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REGARDING MARK 10:18

 



Mark 10:18

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.


The clear reading of this verse makes it seem like Christ is denying being good. However, the typical Christian response is that Christ isn't actually denying his goodness but making the man, who is asking the question, think about who he's addressing. Here we will disprove this ad hoc explanation.


First, we see that the man stops calling Christ good teacher and proceeds to call him teacher:

Mark 10:20 - “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”


Second, the verse is changed in Matthew. The verse no longer reads "why do you call me good", but rather "why do you ask me about what is good?"

Matthew 19:17 - “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

This shows that the scribes had issues with what was said in Mark and decided to change it. 


Finally, we have the interpretation and reading of this verse from the Early Church Fathers and Church Writers who affirm the view that Christ is denying his goodness and ascribing goodness to the Father alone:

Ireaneus:

And to the person who said to Him, "Good Master", Mark 10:17 He confessed that God who is truly good, saying, "Why do you call Me good: there is One who is good, the Father in the heavens;" - Against Heresies, Book I, Chapter 20

Justin Martyr:

For when on earth He acted in the very same manner, and answered to one who addressed Him as 'Good Master:' 'Why do you call me good? One is good, my Father who is in heaven.' - Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 101

Hippolytus:

He says that this (one) alone is good, and that what is spoken by the Saviour is declared concerning this (one): "Why do you say that am good? One is good, my Father which is in the heavens, who causes His sun to rise upon the just and unjust, and sends rain upon saints and sinners." - Refutation Against All Heresies, Book V, Chapter 2

Clement of Alexandria:

Now, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus is good, the Word Himself will again avouch: For He is kind to the unthankful and the evil; and further, when He says, Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:35-36 Still further also He plainly says, None is good, but My Father, who is in heaven. - The Paedagogus, Book I, Chapter 8

Origen:

It was from His sense of that goodness that He answered him who addressed the Only-begotten with the words Good Master, Hebrews 2:9 and said, Why do you call Me good? None is good but one, God, the Father. - Commentary on John, Book I, Chapter 40.

And how does it not accord with Him who said, “Why callest you me good? None is good save One—God the Father” to suppose that He would say, “Why pray you to me? To the Father alone ought you to pray, to whom I also pray, as indeed you learn from the holy Scriptures. For you ought not to pray to one who has been appointed high priest for you by the Father and has received it from the Father to be advocate - Origen on Prayer

Tertullian:

But who is this good God? There is, He says, none but one. Luke 18:19 It is not as if He had shown us that one of two gods was the supremely good; but He expressly asserts that there is one only good God, who is the only good, because He is the only God. - Against Marcion, Book IV, Chapter 36

Clementine Homily 3:

But to those who are persuaded that He is evil, as the Scriptures say, He said, 'Call not me good, for One only is good.' And again, 'Be ye good and merciful, as your Father in the heavens, who makes the sun rise on good and evil men, and brings rain upon just and unjust.' But to those who were misled to imagine many gods, as the Scriptures say, He said, 'Hear, O Israel; the Lord your God is one Lord.'

Ephrem The Syrian:

The rich man called Jesus “good,” as if he were offering him a favor, just as some favor others with honorary titles. [The Lord] fled from that by which people favored him, so that he might show that he had received this goodness from the Father through nature and generation, and not [merely] in name. “Only one is good,” [he said], and did not remain silent, but added, “the Father,” so that he might show that the Son is good in just the way that the Father is good - Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron


We can conclude that in Mark 10:18, Christ is denying his own goodness and affirming the goodness of the Father alone.












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