And he said unto him,
Why do you call me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if you will enter into life, keep the commandments.
All Commentaries on Matthew 19:17 Go To Matthew 19
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Wherefore then does Christ thus reply to him, saying, There is none good? Because He came unto Him as a mere man, and one of the common sort, and a Jewish teacher; for this cause then as a man He discourses with him. And indeed in many instances He replies to the secret thoughts of them that come unto Him; as when He says, We worship we know what; John 4:22 and, If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. John 5:31 When therefore He says, There is none good; not as putting Himself out from being good does He say this, far from it; for he said not, Why do you call me good? I am not good; but, there is none good, that is, none among men.
And when He says this self-same thing, He says it not as depriving even men of goodness, but in contradistinction to the goodness of God. Wherefore also He added, But one, that is, God; and He said not, but my Father, that you might learn that He had not revealed Himself to the young man. So also further back He called men evil, saying, If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. Matthew 7:11 For indeed there too He called them evil, not as condemning the whole race as evil (for by ye, He means not ye men), but comparing the goodness that is in men with the goodness of God, He thus named it; therefore also He added, How much more shall your Father give good things to them that ask Him? And what was there to urge Him, or what the profit that He should answer in this way? He leads him on little by little, and teaches him to be far from all flattery, drawing him off from the things upon each, and fastening him upon God, and persuading him to seek after the things to come, and to know that which is really good, and the root and fountain of all things, and to refer the honors to Him.
Since also when He says, Call no one master upon earth, it is in contradistinction to Himself He says this, and that they might learn what is the chief sovereignty over all things that are. For neither was it a small forwardness the young man had shown up to this time in having fallen into such a desire; and when of the rest some were tempting, some were coming to Him for the cure of diseases, either their own or others, he for eternal life was both coming to Him, and discoursing with Him. For fertile was the land and rich, but the multitude of the thorns choked the seed. Mark at any rate how he is prepared thus far for obedience to the commandments. For By doing what, he says, shall I inherit eternal life? So ready was he for the performance of the things that should be told him. But if he had come unto Him, tempting Him, the evangelist would have declared this also to us, as He does also with regard to the others, as in the case of the lawyer. And though himself had been silent, Christ could not have suffered him to lie concealed, but would have convicted him plainly, or at least would have intimated it, so that he should not seem to have deceived Him, and to be hidden, and thereby have suffered hurt.
If he had come unto Him tempting, he would not have departed sorrowing for what he heard. This was not at any rate ever the feeling of any of the Pharisees, but they grew fierce when their mouths were stopped. But not so this man; but he goes away cast down, which is no little sign that not with an evil will he had come unto Him, but with one too feeble, and that he did indeed desire life, but was held in subjection by another and most grievous feeling.
