But Jesus looking on them says, With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.
A rich man has just walked away from Jesus, and the disciples ask who can be saved at all. His answer takes salvation out of man's hands and puts it in God's.
What shocked the disciples
They assumed wealth showed God's favour. One writer notes what the Lord warned against — not money itself, but trust in it:
These words astonished the disciples. Their Jewish thoughts of blessing on earth made them see riches and possessions as a mark of God's favour... Note that the Lord does not speak of a man who is actually rich, but of one who trusts in riches. The poorest person faces this danger just as much as the one who owns the most.
Another writer draws out how far that answer reaches:
Amazed, they say to each other, "Who then can be saved?" That gives the Lord the opportunity to explain what lies at the bottom of the whole question: salvation is a matter of God, and not of man at all. Law, nature, riches, poverty — whatever a man loves or fears — has nothing to do with the saving of the soul. It rests on the power of God's grace, and on nothing else.
Impossible, not merely difficult
One writer refuses to soften the word "impossible":
We emphasise that word. For men, salvation is not improbable, but IMPOSSIBLE. As far as our own efforts go, the door is barred against us. God has opened another door, but it is by death and resurrection, and the Lord was now turning His disciples' thoughts to it.
Another writer sets it beside other things no man can do:
A man cannot stop the tide as it rolls onto the shore, or create an angel. He is just as unable to save a soul. With man it is impossible. No one can make a man prefer faith to sight, choose the wealth of heaven over the gold of earth, give up self for Christ, and choose God's way instead of his own. Yet the saved man, in God's account, does these things, and that means his very nature is changed. And no man can change his own nature, or anyone else's.
The reason it is impossible
Why can no one do it? The answer lies in what we are, and in what God's righteousness demands:
Why is it impossible? Because we are sinners, and we cannot save ourselves. How can you meet the claims of God in righteousness? You would have to be more than a man to do that... God has judged you, and me, to be sinners in our sins, lost and ruined. He has judged us to be what we are: unable to get ourselves out of the condition sin has landed us in. And the thing that is not possible with us is possible with Him.
What God alone can do
Only one change meets the case, and man cannot produce it:
The Lord's answer put the case in its right light: "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." It is a question of the heart and nature — not of wealth or a pleasant character, but of new birth (John 1:12-13), which God alone can bring about.
How wide "all things" reaches
One writer names people whose standing made faith look unlikely:
But with God — and we may bless Him for it — all things are possible, whatever the difficulty. So God chooses in His grace to call all sorts and conditions of people. We read of a person called out of Herod's court, and of saints in Caesar's household. A great company of the priests believed. So did Barnabas the Levite, with his houses and lands, and above all Saul of Tarsus, brought up under the teaching of Gamaliel. All these difficulties only gave God the opportunity to overcome every obstacle by His own power and grace.
The verse as a summary of the gospel
Both halves of the sentence teach something — one about us, one about Him:
But what an immense grace, which shows us what we are and what God is!... you are lost in sin, and salvation is purely of grace, impossible for man. But the work of salvation is perfect and complete, and the righteousness of God is upon all who believe in Him who has accomplished it. No part of Scripture states the basic truth of man's state, and his need of God's salvation, more clearly.
It bears on the one who preaches, too:
Suppose the preacher shrinks from owning that he has no power, and that every effort he makes in his own strength is independence of God, and so sinful. How can he then expect his hearers to own that they have no power to save themselves, that their best efforts are sinful, and that God is their only hope?
Summary
- Impossible. Not unlikely, not hard — barred. Every human effort at salvation is shut out.
- The reason. We are sinners who cannot meet God's claims in righteousness, and no one can change his own nature.
- Possible with God. What He does is not repair but new birth, a work in the heart that God alone can bring about.
- Possible for anyone. Rich, religious, or hostile — the very difficulties become God's opportunity to show His power and grace.
- So turn to Him. Preacher and hearer alike have no power of their own. Salvation is purely of grace, and God is their only hope.