him good was because He was (and is) God?
There are those who believe that Jesus forfeited His Deity when He came to earth and took on a human body. Yet Paul wrote this about Jesus: “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). Incidentally, I wonder if such people who say that Jesus gave up His Deity will also say that He is not good since “no one is good except God alone.”
Others, being influenced by Calvinism, believe that there is something about the flesh that is naturally inclined to evil. Therefore, since Jesus was in the flesh, He was tainted and so in one sense – even though He was the Son of God – could still not be called good. But we learn from James that our fleshly body is not inclined to either good or evil, but that our bodies are directed by our spirits: “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). When God finished creating the world, including Adam and Eve, He recognized that it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), even with Adam and Eve’s fleshly bodies.
The lesson that Jesus taught with His response to the rich young ruler is that He is good and the reason He can be called good is because He is God. Did this man necessarily realize the implications of Jesus’ response or of his initial question? Maybe not. But when we look at all that Jesus said and did, as well as what inspired men wrote about Him, the point is clear. Jesus was not just another man. He was God, and His spirit was simply dwelling in a human body.
This is just one of many examples where Jesus plainly indicated that He was God in the flesh. So many people in His day either failed to put the pieces together to accept it or were unwilling to do so. Let us not do the same, but rather recognize and accept His claims and see Him for who He is – the Christ, the Son of God, Deity in the flesh.
