What is good?

[dio9]

[amortalman]

[Replying to post 1 by dio9]

Jesus said many things that were confusing, not only to the Jews and others in His own day but to scholars and Bible students for the past two thousand years. Even the authors of the Gospels often gave contradictory accounts of Christ's life and the letters of Paul and others failed to agree on doctrine. The Bible in its entirety is a good example of man-made religion. It is presented exactly as one would expect from men, not from a god. In fact, all the suffering and injustice that's rampant in the world is evidence enough that there is no all-merciful, all-loving, and omnipotent god.

[ttruscott]

[imhereforyou]

[wiploc]

[Overcomer]

It's helpful to know that in Judaism, only God was characteristically good. It's unusual for the rich young man to use the word, even of a respected rabbi, because it would be a form of blasphemy, attributing what was a characteristic of God to a human being.

In light of that, Jesus' response of "Why do you call ME good?" and "only God is good" has been understood by some to be an oblique way of him saying, "If you recognize that I'm good, does that mean you understand that I am God? And if you don't, why don't you?" Personally, I think that's reading a lot into it.

Others have mistakenly seen it as a denial by Christ that he is God Incarnate. Given that he WAS God Incarnate, that is definitely a wrong interpretation of Jesus' statement as well.

I think Christ responds the way he does simply to point out to the young man that nobody but God is good. Therefore, if he thinks he can be good by obeying commandments, he's mistaken. He's going to miss the mark simply because he's human. And because he is going to miss the mark he is going to miss out on salvation unless he follows Christ.

Ultimately, the rich young ruler fails Jesus's test -- because that's what Christ's commandment re: selling everything and giving money to the poor is. It's a test to see if the young man's money means more to him than following Jesus. And, sadly, it does. He has indeed missed the mark.

See here:

https://bible.org/question/mark-1018-je ... he-not-god

https://www.gotquestions.org/rich-young-ruler.html

[brianbbs67]

Good, the word, comes from God or like God.(holy) comes to mind. "none are holy but God" This is, however, my opinion.

[Elijah John]

[ttruscott]

[bluethread]

Good, the word, comes from God or like God.(holy) comes to mind. "none are holy but God" This is, however, my opinion.

I think you are correct with regard to "good". Yeshua is sating a truism. However, "holy" is not the right equivalent. That term simply means to be set apart for a purpose. He is refering to the philsophical "good". It refers to thge general concept that encompasses the entirely of those things that are truly appropriate to thier varius situations. To another posters comment, it is not a comparative. That is why we are not talking about the term "great". As Overcomer points out, Scripturally, the philosophical "good" is that which conforms to Adonai's ways. That is what make what Yeshua is saying a truism. Regarding EJ's reference to the "perfect" man, the term is not refering to scientific or mathematic perfection, but moral and spiritual wholeness. One can say that Thomas Jefferson was a perfect man, even though he was an antibellum slaveholder. This is that he was wholly fit for his time.