He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone. (Mark 10:18, MEV)
The person speaking with Jesus was the rich young ruler, (Mark 10:17). Jesus says:
“Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.”
Jesus may be forcing the man to think about what he is actually saying. If he calls Jesus “good,” and ultimate goodness belongs to God, then the statement raises the question: Who is Jesus?
Jesus does not say, “I am not good.” Instead, He directs the man’s attention to God and then exposes the man’s heart by asking him about the commandments and ultimately telling him to give up his possessions and follow Him.
So there is an important distinction:
Jesus was not denying His deity. Rather, He was challenging the man’s understanding of who He was and what “good” meant.
This fits with the broader Gospel testimony that Jesus is God. For example:
John 1:1 “the Word was God.”
John 1:14 “the Word was made flesh.”
John 10:30 “I and my Father are one.”
John 20:28 Thomas says to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”
Colossians 2:9 “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”
And regarding the Pharisees, there are other passages where they clearly struggle with Jesus’ claims concerning His identity and relationship with God (John 5:18; John 8:58–59; John 10:33).
A strong way to state your point would be:
“Jesus’ question, ‘Why do you call Me good?’ was not a denial of His deity. It confronted the man with the significance of calling Jesus ‘good,’ since ultimate goodness belongs to God. Jesus was directing him beyond a superficial view of Him as merely a good teacher and toward the question of who He truly is.”
