📖 Passage Breakdown — Matthew 19:17

 

“So He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.’”

 

📬 Reader Request:

This Passage Breakdown comes at the request of a reader who asked how Jesus’ words here fit with salvation by grace. Questions like this are exactly why this series exists.

 

📜 Background, Setting & Purpose

 

✍️ Author

 

Matthew, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

 

👥 Written To

 

Primarily Israel, presenting Jesus as their Messiah and King.

 

⏲️ When

 

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, before the cross, before the resurrection, and before the revelation of the gospel of grace.

 

🌍 Setting & Purpose of Matthew (book-level)

 

Matthew presents:

 

• Jesus as Israel’s promised Messiah 
• The offer of the kingdom to Israel 
• The Law as still in force 
• Israel’s leaders’ growing rejection of Christ 
• Jesus teaching within the Mosaic framework 

 

Matthew must be read in its time-frame setting. This is not the Church Age, and the gospel of grace has not yet been revealed.

 

📖 Immediate Context (Matthew 19:16–26)

 

A rich young ruler approaches Jesus asking:

 

“Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

 

This man is:

 

• Jewish 
• Under the Law 
• Confident in his own righteousness 
• Focused on doing something to inherit life 

 

Jesus does not preach grace to him—He exposes his misunderstanding.

 

✨ Phrase-by-Phrase Breakdown

 

“Why do you call Me good?”

 

Jesus is not denying His deity.

 

He is confronting the man’s careless use of the word “good.”

The man sees Jesus as a teacher, not as God in the flesh.

 

Jesus forces him to think:

 

• Do you understand what “good” means? 
• Do you understand who you are talking to? 

 

Either Jesus is truly God—or the man has no right to call Him “good.”

 

“No one is good but One, that is, God.”

 

This statement:

 

• Exposes human self-righteousness 
• Aligns with Psalm 14:1–3 and Romans 3:10–12 
• Declares absolute moral perfection belongs to God alone 

 

The man believes he is good.
Jesus removes that assumption.

 

“But if you want to enter into life…”

 

This is kingdom language, not Paul’s gospel.

 

“Life” here refers to:

 

• Participation in the promised kingdom 
• Blessing under the Law 
• Inheritance tied to obedience 

 

This conversation takes place under the Mosaic covenant.

 

“…keep the commandments.”

 

Jesus answers the man on the ground the man chose.

 

The man asked, “What good thing must I do?”
Jesus says, “Then do the Law—perfectly.”

 

This is not Jesus teaching salvation by works.
This is Jesus using the Law lawfully (1 Tim 1:8):

 

• To reveal the impossibility of self-justification 
• To expose the man’s lack of true righteousness 
• To show that the Law demands total obedience 

 

When pressed further, the man proves he has not truly kept the Law—because the Law requires love for God above all else.

 

❌ What This Verse Does Not Mean

 

• Not that salvation is earned by commandment-keeping today. 
• Not a contradiction of justification by grace through faith. 
• Not instructions for the Body of Christ. 
• Not proof that Jesus denied His deity. 

 

Reading this verse apart from its setting produces confusion.

 

✅ What It Does Mean

 

• Jesus meets the man where he is—under the Law. 
• Jesus exposes the impossibility of self-righteousness. 
• The Law is shown to condemn, not save. 
• The man’s problem is not wealth—it is unbelief and misplaced trust. 
• This encounter prepares the way for the later revelation of grace. 

 

Jesus does not lower the standard—He raises it to perfection.

 

🔗 Cross-References for Going Deeper

 

Ps 14:1–3 — None are good.
Rom 3:10–20 — The Law condemns all.
Gal 3:10 — The curse of the Law.
Luke 18:18–27 — Parallel account.
1 Tim 1:8 — The lawful use of the Law.
Rom 10:4 — Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness.

 

🙏 Devotional Summary

 

Matthew 19:17 is not a denial of grace—it is a demonstration of why grace is necessary. Jesus does not offer shortcuts or softened standards. He exposes the heart and shows that eternal life cannot be earned by human goodness. The Law reveals our failure; Christ reveals God’s mercy. Only when self-confidence dies can faith in Christ truly begin.