Is Jesus God because he is good?
An argument that is sometimes used by those who claim Jesus is God is that he asked the question Why do you call me good? And then he stated, “only God is good”. The claim then being that Jesus is good and so as only God is good Jesus therefore is God. It’s pretty simple reasoning and it most certainly makes sense. Jesus was sinless so he must have been good ….right?
The statement made by Jesus can be found in the 3 synoptical Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Luke 18-19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
Mark 10-18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Matthew 19- 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Of course it can, and sometimes is argued, by those that deny his deity, that Jesus was actually trying to say he was not in fact good and so was not God. That however is not correct, it is not what Jesus was saying at all. He wasn’t saying he was God but he certainly wasn’t saying he wasn’t good.
Jesus was indeed good, he specifically calls himself good when he refers to himself as the GOOD shepherd.
John 10-11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep
John 10-14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
So if Jesus was good and Jesus said only God was good then Jesus must have been God. Case closed. Or rather not.
The thing is, it actually ISN’T that simple. There really is much more to this statement than what can be understood by simply taking it at its face value. Jesus had a much more important message that he was actually declaring that seems to have been totally missed by most people.
Firstly the Bible very clearly says that there others that are good.
Matthew 12-35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Matthew 5-45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
If we take the statement of Jesus without any understanding then Jesus creates a major contradiction in the word of God.
So what did Jesus actually mean by this?
The word translated as good in the 3 Gospels, used in both the statement of the young man to Jesus and in the reply question of Jesus to the man is the Greek Ἀγαθός, agathos. It means a good nature or to be intrinsically good.
This is NOT the word that Jesus used for himself when he called himself the good shepherd in John 10-11 and John 10-14.
The Greek word translated as good in these verses is Καλός Kalos and means noble, of good character, worthy.
It does not refer to the intrinsic nature of a person.
When Jesus called himself the good shepherd he was referring to him being obedient to God. He did not do his own will but the fathers. Rather than trying to demonstrate that he was indeed God Jesus was actually distinguishing himself from being good by nature and attributed that only to God. He referred to his being the good shepherd in terms of his character and therefore distinguished himself from God.
The question that Jesus asked was in response to a rich young ruler who had referred to Jesus as GOOD MASTER when he himself had asked the question of Jesus, how he may inherit eternal life.
Luke 18-18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Mark 10- 17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Matthew 19- 16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Master is the Greek διδάσκαλος didaskalos which means (master, teacher, instructor)
It was this goodness that Jesus had questioned him regarding his statement, why do you call me this good (by nature)? and then claimed only God was by nature good.
Rabbis were some of the most respected men in Judaism. They followed the word of God and taught the word of God.
The man had not referred to Jesus as a good person by character rather he called Jesus Good (by nature) teacher. The man had linked being a teacher or rabbi and being by nature good, together. It was to this reference to being called good that Jesus had asked him why he called him good (by nature). Why do you call me good by nature? With the implied question is it because I am a Rabbi? To which Jesus responded that only God was good by nature. In other words don’t think I am good by nature simply because I am a Rabbi. That doesn’t make a person good by nature.
The question posed by Jesus was in response to the question he was asked. He responded to a question with a question. This was something that we see Jesus doing throughout his ministry.
This was actually a very common thing for Rabbis at the time to do, those who have any understanding Of Rabbis and Yeshivas may know exactly what was going on in this conversation.
It was tradition for a person seeking to become a disciple or Yeshiva, to choose a Rabbi to become the disciple of, rather carefully.
The person therefore, before asking to be a disciple or yeshiva would ask questions of the Rabbi in order to ascertain whether or not they would wish to follow that Rabbi and his teaching. Not all rabbis had the same interpretation of God’s word. They each had different rules by which they would expect the disciple to follow or “yokes”. How strict the rabbi was was known as his “burden”.
The Rabbi however himself would in turn also be very selective of who he would teach and would choose only a few disciples. He did not wish to take his time in discipling a student if that student was unable to meet his standards or who was likely to simply fall away if his teaching became too much.
As part of the selection process the rabbi would test, examine and inquire of his student to see if they were not only capable but if they would follow no matter what was asked of them or what was required. Not just were they knowledgeable but were they able to follow and learn.
When a Rabbi deemed the candidate “worthy” then he would invite the disciple to “follow me”.
The disciple would then agree (willingly) without coercion, to follow the Rabbi and submit to the rabbis teaching. The rabbi would then become the most important person in the disciples life. Even above his own family. The student would then try to emulate the Rabbi.
Jesus however CHOSE his (12) disciples, they did not ask to be his disciples.
John 15-16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Jesus chose his disciples carefully. They certainly were not normal disciples to choose. They had normal jobs, even jobs that were considered the worst of the worst by Jews, such as Levi (Matthew) who was a tax collector. They certainly were not seeking discipleship at that time, but Jesus chose them.
However this particular young man sought out Jesus as Rabbi, seeking an answer to his question regarding inheriting eternal life.
Jesus was now going to show the man that it was not the keeping the commandments or being a Rabbi that made a person good (by nature) as that man had implied. He questioned the man about the commandments, asking him did he know them.
Mark 10- 19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother
The man replied that he did and importantly to the story, stated that he kept them and had done so from his youth.
Mark 10- . 20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
In Matthew we are told that he further asked what he yet lacked.
Matthew 19- 20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
So we see the man was still questioning Jesus, the man’s potential Rabbi to see if his teaching was to the man’s own satisfaction.
The Jews believed that following the commandments and the laws were what made a person good. The man would likely have expected Jesus to have answered that this was how he inherited eternal life. Especially as Jesus had just stated this very thing.
Matthew 19- 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
The man, having stated that he kept the law would also likely have thought of himself worthy of being invited to follow the Rabbi (Jesus). We see that Jesus did indeed invite the man to follow him, to become his disciple. The man would then be expected to do as the Rabbi commanded.
Jesus then told him that in order to follow him, he must sell all that he had.
Mark 10- 21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
The man was sad at this because he was rich.
Mark 10- 22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
He went away, he did not sell what he had and did not follow Jesus. He chose his wealth over becoming the disciple of Jesus and eventually emulating him. He was not willing to sacrifice his worldly possessions.
The point that Jesus was making thus highlighted. It wasn’t being a Rabbi that made Jesus good (by nature) . Through his question why do you call me good (by nature)? He was demonstrating that he was not good (by nature) simply because he was a Rabbi and followed the commandments. the man also followed the commandments but this did not make him by nature good, his true nature was worldly, even though he followed the commandments his nature was not good.
He put his worldly wealth before that of following Jesus and thus showed even though he followed the commandments his nature was worldly and not godly.
Jesus even called the well respected pharisees vipers and questioned how they being evil could speak of good things (Greek being Ἀγαθός, agathos)
Matthew 12-34 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh
Jesus didn’t consider the pharisees godly men and by nature not good.
Jesus did not say that nobody else but God could be good but that nobody but God was good by nature.
In order to be good by nature we have to become partakers of the divine nature of God.
2 Peter 1-4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Jesus was showing that in order to be (good by nature) a person had to totally change their own nature which was not naturally good and take on the nature of God, and that this was not accomplished by simply following the commandments, or being a Rabbi.
A person had to totally reject the world and become like God .
Jesus said to be perfect like the father.
Matthew 5-48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
In order to do this, to partake in God’s nature, we have to put on the new man which is a renewal of the image of God.
Ephesians 4-24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Colossians 3-10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
We see that the people that the bible declares are good are indeed referred to being good by nature.
A good man will out of the good treasure of his heart bring good things
Matthew 12-35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
And those that are children of our heavenly father are considered good.
Matthew 5-45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
The Greek word being Ἀγαθός, agathos in both of these verses
Following the commandments will never make a person good (by nature). Only God is good by nature. Only by dying to our flesh, putting on the new man, taking on the nature of God and renewing our image of God can we really be good by nature.
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