philanthropic who have done much good in providing for the poor and alleviating suffering. In that respect they have done good when one is judging goodness by human stand ards. But then, look at that word doeth. The tense of the verb suggests continuous action, doing good continuously with out change or interruption as a course of life. God says that there is not one such person. In the Gospel according to Mark there is recorded an interesting conversation between the Lord Jesus Christ and one known as the rich young ruler. The story is written in three Gospel records. Matthew said he was a young man (19:20), Luke added the fact that he was a ruler (18:18), and all three described him as being rich (Matthew 19:22; Mark 10:22; Luke 18:23). The three accounts give to us the com posite title, rich young ruler. I am concerned here merely with the young man's opening remark and our Lord's reply in relation to their use of the word "good. 11 He addressed Jesus as "Good Teacher," or as the Author ized Version has it, "Good Master." It is the adjective good which demands our attention. Jesus replied, "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God" (Mark 10: 17, 18). One commentator has Jesus saying to the young man, "You should not have called me good, for God only is good, and I am not God." I am not in agreement with any such interpretation of Christ's statement. It is blasphe mous to say that Jesus Christ disclaimed Deity. Contrari wise He frequently claimed equality with the Father. What the Lord Jesus was conveying to the young man was the Divine viewpoint of that word good. In substance our Lord was saying "You addressed me as 'good.' Now God only is good. If I am good, then I am God. 11 In effect Jesus is saying that the young man had an in adequate and a superficial concept of goodness. Anyone who gives thought to the idea of goodness should include God in his thinking because God only is good. The rich young ruler did not know who Jesus was. Had he known He would have obeyed the command the Lord was about to give him. Actually the young man was addressing Deity while he regarded the Lord as merely a human teacher. It was a thoughtless and superficial use of the word good as evi denced by the young man's high view of himself as seen in 87
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