And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one — God.
- BSB “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone.
- NKJV So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
- NASB But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
- NLT “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus questions the ruler's casual use of 'good,' noting that God alone is good. He presses the man to consider true goodness and who Jesus is.
Overview
Jesus is not denying his own goodness but challenging the ruler's superficial flattery and his shallow grasp of goodness. If God alone is good, then the ruler must reckon both with the impossibility of earning life by his own goodness and with who Jesus truly is. The question quietly invites him to recognize Jesus' divine identity.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Jas 1:17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
- Job 15:14–16What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
- Heb 7:26For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- Job 14:4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
- Job 25:4How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
- 1 Tim 3:16And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
- Luke 1:35And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
- Luke 11:13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 18:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.