LUKE 18.18-22: And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (19) And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (20) You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'” (21) And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” (22) When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (ESV)
At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry he preached the message recorded in Mark 1.15: “repent and believe in the gospel” (ESV). The verb “believe” in the New Testament is built upon the same root word as the noun “faith”. So Jesus preached the Gospel of repentance and faith in Him for salvation and eternal life.
In the verses above a rich ruler questioned Jesus about eternal life on the basis of doing good works to obtain eternal life. Jesus’ response to this ruler was specifically related to the context of the question. Namely, what is the good work that produces the earning of salvation and eternal life? So with this as the foundation of the question, Jesus told him how he should proceed. Namely, keep the Ten Commandments. Now Jesus knew that this was not possible for anyone to actually accomplish, but that was the ruler’s question. So Jesus answered the question on this very narrowly defined basis.
This ruler asserted his righteousness, but Jesus is a knower of every person’s heart. He knew just how to expose the ruler’s lack of righteousness and incapacity to save himself. Jesus required of this man the sale and giving away of his wealth as the decisive “good work” to produce the “inheriting” or earning of eternal life.
But it wasn’t going to happen. The ruler was a man of great wealth and further reading of the account shows that the man would not give up his wealth – not even for the prospect of this act earning eternal life for himself.
No one other than Jesus has ever righteously kept the Law of God. And Jesus did this and was crucified to pay the penalty for our sins. The promise of eternal life only comes by repentance and faith in Jesus. But with regard to the conduct of our lives after believing in Him, Jesus does call us to obey God’s Law as people who want to be pleasing to Him and God the Father. Living lives of devotion, knowing that obeying God’s Law is the best way to live.