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Mar 10:18. Εἶπεν, He said) The Lord replies, I. To the remarkable title which the young man had addressed to Him: II. To the question which he proposed.-τί Με λέγεις ἀγαθὸν; why callest thou Me good?) There were many things in Jesus, viewing Him merely externally, by reason of which the ignorant would not form the best opinion concerning Him: Joh 1:47; Mat 11:6; Mat 11:19; Isa 53:2, etc. Moreover also He did not rest on Himself, but ever referred Himself wholly to the Father. He acted the part of a traveller and a pilgrim in the world; and in that condition, in which the Psalms describe Him as wretched and needy, He was ever aiming towards the eternal good and the eternal joy, concerning which this youth was enquiring. Psa 16:2; Psa 16:5, etc.: My goodness [extendeth not to thee, Engl. V.] is not independent of thee. Comp. Joh 14:28; Joh 17:5; Heb 5:8-9; Heb 9:12. He did not “know Himself according to the flesh;” as Augustine preaches [distinctly states], l. i. de Doctr. Christ., c. 34. For good, ἀγαθὸς, properly applies to one blessed.[12] The young man was seeking with [by application to] Jesus happiness, in a too pure [unalloyed] sense. Jesus informs Him that ne will not find this with Him: Comp. Luk 9:57, etc. Nevertheless He does not say, I am not good; but, Why dost thou call Me good? Just as in Mat 22:43, He does not deny, that He, the Son of David, is at one and the same time also the Lord of David. God is good: there is no goodness without Godhead. The young man perceived in Jesus the presence of goodness in some degree otherwise he would not have applied to Him: but he did not perceive it in its full extent; otherwise he would not have gone back from Him. Much less did he perceive [recognise] His Godhead. Wherefore Jesus does not accept from Him the title of goodness without the title of Godhead (Comp. the “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord,” Luk 6:46): and thereby vindicates the honour of the Father, with whom He is one. See Joh 5:19. At the same time [He darts causes to enter] a ray of His omniscience into the heart of this young man, and shows that the young man has not as yet the knowledge concerning Himself, Jesus Christ, worthy of so exalted a title, which otherwise is altogether appropriate to Him. Wherefore He does not say, There is none good save one, that is, My Father; but, There is none good save one, that is, God. Often our Lord proportioned [qualified] His words to the capacity of those who questioned Him, Joh 4:22. So a warlike commander, of noble birth, might answer to a person, who Knew not his noble birth, though knowing the fact of his a being commander, Why do you call me, a gracious lord? Jesus manifested His goodness to the disciples, Luk 10:23; Rom 14:16.
[12] Beatum, a term appropriate in the full sense only to God.-ED, and TRANSL.