The
Saviour and the Schoolmaster
In Matthew 19:16-22, a young man with great possessions
(19:22) came to Jesus with an inquiry as to how he could have “eternal
life” based on some “good thing” (19:16) he might do. This text has
given advocates of a Law-Grace gospel mix the fodder they need to
allege Jesus taught conpliance with the Mosaic Law as requisite
to salvation and eternal life. This passage is the subject of many
discussion threads on websites called “Yahweh Restoration”, “Torah
Restoration” or something similar. It is an
admittedly challenging text to interpret, requiring one to compare
scripture with scripture in arriving at the proper interpretation. What
was Jesus really trying to do with this young man? Was he seeking to
evangelize him? Was Jesus involved in pre-evangelism? I believe if we
rightly divide the Word of God and treat the scripture with
intellectual honesty, we can arrive at the proper understanding of the
text. The LAST thing Jesus was teaching was a connection between
compliance with Mosaic Law and eternal life. Our text constitutes a
story about the Saviour's relationship to the Schoolmaster, the
Lawgiver to the Law he gave Moses at Sinai. We begin by noting the way the young rich man addressed Jesus. He called Jesus “Good Master.” The Greek is διδασκαλε αγαθε. The adjective ἀγαθός (agathos) signifies what is intrinsically beneficial, good in its very essence. “Master” is διδάσκαλος
(didaskolos) meaning “teacher, instructor or doctor.” He addresses
Jesus as “good teacher.” It's difficult to find fault with this
address. It was polite even if perfunctory. The young man saw in Jesus
of Nazareth a genuinely good man, a kind man, a teacher with whom
children could feel at ease with his meekness and
gentleness. Jesus took the opportunity of
this address to stimulate the young man's thinking regarding WHO it was
he was addressing. Jesus replied: “Why callest thou me good? there is
none good but one, that is, God” (19:17). In other words, do you
realize that in calling me “good” you have called me “God”? The rich
young man was standing in the presence of the Saviour, the Lifegiver
himself, and was asking what “good thing” he might do to have eternal
life. At the end of their encounter, it is clear he never did grasp the
spiritual truth Jesus sought to teach. The man
asked: “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” His
enquiry was flawed in at least three ways according to scripture he
should have known. First, it is impossible for a sinner to DO a good
thing. Four times in Psalms, scripture says: “there is none that doeth good” (14:1, 3; 53:1, 3). Paul reiterated this truth for a fifth time in Romans 3:12: “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
Secondly, it is NOT possible for a sinner to EARN eternal life. It is a
gift of God's grace! Thirdly, keeping the Ten Commandments cannot
produce life. There is no Law capable of giving spiritual life to a
compliant sinner (Galatians 3:21). So what was
the purpose of Jesus introducing the Mosaic Law to this man as a path
to life? Consider these NT truths. First, SIN is the transgression of
the LAW (1 John 3:4). Secondly, for by the LAW is the knowledge of SIN
(Romans 3:20). Thirdly, SIN by the COMMANDMENT becomes exceeding SINFUL
(Romans 7:13). Fourthly, the LAW was added alongside the Abrahamic
covenant because of TRANSGRESSIONS (Galatians 3:19). It's clear at this
point that Jesus introduced the commandments for the purpose of
removing the blinders from his eyes and exposing his sin. And sure
enough, it was Commandment #10, a prohibition against covetousness,
that sank his ship, so to speak. There exists
an instructive comparison between this young rich man (Matthew 19) and
the woman at Jacob's well in Samaria (John 4). In both instances, the
point of evangelism with Jesus was to bring each of them to an
awareness of WHO he was and to find salvation in HIM. To the Samaritan
woman, Jesus said if she knew WHO it was that had asked her for water,
she would have asked HIM for living water. When the woman brought up
the subject of MESSIAH, Jesus said: “I that speak unto thee am HE (John
4:26). To the young rich man, Jesus clarified that since he had called
him “good” he must therefore be “GOD,” the sole source of eternal
life. Jesus then instructed him that in order
to be “perfect” (complete, lacking nothing) he should sell all that he
had, give it to the poor and trade his earthly wealth for heavenly
treasure. Jesus followed up those imperatives with another command:
“Come and FOLLOW ME” (Matthew 19:21). These are the key imperatives,
often overlooked by interpreters. In both cases, Jesus linked living
water (John 4) and eternal life (Matthew 19) to HIMSELF. In the end,
the young rich man valued the relationship with his GOODS as more
important than a potential relationship with GOD, the giver of eternal
life! This is the bedrock truth in true evangelism.
On both occasions, Jesus used the Schoolmaster to bring each of them to
HIMSELF (Galatians 3:24). For the woman at the well, it was Commandment
#7, the sin of adultery, that accentuated her need. She discovered that
WHO she worshipped was of far greater import than WHERE she worshipped.
For the young rich man, it was Commandment #10, the sin of
covetousness, that exposed his need. He ultimately refused to
relinquish his sin in order that he might have life in Christ! We
see the effectiveness of the Schoolmaster in bringing the woman to
Christ: “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the
city, and saith to the men, 'Come, see a MAN, which told me all things
that ever I did: is not this the CHRIST?'” (John 4:28-29).
Contrariwise, we see the reaction of the young rich man: “But when the
young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great
possessions” (Matthew 19:22). The woman went away JOYFUL, but the man
SORROWFUL! Some
thirty years later, the apostle Paul clarified what was
actually happening in this encounter with the young rich man. Paul
likewise had kept all the commandments from his youth up, as he
testified in Philippians 3:4-6. He used the word “blameless” to
describe his devotion to the Law of Moses. But once he met Christ, the
obsession of his life was to “win Christ” and to be “found in him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith” (3:8-9). Paul discovered that CHRIST WAS ENOUGH, his ALL IN
ALL, a reality that escaped the young rich man. Paul
earlier wrote these words to the church at Rome: “For what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (8:3-4). There is
nothing wrong with the Law. But it cannot produce true righteousness or
give life because of the weakness of man's flesh to comply fully with
its demands. So God in Christ condemned sin in the flesh with his own
perfect obedience, rose from the dead, ascended to the Father's right
hand and sends the Spirit of God INTO the heart of every believer for
the purpose of fulfilling the righteousness of the Law IN
them! The weakness of the young rich man's flesh rendered the Law
impotent to save him or anyone else. Little did that young rich man
know that the Christ that bid him “Follow me!” was going to do all this
on his behalf. One
last thought. We must remember that this rich young man, although
zealous of complying with the commandments “from his youth,” was under
condemnation. Jesus told Nicodemus: “He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this
is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John
3:18-19). The young man was NOT a good guy. His covetousness was an
EVIL DEED that caused him to reject the Light in whose presence he
stood. He loved darkness rather than Light, and walked away sorrowful.
Such is the relationship between the Saviour and the
Schoolmaster, which God added alongside the Abrahamic covenant to
exacerbate our transgressions and bring us to Christ. For the woman at
the well, it found great success in her salvation. But for the young
rich man, its purpose was not realized. As the saying goes, the same
sun that melts the snow is the same sun that hardens the clay!
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