ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Mark 10.18

Book: Mark · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Verse

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ASV:

"18. And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, even God." (Mark 10:18, ASV)

WEB:

"18. Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one, God." (Mark 10:18, WEB)

KJV:

"18. And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." (Mark 10:18, KJV)

YLT:

"18. And Jesus said to him, 'Why me dost thou call good? no one [is] good except One, God;" (Mark 10:18, YLT)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV:

"16. And he took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands upon them. 17. And as he was going forth into the way, there ran one to him, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18. And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, even God. 19. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor thy father and mother. 20. And he said unto him, Teacher, all these things have I observed from my youth." (Mark 10:16-20, ASV)

WEB:

"16. He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them. 17. As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” 18. Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one, God. 19. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’” 20. He said to him, “Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth.”" (Mark 10:16-20, WEB)

KJV:

"16. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. 17. And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18. And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. 19. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 20. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth." (Mark 10:16-20, KJV)

YLT:

"16. and having taken them in his arms, having put [his] hands upon them, he was blessing them. 17. And as he is going forth into the way, one having run and having kneeled to him, was questioning him, 'Good teacher, what may I do, that life age-during I may inherit?' 18. And Jesus said to him, 'Why me dost thou call good? no one [is] good except One, God; 19. the commands thou hast known: Thou mayest not commit adultery, Thou mayest do no murder, Thou mayest not steal, Thou mayest not bear false witness, Thou mayest not defraud, Honour thy father and mother.' 20. And he answering said to him, 'Teacher, all these did I keep from my youth.'" (Mark 10:16-20, YLT)

Setting

  • Speaker: Jesus, responding to the rich young ruler (per Luke 18:18, a ruler; per Matt 19:20, young; Mark calls him simply one who ran and kneeled)
  • Audience: the rich young ruler + the disciples + the surrounding crowd
  • Location: on a road in Perea, en route to Jerusalem for the final Passover, c. spring AD 30 or 33
  • Time period: late ministry, on the final journey to Jerusalem; composed c. AD 55-70
  • Narrative context: the rich young ruler account, one of the most famous Jesus-encounters in the Gospels. The young man approaches running and kneeling (postures of urgency and respect), addresses Jesus as didaskale agathe ("Good Teacher"), and asks the question of eternal life. Jesus's response in v. 18 is the famously difficult Christological text, He appears to deflect the agathos ("good") attribution. The rest of the encounter (vv. 19-22) unfolds with Jesus listing commandments, the young ruler claiming to have kept them, Jesus's love-tinged challenge ("One thing thou lackest") to sell all and follow, and the young man's sad refusal because he was very rich. Verse 18 is the opening Christological move of this evangelistically rich encounter.

Theological reading

Mark 10:18 is the most apparently-difficult Christological text in the Synoptic Gospels for the orthodox-divinity reading. Surface reading: Jesus denies being called good and redirects the attribution to God alone, implying He is not God. Careful reading: Jesus tests the young man's understanding of what calling someone good in the absolute sense implies. The test is Socratic, not a deflection of identity.

The two readings

  • The Arian / JW / Muslim reading. Jesus is denying His own goodness because He knows He is a created being subordinate to God, who alone is good. This reading takes the verse as a self-disclosure of Jesus's non-divine status.

  • The orthodox / Christian reading. Jesus is asking the young man to think through what he just said. The young man called Jesus agathos in the perfunctory teacher-respect sense. Jesus presses: do you mean what you say? If you mean it absolutely, you are identifying me with God (because only God is agathos in the absolute sense). If you don't mean it absolutely, why are you using language that implies divine identity? Jesus's question is a Socratic probe to draw out the young man's Christological awareness, not a denial of His own divinity.

The orthodox reading is supported by:

  1. The rest of Mark's Christology. Mark presents Jesus as the divine Son of God from 1:1 forward, as the one who forgives sins (2:5-7), commands nature (4:39), calms storms (4:41), walks on water (6:48-50), is transfigured into divine glory (9:2-8), and receives "Son of David" / Messianic acclamation entering Jerusalem (11:9-10). Mark 10:18 would be discordantly placed if read as a denial of Jesus's divinity.

  2. Jesus's pattern of probing questions. Jesus regularly uses Socratic-probe questions to draw out interlocutors' Christological awareness (cf. Mark 8:27-30, "Whom do men say that I am?" + "But whom say ye that I am?"; Mark 12:35-37, David's-Lord question).

  3. The Matthean parallel (Matt 19:17). Matthew's text reads "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good?", emphasizing the inquiry-about-goodness rather than the Christological-test angle. The two evangelists frame the same exchange slightly differently; neither is a denial of Jesus's divinity.

Patristic and Reformed reading

Athanasius (Discourses Against the Arians III, c. AD 358): the Arian reading of the verse misses the Socratic-test structure. Jesus is not denying His goodness; He is testing whether the young man understands the implication of calling Him good in the absolute sense.

Augustine (Tractates on John 18 [making the comparison], c. AD 416): Jesus's "why callest thou me good?" is a question intended to elicit the answer "because you ARE God", but the young man does not pursue the implication.

John Calvin (Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists on Mark 10:18 / Matt 19:17): the question is a test. The young man's failure was not Christological deficiency primarily but moral deficiency, he was unwilling to part with his wealth. The verse should not be over-read into a Christological-self-denial that Mark's broader narrative contradicts.

Apologetic deployment

The verse is the principal Christological text the Arian / JW / Muslim apologist cites as proof Jesus denied His own divinity. The Christian response:

  1. Read in the Markan narrative context. Mark 1:1 calls Jesus the Son of God. Mark 2 has Jesus forgiving sins. Mark 14:62 has Jesus accepting the Christological Son-of-the-Blessed + Son-of-Man title before the Sanhedrin. Mark's Christology is high throughout. Reading 10:18 as a Christological self-denial requires ignoring Mark's surrounding narrative.

  2. Recognize the Socratic-probe structure. Jesus is asking the young man to think through what calling someone agathos implies. The probe is left unanswered, and unfollowed-up, because the young man is not interested in the Christological implication; he wants to know how to get eternal life on his own terms.

  3. Note Jesus does not say "I am not good." He says, "Why callest thou me good?", a question, not a denial. The orthodox reading takes the question at face value: it is an invitation to think.

The companion-text resolution

Compare Matthew 19:16-17 (parallel). The differences between the two evangelists are significant:

  • Mark: young ruler says "Good Teacher, what shall I do..."; Jesus says "Why callest thou me good?"
  • Matthew: young man says "Teacher, what good thing shall I do..."; Jesus says "Why askest thou me concerning that which is good?"

Matthew's version highlights the good action angle (the young man wants to know what good deed secures eternal life); Mark's version highlights the good teacher angle (the title-of-respect). Both versions converge on the only God is good claim, and both invite the same Christological probe.

Oneness Pentecostal reading

In the Oneness framework, Mark 10:18 is the one God in His incarnational humility testing whether the young man recognizes the divine identity of the speaker. The Father-source / Son-manifestation distinction maps onto the good / good-teacher distinction the verse turns on. Jesus is not denying His divine identity; He is asking whether the young man's address recognizes it. See Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism.

Canonical-theological connections

  • Matthew 19:16-22, Synoptic parallel
  • Luke 18:18-23, Synoptic parallel
  • Mark 1:1, "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God"
  • Mark 2:5-7, Jesus forgiving sins (rich hub)
  • Mark 14:61-62, Jesus accepting the Son-of-the-Blessed + Son-of-Man title
  • Psalm 14:1, 3, "there is none that doeth good" (OT background for only God is good)
  • Romans 3:10-12, Paul's quotation of Psalm 14
  • John 10:11, "I am the good shepherd" (Jesus uses agathos-equivalent kalos)

Key words

See also

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