What did the rich young man ask Jesus?

We begin here with a question addressed to the Lord, not, as so often, by one tempting or caviling, but, on the contrary, earnestly seeking the way of life: "Teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

Verse 16 speaks of one who comes to the Lord, but not as a little child. He is in earnest, no doubt, but his words show confidence in his own ability to do something to earn eternal life. In this case the translation should read, "Teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" This is not the simplicity of a little child, and the Lord asks why the man inquires concerning good, for only one is good, that is, God. Since the man is not good in himself , how can he expect to do a good thing ?

The young man was a ruler, and he was rich; but, ruler though he were, and rich also, the question of the possession of eternal life had not been settled satisfactorily in the history of his soul. Clearly, he was an earnest young man. It is a nice thing to see an earnest young man, and this one was distinctly so. He was running: "There came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" (ver. 17.) Clearly, he thought of eternal things. Evidently the question crossed his mind as to how eternal life was to be obtained. He had it not; he wished it. He wanted it, and desired, seriously, and earnestly, to know how he was to get eternal life.

Now, I trust there is a young man here — perhaps more than one — who really desires to know how to get eternal life; but, I do not doubt, that, till our eyes are thoroughly opened to see where we are, the same kind of question as this rich young man put to the Lord, would be put by us. He says, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" Do you suppose that eternal life is to be inherited by doing? We have all thought so, at some time. But, some one says, does not the Lord answer him, and bid him do certain things? No doubt He does; but, it is just like this, the Lord, when this young man comes to Him, says, as it were, I will find out what you are prepared to do. And what comes out is this — he was not prepared to do that which would have given him eternal life, had it been obtained by doing. That is clear. In reality, he was tested; the Lord took him on the ground upon which he came to Him. And so will the Lord do now. I believe He takes us all at first upon the ground upon which we have accosted Him.

In Luke then, we read of this young ruler who was sufficiently interested to come to the Lord, and he was in earnest also, for another Gospel tells us he came "running." He was clearly anxious to embrace the opportunity of an interview with Christ. We are told that he came and knelt to Christ: this attitude showed an absence of pride in him. He had some regard for the "Prophet of Nazareth," and so he did Him reverence by bowing his knee to Him. He then asked Him the question of all questions, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life? This life was something the law could not give him. There was an attraction about Christ Jesus and His teaching that gave the ruler to feel that Jesus could help him to find the treasure he sought. He wanted "life," the life which is the real life. "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

And the Lord looking upon him, as we are told. by Mark, "loved him." That great and compassionate heart of divine love was specially moved towards the ruler because he had put the question so many people forget altogether. They pass through the world as though they were on the same level with the beasts that perish, and think nothing of the life that is beyond the grave. They utterly disregard the fact that it is within their power to bow their knees before the Holy God and to seek His face. But here was a man who had thought about the life which was the true and the eternal. He had come to the right person to learn, and the Lord loved to see such a movement in the heart of one of the rulers towards Himself. There were so many of that generation who despised Him. Simon the Pharisee, for instance, invited Jesus into his house just to see what He would do, just to take Him off, as it were, little thinking that the Lord knew all about his motives. We often forget the Lord's omniscience.

But Jesus listened to the young man's question, and answered it in His own way, saying, "Why callest thou Me good?" The term was true, but the question gave the opportunity for the ruler to exercise his faith in the Lord and to confess His name. He was looking upon Him who was a "Man of sorrows," and yet that humble Man was the Man whom God had anointed, who was God's Fellow, the Son of God here below. This Man before Him was God Himself in person — to believe on if he would. Jesus was good because He was God, and if the young ruler had only believed on Him, his words would have been perfectly true and proper.

The Lord proceeded on His way, the disciples accompanying Him. Then one came running to Him, and fell on his knees before Him (17). The earnestness, the eagerness thus displayed in running, and the position assumed on bended knee before the Lord, are just such notices as an eye-witness would be likely to record. In that attitude the question was put, which the young ruler — as Luke tells us he was — seemed so desirous to have answered: "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" The Lord challenged the appellation "Good." "Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but One, that is God." Men too often delight in such an address.

The young man in Matthew 19:16 did not say, "What shall I do to be saved?" but "that I may have eternal life." The Lord's answer is, not if you want to be saved, but if you want to live, "This do and live." The young man said, "This I have done, and what lack I yet?" "Sell all, and come follow me." This tested him, for his heart was set on his possessions; he went away from grace. So, in John 8:9, one by one they went away from grace, because they dreaded the eye that could detect them. That is what people do still — they cannot bear conviction. It is getting away from God, because the heart and conscience cannot bear that which comes out in the presence of God. What a terrible thing that is, if your only hope of comfort is to keep away from God — to keep out of His sight!

The young man neither knew himself, nor the state in which man really was before God. He was under the law; and Jesus sets forth the law first as the rule of life, given by God as the measure of righteousness for the sons of Adam. The young man does not ask how he may be saved, but how he may inherit eternal life. The Lord does not speak of eternal life, but takes up the young man at the point where he places himself; the law said, "Do these things, and thou shalt live." The young man declares that he has kept all these things from his youth up: the Lord neither denies nor disputes it; and we read that He looked upon him, and loved him. We see here that which is amiable and loved of the Lord. But what is the true state of this young man? The Lord draws the veil, and man stands before God in his nakedness; and God stands before man in His holiness. Doing anything is out of the question: how to be saved is another thing.

The young man asked, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" The Lord in His answer does not say "eternal life," but, "This do, and thou shalt live." The law referred to particular acts, and they could go and get their consciences cleared, by a lamb, or a kid, or a goat; it was a general clearance for a need. But repentance in the Old Testament referred to the same thing as in the New.

The Lord had vindicated marriage according to its beginning from God against the Pharisees. He had blessed babes in spite of rebuking, but now rebuked disciples. We have Him next eagerly sought out by the rich young ruler. "And as He went forth into the way, one ran up and kneeled to him, and asked Him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit life eternal?"106 There was no lack of moral integrity here, no failure in reverence to One who was instinctively felt to be superior, no indolence that avoided trouble; but earnestness was there, honest respect for that righteous man, and a sincere desire to learn a new lesson and take a fresh step in well-doing. It was nature doing its best, yet fundamentally at fault; for his question assumed that man was good and could do good — man as he is. His very salutation of honour to Jesus proved that His person was unknown, and therefore the truth unknown both as to God and man. Had the young ruler believed Him to be the Son of the living God, he would not have accosted Him with "Good Teacher" — a style suitable enough to a respected and honoured teacher, but both needless and improper in addressing One who was equal with God and was God. But the evil of man he had never realised — the total, hopeless sin and ruin of the heart in God's sight. Hence the need of such a One as Jesus was unfelt — of One who, God and man, came down to the depths of sin in Divine love, and is raised up to the throne of God in Divine righteousness; who suffered all on earth from God on behalf of guilty man, that He might have man redeemed, reconciled, justified, glorified, by and with Himself in heaven, and in both, as in all things, God glorified through Jesus Christ.

The one who came running to Jesus exhibited many commendable features. Matthew tells us he was young, and Luke that he was a ruler. He was earnest and reverent and recognized in Him a great Rabbi, who could direct men to eternal life. He took it for granted that the life was to be obtained by human doings, according to the law. Evidently he had no idea of the Deity of Jesus, and hence the Lord's words in verse 18. He repudiated goodness apart from His being God, saying in effect, "If I am not God, I am not good."