Mark 10:18-19 (NIV), “‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
The question in Mark 10:18 is partially answered in verse 19. Jesus first defines what good is. He states that those who are good keep the law by not breaking the law. Then Jesus sums it up by explaining that the law He was keeping was honoring his Heavenly Father. John 14:28 (NIV),“… for the Father is greater than I.”
Jesus inquired why the title “good” was applied to Him. He wanted the young man to notice – and would wish all to notice – that everything that is really good must in some way be of God and in accordance with God.
There were only two ways in which Jesus could be viewed. 1) He was, as he claimed, the Son of God come into the world on a special mission in the interest of humanity, and therefore a servant of God. 2) Or Jesus was not sent from God; he was a deceiver. He would have been misrepresenting himself and deceiving the people, and was bad, very bad. Jesus wished the young man to consider the force of his own expression and to decide at once this important question, upon which so much would hinge.
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