Section 1: The Introduction

HERE it will be necessary to run over the short Conference between Christ and this young Man, which is recorded by several of the Evangelists, because it will give us a plainer Account how these Words are introduced, and lead us into the Knowledge of the true Design of them.

Read from the sixteenth to the twenty-third Verse. And behold one came and said unto him, good Master, What good thing shall I do that I may have Eternal Life? 17. And he said to him, why do you call me Good? There is none Good but one, that is God. But if you want to enter into Life; keep the Commandments. 18. He said to him, Which? Jesus said, You shall do no Murder, You shall not commit Adultery, You shall not Steal, You shall not bear false Witness. 19. Honor your Father and your Mother, and you shall love your Neighbor as yourself. 20. The young Man said to him, all these have I kept from my Youth up: what do I lack yet? 21. Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the Poor, and you shall have Treasure in Heaven; and come and follow me. 22. But when the young Man heard that Saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great Possessions. 23. Then said Jesus to his Disciples, Truly I say to you, that a Rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the History.

The Person who addressed the Lord Jesus Christ here, was a young Man, and wealthy, as this sacred Writer informs us; and that he was a Ruler among the Jews, Saint Luke gives us notice, Luke 18:18. That he was either a Pharisee, or at least one of the stricter sort of the Jews, seems evident, because he sought after Eternal Life, whereas the Sadducees denied a future State, many of the higher as well as the looser Part of the Nation disregarded it. He appears leavened with the common Pharisaical Doctrine, (namely) that the way to procure Eternal Life was by his own good Works, by doing some good Thing.

It is probable he had heard of the Miracles and the Fame of our Blessed Lord, and believed him to be a Teacher sent from God, for he comes in an humble manner as to a divine Prophet, he seems to be in good earnest in the Question which he puts to Christ, and seriously concerned about the Welfare of his Soul. He did not come with a Design to ensnare Christ in his Words, as that sort of Men (namely) the Pharisees often did: Nor did he come with useless perplexing Questions, as the Scribes and Sadducees and Lawyers sometimes had done: But, as Saint Mark relates the History, he showed some Tokens of Sincerity, Mark 10:17. for He came running to Jesus with Diligence and Speed, longing to have the Opinion of a new Prophet about a Matter of such Importance, as the obtaining of Eternal Life: He knelt down to him, and paid our Savior much civil Respect: He received the Directions of Christ with Attention, and when he found in his Heart that his Love to his Riches would not let him comply with the Terms proposed, he went away sorrowful. There was something in his Design and in his Deportment, that was lovely and amiable, and we find that our Savior (as a Man) looked on him with a Love of Complacency, Mark 10:21. But he was not so zealous a Lover of God to part with Earth for Heaven.

We may suppose this young Gentleman, who seems to be a Follower or Disciple of the Pharisees, might probably have one or more of these three Designs in his Question, (namely)

1. Whereas the Law of Moses promises long Life in the Land of Canaan, and the Blessings of this World to those that are obedient to the Statutes and Ordinances which God enjoined to Israel; but it scarce ever mentions, plainly and expressly, any Promises of Eternal Life in another World, nor the Methods to attain it; and whereas this Youth was fully convinced from several of the Writings of the Prophets, that there was a future State and eternal Happiness in another World to be obtained, he comes now to Jesus, as a new and divine Teacher, to seek an Answer to this Question about Eternal Life, which he could not find an express Answer to in the Law of Moses; and he would fain know whether he must obtain Eternal Life the same way that he was to seek for a long Life on Earth, and Temporal Blessings, namely, by an outward Obedience to the Laws already given to the Jews.

2. We may suppose him enquiring after some shorter and more compendious way to Eternal Life, by practicing some one or two extraordinary Instances of Duty, and thereby to atone for the neglect of the rest. This was an Error that prevailed among the Pharisees in our Savior's Time, as seems to be sufficiently evident from their Doctrine, as it is represented, Matthew 15:5-6. Whosoever shall make a great Present to God and his Temple (as some interpret the Word Corban, or a Gift) he shall be free from all relative Duties to Parents, and so forth. So Matthew 23:23. if they did but pay Tithes duly to the Priest they might be saved, though they neglected the weighty Matters of the Law, Justice, Judgment and Mercy, and the Love of God. So the Pharisee that went into the Temple to pray, he fasted twice a week, and gave Tithes of all that he possessed, and he accounted himself Righteous. Luke 18:12.

And upon this account you find the Question proposed elsewhere to our Savior, Matthew 22:36. Which is the great Commandment of the Law? Some were for Circumcision, as a most ancient Precept, and therefore of the most general Obligation: Some for the Sabbath, because it was so strictly enjoined to the Jews: And some for Sacrifice, as being in their Opinion a sufficient Expiation and Atonement for any other Defects whatsoever. They thought one or other of these to be the critical Points on which Salvation depended.

And generally we find that the Commands of God, of an external or Ceremonial Nature, or the mere Inventions and Traditions of Men, were thus aggrandized by the Teachers of the Jews, as though Heaven might be obtained in a short way, by practicing those Formalities, without the long Labours of Watchfulness and Abstinence from Sin, and Obedience to every moral Command of the Law. Yet we must suppose this Person to be one of the better sort of them too, for he had endeavoured to keep the Moral Law, (at least in the outward and visible Duties of it) as well as Ceremonial, even from his Youth up, as he tells our Savior.

3. Or we may suppose this young Man hearing the Fame of Christ, as the great Prophet that was to come into the World, might expect some new and unheard-of Doctrines, some new and unknown way to Heaven, which the Law and the Old Prophets had never spoken of; especially since he thought he had already fulfilled all that they had required: And therefore he came running to Christ, kneeling down with earnest Desire to be taught this new Revelation, this Method of obtaining Heaven and eternal Life, which the new Prophet was sent to teach: And perhaps he might imagine Jesus to be the Messiah: And they knew that when the Messiah came he would teach them all things, which all the former Prophets and Moses himself had not fully acquainted them with, John 4:25.

Or may we not suppose all these three Designs together, to be in the Heart of this young Querist? As if he should say, Good Master, Moses in his five Books, has spoken much of Life, long Life in the Land of Promise, but has not given us an express Account of Life Eternal in the other World, nor prescribed the special Methods to attain it; I would therefore fain learn that of thee. And whereas the Statutes and Ceremonies, and Commands and Judgments, and Duties of the Law, are very numerous and difficult, is there no one good thing that may be as acceptable to God as all the rest, and give me a Title to eternal Happiness, in a short and compendious manner? Or is there any new way to Heaven which thou discoverest to Men? As thou seemest to preach up a future State, a Heaven and a Hell in the other World, dost thou come to give any new Directions how to avoid this Hell, and obtain this Heaven?

Our Lord, before he answered his Question, takes Occasion to ask him, why he called him Good, which was a Title that eminently belonged to God only: The best conjecture that Interpreters can make of this Query, is this, (namely) Jesus searched into his Opinion concerning himself, whether he knew or believed that he was the Messiah or the Son of God, who was one with the Father, and thereby had a Right to Divine Titles and Characters, and might justly be called Good in a Divine Sense. Perhaps Jesus might have, before this time, manifested this his own Oneness with God; but if he had not, yet there were several Descriptions of the Messiah in the Old Testament, wherein the Names and Titles of the true God are given to the Messiah, which could not be given him without such a Oneness with God, and therefore he might justly take Occasion to catechise such a forward young Man who seemed to be conceited of his own Righteousness, and so forth. 'Tis as if Jesus had said, You call me Good: There is none originally, eternally and perfectly good but God himself; none good as God is; none has right to the Title in the most absolute and exalted Sense of it but God: Why then do you use this Salutation to me, and give me this Title? Do you think any thing more than Human dwells in me? Have you known or observed any of those Speeches or those Miracles of mine, whereby I have asserted and proved that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or, that I am one with the Father, and so partake with him in the Title of Good? See John 10:30, 37, 38. and 14:8, 9, 10.

Here it may be remarked, that our Savior did not use to publish his own Divinity or Oneness with God, in plain and express Terms to the People, but generally by such Methods of Enquiry and Insinuation. See Mark 2:5-11. where he had forgiven the Sins of a Man that was sick of the Palsy before he healed him; and then he proves by the Miracle of healing, that he had a Right to forgive Sin, while the Jews acknowledge that none could forgive Sins but God alone. So John 10:30-36. after he had given a hint of his Deity, by saying, I and my father are one, the Jews would have stoned him for pretending to be God; which he answers by such an Enquiry; Since those are called Gods in Scripture, to whom the Word of God came, say you of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the World, he blasphemes, because I said I am the Son of God? Such a sort of oblique Insinuation, or Enquiry concerning the Divinity of his Person, seems to be our Lord's Design in this Text. If this be not the Purport and Intention of this Question, I must confess I am ignorant of the Design of it. But this seems to me the most probable Conjecture.

Then immediately he proceeds to give our young Querist an Answer to his Question, If you want to enter into Life keep the Commandments.

The young Man again seems to have his former Designs in his Eye, when he asks which Commandment he should keep? As if he should say, Is it any one particular Commandment or Commandments of Moses that I must keep? and if I have kept them, is there any new Commandment thou wilt give me, whereby eternal Life will be insured to me?

Our Lord replies, Keep the common Commandments of the Law, You know them, as Mark 10:17. It is not by observing any one Command and neglecting the rest, but the way to enter into Life is Obedience to all the old Commandments, for I am not come to break or dissolve the Law of God, but to confirm or fulfill it, Matthew 5:17, 19. And though our Lord Jesus mentions only those of the second Table, and the Duties towards Men, yet we must suppose he means inclusively all the rest; for he says in Matthew 5:19. Whosoever shall teach Men to break the least of the Commandments of the Law, shall be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven, that is shall have no Place there. Our Savior does not give a Dispensation to neglect Duties toward God, by mentioning only the Duties toward our Neighbor; but the Reason why he mentions them seem chiefly these two.

1. Because these Duties to their Neighbors were those which the Pharisees, who boasted of their own Righteousness, more particularly neglected, while they pretended to much Devotion and Worship of God in all the Forms of his Appointment; And therefore our Lord insists particularly upon these Commands that relate to our Fellow-Creatures, to show him that these were as necessary a Part of his Duty, as all the more pompous Services of God in his Temple.

2. Because it might be more easy for his own Conscience to convince him of the Neglect of these moral and relative Duties towards his Fellow-Creatures, than of his Neglect of religious Duties towards God: And our Savior thought when he had named these, he had named Commandments enough to show him the Imperfection of his Righteousness: Therefore he does not proceed to mention them all.

And it may be noted, that our Lord reckons up these Commands not in their exact Order, nor exactly in the Words of the Old Testament, but with a more loose and negligent way of repeating them, because he spoke to a Man that was supposed to know them already: You know all the Commandments which I refer to, even the Commands of the moral Law, Do not kill, do not steal, and so forth.