Luke 18:19

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
Jesus	Ἰησοῦς· Iēsous	G2424	Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
said	εἶπεν eipen	G2036	to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
him	αὐτῷ autō	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
Why	τί ti	G5101	an interrogative pronoun · interrogative pronoun — accusative singular neuter
callest thou	λέγεις legeis	G3004	properly · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person singular
me	με me	G3165	me · personal pronoun — 1st person accusative singular
good	ἀγαθόν; agathon	G18	"good" (in any sense · adjective — accusative singular masculine
none	οὐδεὶς oudeis	G3762	not even one (man · adjective — nominative singular masculine
good	ἀγαθὸς agathos	G18	"good" (in any sense · adjective — nominative singular masculine
save	εἰ ei	G1487	if · conditional particle
one	εἷς heis	G1520	one · adjective — nominative singular masculine
God	θεός. theos	G2316	figuratively · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Job 15:14-16 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shado…
Hebrews 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
Job 14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
Job 25:4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached…
Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore…
Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to the…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 18:18-30

In these verses we have, I. Christ's discourse with a ruler, that had a good mind to be directed by him in the way to heaven. In which we may observe, 1. It is a blessed sight to see persons of distinction in the world distinguish themselves from others of their rank by their concern about their souls and another life. Luke takes notice of it that he was a ruler. Few of the rulers had any esteem for Christ, but here was one that had; whether a church or state ruler does not appear, but he was one in authority. 2. The great thing we are every one of us concerned to enquire after is what we shall do to get to heaven, what we shall do to inherit eternal life. This implies such a belief of an et…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 18:19

THE RICH YOUNG RULER AND DISCOURSE THEREON. (Luk 18:18-30) Why, &c.--Did our Lord mean then to teach that God only ought to be called "good?" Impossible, for that had been to contradict all Scripture teaching, and His own, too (Psa 112:5; Mat 25:21; Tit 1:8). Unless therefore we are to ascribe captiousness to our Lord, He could have had but one object--to raise the youth's ideas of Himself, as not to be classed merely with other "good masters," and declining to receive this title apart from the "One" who is essentially and only "good." This indeed is but distantly hinted; but unless this is seen in the background of our Lord's words, nothing worthy of Him can be made out of them. (Hence, So…

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Adam Clarke on Luke 18:18

A certain ruler - See the case of this person largely explained on Mat 19:16-22 (note), and Mar 10:21, Mar 10:22 (note).

John Gill on Luke 18:19

And Jesus said unto him,.... In answer to his question, beginning with the character he gave him: why callest thou me good? it being unusual to address men, even their Rabbins, under such a title: none is good, save one, that is, God: or "but God alone"; as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions render it; or, "but the one God", as read the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; See Gill on Matthew 19:17.

The Church Fathers

"But," say they, "God is `good, 'and `most good, ' and `pitiful-hearted, 'and `a pitier, 'and `abundant in pitiful-heartedness, ' which He holds `dearer than all sacrifice, ' `not thinking the sinner's death of so much worth as his repentance', `a Saviour of all men, most of all of believers.
— Tertullian, On Modesty

It is, of course, another matter if He does not wish to be prayed to, because He is the supremely and spontaneously good God! But who is this good God? There is, He says, "none but one." It is not as if He had shown us that one of two gods was the supremely good; but He expressly asserts that there is one only good God, who is the only good, because He is the only God.
— Tertullian, Against Marcion Book IV

The Saviour then considering his meaning, because faith is the way to good works, passes over the question he asked, and leads him to the knowledge of faith; as if a man was to ask a physician, "What shall I eat?" and he was to show him what ought to go before his food. And then He sends him to His Father, saying, Why callest thou me good? not that He was not good, for He was the good branch from the good tree, or the good Son of the good Father.
— Titus of Bostra ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Riches · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Self-Righteousness · 2:4; — 2:4;
Young Men · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Luke 18:19

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 18:18-30

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 18:19

Adam Clarke on Luke 18:18

John Gill on Luke 18:19

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Luke 18:19

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 18:18-30

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 18:19

Adam Clarke on Luke 18:18

John Gill on Luke 18:19

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Luke 18:18-23

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Luke 18:19