Why do we call Jesus good?

Luke 18:19 is a very controversial verse. If Jesus is God, why does He seem to rebuke the rich man for calling Him good, saying only God is good? Aha! Gotcha, you heretical Trinitarian!

Except, no. As usual, context is key. In fact, this is one of the many things that shows Jesus must be God. Why? Because the entire point of the incarnation is that He became sin who knew no sin. If no one is good but God, and Jesus is good, Jesus must be God.

So Jesus clearly has another point to make here. He's not denying His Godhood, He's actually dealing with a very specific issue. One which, as a matter of fact, is very prevalent in our own culture: Do you think you're a good person?

The entire exchange takes place in Luke 18:18-23. The rich man enquires as to what he must do to inherit eternal life, to which Jesus responds by drawing attention to the commandments. The rich man says he's done all that, so Jesus points out the greatest idol in his heart: His money.

In verse 23, we're told "But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich." We don't know if the rich man was upset because he knew he couldn't inherit eternal life, or because he knew what he had to do to inherit it and wasn't happy with such a price, but we all know that the path to salvation has nothing to do with keeping the commandments or selling your possessions to distribute to the poor. Jesus was tackling the specific philosophy of this man.

Whereas Jesus knew no sin, we all do. 1 John 1:8 even goes as far as to say that if you say you have no sin, you're deceiving yourself and the truth is not in you. So, are you a good person? Most people would still answer yes. Ok, so I've told a few lies, watched a few pornos, stolen a few pounds, kissed a few men, said a few rude words, I'm still a good guy generally. Right? I've never been in trouble with the law. I've never seriously injured anyone. I even put a few coins in those plastic animal boxes you find on the way out of the supermarket. So I'm still a good person, right?

But Jesus asks us the question: Why do you call me good? Even an unbeliever today might look at Jesus and say "I think He was a good person". C.S. Lewis even came up with the concept that He is either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord based around the culture's idea that He was a good person, just not God. The real statement here isn't "I am not good", but "your idea of good is skewed." We, as humans, wouldn't know good if it jumped up and smacked us in the face! We're evil from our youth (Genesis 8:21). Our hearts are deceptive and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). In what possible universe could the species that literally calls good evil and evil good ever be credible in our assessment of what a good and bad person should look like?

Far from disproving the Trinity, Luke 18:19 is one of many verses (two of which I have sandwiched it between in the header image) that prove it. Rather than intending to disprove the Trinity, Jesus was attacking the philosophical failures of a specific man's worldview. In doing this, He refuted a common worldview that persists to this day; the idea that God should just let "good" people into Heaven. Unfortunately for us, there is only one person good enough to earn Heaven. Fortunately for us, He is good enough to earn it for all of us, and so by faith in His death and resurrection, we can inherit eternal life despite not being anywhere near good enough to earn it.