Mark 10:18

Why callest, etc.] RV 'Why callest thou me good? None is good save one, even God.' Since Jesus declares Himself, and is repeatedly declared by others to be sinless (John 6:61; John 8:46; John 14:30; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5, etc.), this cannot mean that He was not good, but that for some reason or other on the present occasion He refused the title. (1) According to some He refused it, because in the sense in which it was offered, it was unequal to His merits and His claims. The young man, they think, called Him good, in the sense in which he would have called any eminent Rabbi good, whereupon our Lord pointedly remarked that only God is good, meaning, 'If you call me good in the same sense in which God is good, I am willing to accept it, but if you call me good in a merely human sense I reject it as insufficient.' (2) The other view is that the human nature of Christ, although 'sinless' during the whole of His earthly life, was not 'good' in the absolute sense. He advanced in 'goodness.' Passing through the different stages of a truly human experience, He acquired by conscious effort the virtues proper to each. He learned obedience (Hebrews 5:8), and was perfected through sufferings (Hebrews 2:10). He was truly tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 2:18; Hebrews 4:15), and maintained His virtue by prayer and constant watchfulness (Hebrews 5:7; Matthew 14:23.). God, however, is 'good' absolutely. He can neither be tempted of evil nor advance in goodness. It is only as God, not as man, that Christ is 'good' in the absolute sense.