Matthew 19:17 (WEB)
He said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Catechism · 1
"Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" To the young man who asked this question,
Fathers and councils · 52
Origen
“And here I may employ this illustration, as bearing upon this point: Our Lord and Saviour, hearing Himself on one occasion addressed as “Good Master,” referring him who used it to His own Father, said, “Why callest thou Me good?” — editor's note: Cf. Matt. xix. 17; cf. Mark x. 18.
Read the whole comment- Origen, De Principiis II.5Book II
“There still remains to them, however, that saying of the Lord in the Gospel, which they think is given them in a special manner as a shield, viz., “There is none good but one, God the Father.”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17.
Read the whole comment
Gregory of Nyssa
“For they say that the Lord Himself has said, “There is none good but one, that is, God.”” — editor's note: Cf. S. Matt. xix. 17.
Read the whole comment
Irenaeus of Lyons
“Now, that the law did beforehand teach mankind the necessity of following Christ, He does Himself make manifest, when He replied as follows to him who asked Him what he should do that he might inherit eternal life: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17, 18, etc.
Read the whole comment
Cyril of Jerusalem
“Moreover it is by keeping the commandments, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, and the rest which follow; as He answered to him that came to Him, and said, Good Master, what shall I do that I may have eternal life?” — editor's note: Ib. vv. 16–18.
Read the whole comment
Augustine of Hippo
“…a man, and nothing more, tell him (but He is “good” because He is God)—let Him tell him, that if he would “enter into life” he must “keep the commandments;” let him banish from himself the bitterness of malice and wickedness; let him not kill, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor bear false witness; that the dry…” — editor's note: Ibid. ver. 17.
Read the whole comment““There is none good but One, that is, God.”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17.
Read the whole comment“…which we now lead ought rather to be called death than life: according to those words in the Gospel, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”…” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17.
Read the whole comment“But the address “Good Master” does not of itself convey the question.” — editor's note: The Latin version is followed here. In Matt. xix. 17, where the English version gives, “Why callest thou me good?” the Vulgate has, Quid me interrogas de bono?…
Read the whole comment“On this account also He replied to him, who had called Him Good Master, when seeking advice of Him how he might attain eternal life, “Why askest thou me about good? there is none good but One, that is, God.”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17
Read the whole comment“On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xix. 17, “If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments.”” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xix. 17, “If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments.”” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“Ye have the Lord saying most plainly, “Why callest thou Me good? there is none Good but One, that is, God.”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17.
Read the whole comment“If this were life, the Lord would not have said to a certain man, “If thou wilt come into life, keep the commandments.”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17.
Read the whole comment
John Chrysostom
“There is none good but one, that is, God.”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 16, 17; Luke xviii. 18, 19. [The citation agrees more exactly with Mark x. 18. In Matthew, according to the best mss. authorities, and also the…
Read the whole comment“Wherefore then doth Christ thus reply to him, saying, “There is none good?”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17. [This clause is found in the rec. text, but not in the better supported form of the verse, which reads, “Why askest thou me concerning that…
Read the whole comment
Tertullian
““But,” say they, “God is ‘good,’ and ‘most good,’ and ‘pitiful-hearted,’ and ‘a pitier,’ and ‘abundant in pitiful-heartedness,’ which He holds ‘dearer than all sacrifice,’ ‘not thinking the sinner’s death of so much worth as his repentance’, ‘a Saviour of all men, most of all of believers.’” — editor's note: See Matt. xix. 17; Mark x. 18; Luke xviii. 19.
Read the whole comment“That rich man did go his way who had not “received” the precept of dividing his substance to the needy, and was abandoned by the Lord to his own opinion.” — editor's note: See Matt. xix. 16–26; Mark x. 17–27; Luke xviii. 18–27.
Read the whole comment
Ambrose of Milan
“Jesus said to him: Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”” — editor's note: S. Matt. xix. 17, 18, 19.
Read the whole comment“So, then, no one is without sin except God alone, for no one is without sin except God.” — editor's note: S. Matt. xix. 17.
Read the whole comment
Hilary of Poitiers
“None is good, save one, God.” — editor's note: St. Mark x. 18 (cf. St. Matt. xix. 17, St. Luke xviii. 19). The Greek is οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς, εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεός, ‘save one, even God’ (R.V.). The application of this…
Read the whole comment
Cyprian of Carthage
“But how can we possess immortality, unless we keep those commands of Christ whereby death is driven out and overcome, when He Himself warns us, and says, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments?”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17.
Read the whole comment“Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17–21.
Read the whole comment
Clement of Alexandria
“For He who placed some “on the right hand, and others on the left,” conceived as Father, being good, is called that which alone He is—“good;” but as He is the Son in the Father, being his Word, from their mutual relation, the name of power being measured by equality of love, He is called righteous.” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17.
Read the whole comment
Hippolytus of Rome
“He says that this (one) alone is good, and that what is spoken by the Saviour is declared concerning this (one): “Why do you say that am good?” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17; Mark x. 18; Luke xviii. 19.
Read the whole comment“And He has, he says, been liberated from the nature of the Good One likewise, in order that He may be a Mediator, as Paul states, and as Himself acknowledges: “Why call ye me good? there is one good.”” — editor's note: Matt. xix. 17; Mark x. 18; Luke xviii. 19.
Read the whole comment
Catena Aurea on Matthew
- JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
He that asks this question is both young, rich, and proud, and he asks not as one that desires to learn, but as tempting Him. This we can prove by this, that when the Lord had said unto him, “If thou wilt enter into…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
But I for my part, though I deny not that he was a lover of money, because Christ convicts him as such, cannot consider him to have been a hypocrite, because it is unsafe to decide in uncertain cases, and especially…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
This may seem a discrepancy, that Matthew here gives it, “Why askest thou me concerning good?” whereas Mark and Luke’s have, “Why callest thou me good?” For this, “Why askest thou me concerning good?” may seem rather…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
But because he had styled Him Good Master, and had not confessed Him as God, or as the Son of God, He tells him, that in comparison of God there is no saint to be called good, of whom it is said, “Confess unto the…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or, because he sought eternal life, (and eternal life consists in such contemplation in which God is beheld not for punishment, but for everlasting joy,) and knew not with whom he spake, but thought Him only a Son of…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
For Our Saviour does not reject this witness to His goodness, but corrected the error of calling Him Good Master apart from God.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Wherein then was the profit that He answered thus? He leads him by degrees, and teaches him to lay aside false flattery, and rising above the things which are upon earth to cleave to God, to seek things to come, and…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Matthew
Christ also answers thus, because of that He said, “What good thing shall I do? For when we depart from evil and do good, that which we do is called good by comparison with what other men do. But when compared with…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
And He said not, “If thou desirest life eternal; but, “If thou wilt enter into life,” calling that simply “life,” which shall be everlasting. Here we should consider how eternal life should be loved, when this…
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
These words prove that the Law gave to such as kept it not only temporal promises, but also life eternal. And because the hearing these things made him thoughtful, “He saith unto him, Which?”
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
This he said not to tempt Him, but because he supposed that they were other than the commandments of the Law, which should be the means of life to him.
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
And Jesus, condescending as to a weak one, most graciously set out to him the precepts of the Law; Jesus said, “Thou shalt do no murder;” and of all these precepts follows the exposition, “And thou shalt love thy…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or perhaps these precepts are enough to introduce one, if I may say so, to the entrance of life; but neither these, nor any like them, are enough to conduct one to the more inward parts of life. But whoso…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
But because all the commandments that the Lord had recounted were contained in the Law, The young man saith unto him, “All these have I kept from my youth up.” And did not even rest there, but asked further, “What…
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
But to those who would be perfect in grace, He shews how they may come to perfection, “Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go, and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor.” Mark the words; He said…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Nor need it be made a scruple in what monasteries, or to the indigent brethren of what place, any one gives those things that he has, for there is but one commonwealth of all Christians. Therefore wheresoever any…
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
See two kinds of life which we have heard set before men; the Active, to which pertains, “Thou shalt not kill,” and the rest of the Law; and the Contemplative, to which pertains this, “If thou wilt be perfect.” The…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Nor are such only partakers in the kingdom of heaven, who, to the end they may be perfect, sell or part with all that they have; but in these Christian ranks are numbered by reason of a certain communication of their…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
That Vigilantius asserts that they who retain the use of their property, and from time to time divide their incomes among the poor, do better than they who sell their possessions and lavish them in one act of…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
It is good to distribute with discrimination to the poor; it is better, with resolve of following the Lord to strip one’s self of all at once, and freed from anxiety to suffer want with Christ.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
And because He spake of riches warning us to strip ourselves of them, He promises to repay things greater, by how much heaven is greater than earth, and therefore He says, “And thou shalt have treasure in heaven.” By…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Matthew
If every commandment is fulfilled in this one word, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” and if he is perfect who has fulfilled every command, how is it that the Lord said to the young man, If thou wilt be…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
For many who leave their riches do not therefore follow the Lord; and it is not sufficient for perfection that they despise money, unless they also follow the Saviour, that unless having forsaken evil, they also do…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
For they that have little, and they that abound, are not in like measure encumbered. For the acquisition of riches raises a greater flame, and desire is more violently kindled.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
I know not how, but in the love of worldly superfluities, it is what we have already got, rather than what we desire to get, that most strictly enthrals us. For whence went this young man away sorrowful, but that he…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Matthew
But historically, the young man is to be praised for that he did not kill, did not commit adultery; but is to be blamed for that he sorrowed at Christ’s words calling him to perfection. He was young indeed in soul,…
Read the whole comment
Cross-references · 24
Parallel passages
Matthew 19:17 and Mark 10:18 share the same wording (13 words).
Matthew 19:17 and Luke 18:19 share the same wording (11 words).
Cited together with
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in John Chrysostom on Matthew 19:16–22 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Against Celsus V.11 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in Sermons on New Testament Lessons Sermon 34.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in On the Duties of the Clergy I.11.
Cited together in On the Duties of the Clergy I.11.
Cited together in Sermons on New Testament Lessons Sermon 34.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in Against Celsus V.11.
Cited together in Remigius of Auxerre on Matthew 19:16–22 (2) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XI.2.
Cited together in On the Duties of the Clergy I.11.
Cited together in On the Duties of the Clergy I.11.
Cited together in Origen on Matthew 19:16–22 (3) (Catena Aurea).