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Luke 18:18

And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Read Chapter 18

Ambrose of Milan

AD 397
That ruler tempting Him said, Good Master, he ought to have said, Good God. For although goodness exists in divinity and divinity in goodness, yet by adding Good Master, he uses good only inpart, not in the whole. For God is good altogether, man partially. He does not deny that He is good, but points to God. None is good then except he be full of goodness. But should it strike any one that it is said, none is good, let this also strike him, save God, and if the Son is not excepted from God, surely neither is Christ excepted from good. For how is He not good who is born from good? A good tree brings forth good fruits. How is He not good, seeing that the substance of His goodness which He took to Him from the Father has not degenerated in the Son which did not degenerate in the Spirit. Your good spirit, he says, shall lead me into a land of uprightness. But if the Spirit is good who received from the Son, verily He also is good who gave It. Because then it was a lawyer who tempted Him, a...
2 mins1/20
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Athanasius the Apostolic

AD 373
For when we despise the world, we must not imagine we have resigned any thing great, for the whole earth in comparison of the heaven is but a span long; therefore even should they who renounce it be lords of the whole earth, yet still it would be nothing worth in comparison of the kingdom of heaven.
< 1 min2/20
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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
The young man asked the Lord how to attain to eternal life and heard that he must sell all his goods and distribute them to the poor and have his treasure in heaven. Why else did he go away sad, except that he had, as the Gospel says, great riches? It is one thing not to wish to hoard up what one does not have. It is another thing to scatter what has been accumulated. The former is like refusing food; the latter, like cutting off a limb.
< 1 min3/20
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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
The Father is good. The Son is good. The Holy Spirit is good. Still, there are not three goods but one good. He said, “No one is good except the one God.” The Lord Jesus Christ did not answer. He feared that the one who in addressing a man had said “good master” might understand him as only a man. He therefore did not say, “No one is good except the Father alone.” He rather said, “No one is good except the one God.” By the name Father, the Father makes himself known. The name God includes himself, as well as the Son and the Holy Spirit, because the Trinity is one God.
1 min4/20
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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
It may seem that the account given in Matthew is different, where it is said, &#8220;Why ask you me of good?&#8221; which might apply better to the question which he asked, What good shall I do? In this place he both calls Him good, and asks the question about good. It will be best then to understand both to have been said, Why call you me good? and, Why ask you me of good? though the latter may rather be implied in the former.
< 1 min5/20
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Basil the Great

AD 379
Now we must not understand by thieves, only such as cut strips off hides, or commit robberies in the baths. But all such also as, when appointed leaders of legions, or installed governors of states or nations, are guilty of secret embezzlement, or violent and open exactions. He does not tell us to sellour goods, because they are by nature evil, for then they would not be God's creatures; He therefore does not bid us cast them away as if they were bad, but distribute them; nor is anyone condemned for possessing them, but for abusing them. And thus it is, that to lay out our goods according to God's command both blots out sins, and bestows the kingdom. When our Lord says, Give to the poor, it becomes a man no longer to be careless, but diligently to dispose of all things, first of all by himself if in any measure he is able, if not, by those w ho are known to be faithful, and prudent in their management; for cursed is he who does the work of the Lord negligently. The merchant when he go...
1 min6/20
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Bede

AD 735
Or we must not think him to have lied, but to have avowed that he had lived honestly, that is, at least in outward things, else Mark could never have said, And Jesus seeing him, loved him. Whoever then wishes to be perfect must sell all that he has, not a part only, as Ananias and Sapphira did, but the whole.
< 1 min7/20
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Clement Of Alexandria

AD 215
Annon aperte indicat, quod sicut mundus componitur ex contrariis, nempe ex calido et frigido, humido et sicco, ita etiam ex iis qui dant, et ex iis qui accipiunt? Et rursus cum dixit: "Si vis perfectus esse, vende quae habes, et da pauperibus "refellit eum qui gloriabatur quod "omnia a juventute praecepta servaverat; "non enim impleverat illud: "Diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum: ". He asks, too, relief in those things in which we have sinned, and conversion to the acknowledgment of them.
< 1 min8/20
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Clement Of Rome

AD 99
"And Peter said: "I shall explain to you how goodness itself is just. Our teacher Himself first said to the Pharisee who asked Him. `Enter ye through the strait and narrow way, through which ye shall enter into life.' And somewhere else, when one asked Him,
< 1 min9/20
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
The Jewish crowds … with their princes and teachers … looked at Christ as being a mere man like one of us, and not as God who had become man. They approached him to test him and lay the nets of their cleverness for him…. He is called here a ruler. He fancied himself to have learned the law and supposed that he had been accurately taught it. He imagined that he could convict Christ of introducing laws of his own and of dishonoring the commandment spoken by most wise Moses. It was the Jews’ goal to prove that Christ opposed and resisted the former commandments and established new laws by his own authority, in opposition to those previously existing. Their wicked conduct toward him had a false pretext. He comes near and makes a pretense of speaking kindly. He calls him “Teacher,” designates him “good,” and professes himself desirous of being a disciple. He says, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Observe how he mixes flattery with fraud and deceit, like one who mingles vinegar wit...
1 min10/20
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
Now he thought to detect Christ in blaming the law of Moses, while He introduced His own commands. He went then to the Master, and calling Him good, says that he wishes to be taught by Him, for he sought to tempt Him. But He who takes the wise in their craftiness answers him fitly as follows, Why call you me good? there is none good, save God alone. But the ruler expected to hear Christ say, Forsake the commandments of Moses, and listen to Mine. Whereas He sends him to the former; as it follows, You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery. The ruler was not able to contain the new word, but being like an old bottle, burst with sorrow.
1 min11/20
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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444
What reply is made by the allknowing One of whom it is written that he “takes the wise in their craftiness”? “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one, God.” You see how Christ proved immediately that the ruler was neither wise nor learned, although he was the ruler of a synagogue of the Jews. He says, “You did not believe that I am God, and the clothing of the flesh has led you astray. Why did you apply to me titles suitable to the supreme nature alone, while you still assume that I am a mere man like you and not superior to the limits of human nature?” In the nature that transcends all, God alone is found to be good by nature, that is, unchangeably good…. He says, “I do not seem to you to be truly God. Ignorantly and foolishly, you have applied to me the properties and virtues of the divine nature. Why do you then imagine that I, a mere man that never is invested with goodness but only gains it by the assent of the divine will, have the property of the unchangeable nature?”...
1 min12/20
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Irenaeus of Lyons

AD 202
He confessed that God who is truly good, saying, "Why callest thou Me good: there is One who is good, the Father in the heavens; "
< 1 min13/20
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Jerome

AD 420
The youngman speaks false, for if he had fulfilled that which was afterwards placed among the commandments, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, how was it that when he heard, Goand sell all that you have, and give to the poor, he went away sorrowful?
< 1 min14/20
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John Chrysostom

AD 407
Or else; I shall not hesitate to call this ruler covetous, for with this Christ reproaches him, but I say not that he was a tempter. God might indeed feed the poor without our taking compassion upon them, but He wishes the givers to be bound by the ties of love to the receivers. But it is asked, how does Christ acknowledge the giving all things to the poor to be perfection, whereas St. Paul declares this very thing without charity to be imperfect. Their harmony is shown in the words which succeed, And come, follow me, which betokens it to be from love. For herein shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one toward another.
1 min15/20
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Justin Martyr

AD 165
For when on earth He acted in the very same manner, and answered to one who addressed Him as `Good Master: '`Why callest thou me good? One is good, my Father who is in heaven.'
< 1 min16/20
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
That it was by the Creator's precepts that eternal life is acquired. Go his way who had not "received "the precept of dividing his substance to the needy, and was abandoned by the Lord to his own opinion.
< 1 min17/20
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Theophilus of Antioch

AD 184
The law first forbids those things to which we are most prone, as adultery for instance, the incitement to which is within us, and of our nature; and murder, because rage is a great and savage monster. But theft and bearing false witness are sins which men seldom fall into. And besides, the former also are the more grievous sins, therefore He places theft and bearing false witness in the second place, as bothless common, and of less weight than the other. Because sin against parents, although a great crime, very rarely happens, He places it last of all, Honor your father and mother. Hence when he says, All that you have, He inculcates the most complete poverty. For if there is any thing left over or remaining to you, you are its slave. Together with poverty must exist all the other virtues, therefore He says, Come, follow me, that is, In all other things be My disciples, be always following Me.
1 min18/20
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Theophylact of Ochrid

AD 1107
Some think that this man was cunning and sought to trap the Lord with words. But this is not how he appears; rather, he was a lover of money, and Christ Himself rebuked him as such. Mark says that the man came running, and knelt before Jesus, and asked Him his question, and that Jesus, beholding him, loved him. [Mk. 10:17-22] The man is a lover of money, and he approaches Jesus eager to learn how he, along with his wealth, might inherit eternal life. For there is no one who loves prolonged life as much as a man who loves money. Therefore this man thought that Jesus could show him some way in which he could live forever enjoying his possession of wealth. But when the Lord told him that non-possession is what bestows eternal life, he went away as if he regretted both his question and Jesus answer. In his mind he needed eternal life for the very reason that he had great wealth. If he were to give up his possessions, why would he want eternal life, he thought, since that life was to be the...
4 mins19/20
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Titus of Bostra

AD 378
When he says then, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? it is the same as if he says, You are good; vouchsafe me the nan answer to my question. I am learned in the Old Testament, but I see in you something far more excellent. For you make no earthly promises, but preach the kingdom of heaven. Tellme then, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? The Savior 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, &#8220;What shall I eat?&#8221; and he was to show him what ought to go before his food. And then He sends him to His Father, saying, Why call you 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. After instructing him in the knowledge of the faith, He adds, you know the commandments. As though He said, Know God first, and then will it be time to seek what you ask. But y...
2 mins20/20
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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20

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