Matthew 19:21
Saturday, 9 May 2026
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Matthew 19:21
“He said to him, Jesus, ‘If you desire to be complete, you go, you sell your ‘the possessings,’ and you give these to ‘poor’, and you will have treasure in heaven. And you, hither! You follow Me.’” (CG)
In the previous verse, the young ruler told Jesus that he had guarded all the commandments Jesus referred to in the previous verses since his youth. With that having been said, Jesus next gets to the root of the man’s true state by giving him one last directive. Matthew records, “He said to him, Jesus, ‘If you desire to be complete, you go, you sell your ‘the possessings,’.’”
A new word is seen, huparchó, to exist, to be, to possess. It is from hupo, under, and archomai, to commence. The connection can be seen in the sentence, “It is he who is the pastor of the church.” He possesses the position of pastor. The things that the ruler had existed under him.
Jesus’ instruction is to take those things which existed under him, which were obviously unnecessary to him if he faithfully kept the commandments he claimed he kept. The reason for this, in particular, is because of the last one Jesus referred to. It was not a part of the decalogue. Instead, it was a principle found in the moral codes of Leviticus, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
If he loved his neighbor as himself, he would tend to his neighbor as he tended to himself. But he was rich, and many of his neighbors, the people of Israel and any strangers among them (Deuteronomy 10:18, etc.), were poor.
If he loved them as he loved himself, he would tend to their needs just as he tended to his own. Jesus has, as in Matthew 5, raised the bar from simple precepts to what lies behind them. The parable of the Good Samaritan is an example of such a situation. The idea of tending to them in this way is made explicit in the next words, “and you give these to ‘poor’, and you will have treasure in heaven.”
A bar has been set for this young ruler. To attain perpetual life under the law, he would need to give up everything he possessed as a demonstration of his true care for the precepts of the law. Understanding this, He next says, “And you, hither! You follow Me.”
Another new word is seen, deuro, hither, or here. In most cases, it is used as an emphatic verb, signifying to come hither. But the verb is only implied. It can also be used as an adverb. It is used that way in Romans 1:13, where it says, “Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now [deuro]) ...”
Jesus implores him that if he wants to learn the way of meriting favor through the law, he will sell everything, give it all to the poor as a demonstration of his love for his neighbor, and then come to Him to learn the way of attaining perpetual life as stated in Leviticus 18:5 –
“And you guard my enactments and my verdicts, which he will do them, a man, and he lived in them. I, Yehovah.” Leviticus 18:5 (CG)
The man’s question was based on that precept. Therefore, Jesus gave His answer to this man based on his question. He did not introduce salvation by grace through faith at all. Rather, He confirmed what is necessary to attain eternal life through law observance.
Life application: This interaction between the ruler and Jesus has nothing to do with Christians attaining eternal life through the finished work of Jesus. The man was emphatically implored by Jesus to follow Him. Jesus had not yet died in fulfillment of the law. If the man followed His instructions and then followed Him as instructed, he would have been “perfect” in his pursuit of the law.
Obviously, this could not have happened, but Jesus’ words were an instructional tool to learn what is required if one wants to attain life through law observance. The key to understanding this interaction is the man’s initial words concerning his desire for perpetual life. He said, “Teacher, what ‘good’ I should do that I may have ‘life perpetual’?”
He inserted himself into the equation, “What good shall I do?” If he had asked, “Teacher, how can I be granted eternal life?” Jesus’ response may have been completely different. The answer to the question for us is, “There is no good thing you can do to merit eternal life.” Instead, we must trust in what Jesus has done.
Understanding this, it is ridiculous to use this interaction as an example of what Christians should do. The Roman Catholic Church has what are known as the “counsels of perfection.” They build their theology on works, known as supererogation, based on this example. But perfection cannot come through works. We are already tainted with sin.
Rather, perfection comes through faith in Christ. His perfection is imputed to us. This interaction between the ruler and Jesus has nothing to do with Christian faith. It should never be used as an example of what we are to do to be pleasing to God.
To do so will only diminish the glory of what God has done for us in the giving of Jesus. Let us not mar grace. After salvation, if we want to do good stuff, that is great. But it should never be considered a condition for attaining perfection.
Lord God, thank You for the lessons we learn in Scripture. They lead us to the understanding that Jesus is all we need to be right with You. May we never assume that we can merit Your favor apart from Him. All glory to You, O God! Amen.
