“No one Is Good but God Alone”

“Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.’” Luke 18:18-19.

Here we have a powerful testimony from Jesus’ own mouth, confirming that He had renounced being like God (Phil. 2), and confirming that “in all things” He had “been made like His brethren.” Heb. 2.

For this very reason He would not let the man call Him “good,” despite the fact that, had He wanted to, He could well have accepted the testimony that He was good with far greater right than Barnabas, who is called a “good man” in Acts 11:24.

Because for our sakes He had partaken of a flesh like ours, and because God was not yet finished condemning all sin in this flesh, Jesus would not allow Himself to be called good. What faithfulness!

As long as Jesus was on earth, in the days of His flesh, there was only One who in the deepest and truest sense of the word was good, and that was the Father. However, when Jesus was perfected, He once again became like the Father.