Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Ask this:

WHO is the Savior?


IF you answer "Jesus" then Jesus is the Savior. Not you - not a bit, not at all, not now, not ever, not in any way or shape or form or manner. Salvation is entirely, wholly wrapped up in Jesus. Salvation is what Jesus does. It's entirely HIS work. HIS heart. HIS love. HIS mercy. HIS gift. HIS blessing. His life, His death, His resurrection. His Cross, His blood, His sacrifice. His righteousness, His obedience, His holiness. Not you. Not yours. You may have some other role in some other matter, but not this. The "job" of Savior belongs to Jesus. Not you. Not me. Not any other.

IF you answer "ME!" then you are the Savior. Not Jesus. Not a bit, not at all. Not now, not ever. Not in any way, shape or form or manner. Salvation is all wrapped up in YOU. YOUR works. YOUR will. YOUR love. YOUR efforts. YOUR merits. YOUR obedience. YOUR righteousness. YOUR holiness. YOUR sacrifice. Not Jesus. Not Jesus'. Jesus may have some other role in some other matter, just not this one. The Savior is you (for you).

Which is it? Try answering that. If you give the Christian answer, a LOT of Christianity falls into place. I think that's exactly what Paul is conveying.





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Lämmchen said:

The man loved his money more than God...so Jesus gave him the law to help the man see that he had made his money into a god.

Luke 18 explains this:

But when the ruler heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.

24Seeing the man’s sorrow, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. 25Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

26Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

27But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

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Verse 27 is the key.
Jesus conversations pointed people toward their desperate need for a Redeemer since no one was/is capable of redeeming themselves.

hobie said:

One day a young ruler came to Jesus and fell on his knees before him. He said, "Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus told him 'if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments' and started quoting the 10 commandments; "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother."

The young man said he had kept them from the time he was a boy. He had lived a good life. But the Bible says that Jesus looked into the man's heart and saw something that was keeping him from becoming a follower.

Jesus told him that he still lacked one thing, he must sell the things he owned and give the money to the poor. Then he would have treasure in heaven, and he could follow Jesus. The young man's face fell and he went away sad because he had great riches that he would not part with.

So what does this mean to us today, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

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This passage is often misused by people who insist that it is prescriptive rather than descriptive. They typically look at the instruction to the rich man and assume it applies to all of us (of course it doesn't apply to them, since they post endlessly about it online using a computer they obviously didn't sell to give money to the poor).

What is interesting here is that the rich man listens to the commandments Jesus listed and proclaims that he has kept them all. Jesus didn't mention "you shall have no gods before me", and that was the problem the rich man had. The problem wasn't that he was rich, the problem was that he put his riches before God. Often rich people assume that if there is something they want they can pay for it out of their riches. Jesus essentially said he could pay for his place in heaven, but it would cost him literally everything he owned. That was the price. The rich man didn't want to pay the price so went away unhappy.

What must we do to inherit eternal life? Follow Jesus, wherever the path may lead us. It may be we can live a life pleasing to God and get to the finishing line with a lot of material wealth. It may be we are expected to be less wealthy, even poor. The cross Jesus calls us to bear may be poverty, it may be celibacy, it may be all sorts of things. The crucial question isn't whether your cross looks anything like my cross, the question is whether you or I choose to take up the cross and carry it, or put it down and go our own way.

hobie said:

One day a young ruler came to Jesus and fell on his knees before him. He said, "Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus told him 'if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments' and started quoting the 10 commandments; "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother."

The young man said he had kept them from the time he was a boy. He had lived a good life. But the Bible says that Jesus looked into the man's heart and saw something that was keeping him from becoming a follower.

Jesus told him that he still lacked one thing, he must sell the things he owned and give the money to the poor. Then he would have treasure in heaven, and he could follow Jesus. The young man's face fell and he went away sad because he had great riches that he would not part with.

So what does this mean to us today, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

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Good question. One that is greatly misunderstood today, for there is much written in books and sung about in songs concerning man's opinion concerning "inheriting Eternal Life." But when we abide by what Jesus Himself taught, we find it is quite simple - "obey His commandments." As He told another - "if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matt 19:17)

As Jesus revealed in the last book of the Bible -

"Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city." - Rev 22:14

Obedience gives us the right to partake of the Tree of Life.

Oh, we may have been "saved", and that indeed apart from "any works (of the Law) which we have done"(Titus 3:5), but to inherit "eternal Life" we must "depart from iniquity" (2Tim 2:19) and walk in obedience to the commandments of God given through Christ Jesus and His Apostles.

Another verse which doesn't fit in our modern 'belief only' doctrine is Paul's statement in the saints in Rome, writing that "God will repay according to each one’s deeds: 7 to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life." (Rom 2:6-7 NRSV)

Our "belief" is only proven by what we DO. If we are not striving to "keep His commandments" that we may gain "eternal Life"... then we really don't "believe." In the Scripture "believe" always includes our "obedience."

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath." - John 3:36 NRSV

Amen.
Thus saith the Word of the Lord.

The rich man was told to sell all he had and give to the poor not so he could inherit eternal life but to expose his sin to him so he could see it. You can't repent of a sin unless you are consciously aware of it and he wasn't until Jesus told him to sell all he had and give to the poor. It was then that he found he truly didn't follow all the commandments like he thought he did and went away sad for it because he grew attached to his "god" and didn't want to part ways with it.

Michael said:

Obedience gives us the right to partake of the Tree of Life.

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I disagree.


OUR obedience is something we do poorly ONLY BECAUSE God has given us spiritual life, the Holy Spirit, faith and salvation.... He without this CANNOT please God, CANNOT even give a rip about obedience. Obedience is a requirement, but not so that we are saved but because we are saved. It's wrong and profoundly dangerous to mix up Law and Gospel. Very dangerous to make the Gospel dependent on what WE do (thus rendering Jesus irrelevant and destroying Christianity). YES, the Law fully applies! YES we must be as perfect as God Himself is, as Loving as God is, we must forgive as God does, we must make disciples of every one of the 7.5 billion people on the planet - YES! And if we don't..... our faith in The Savior is critical. "No one is righteous, no, not even one." "Not that I'm perfect (as the Law MANDATES)....." Just as the Law fully applies SO DOES THE GOSPEL. We are saved by the keeping of the Law, it's just that Jesus did that.

Josiah said:

Ask this: WHO is the Savior?


IF you answer "Jesus" then Jesus is the Savior. Not you - not a bit, not at all, not now, not ever, not in any way or shape or form or manner. Salvation is entirely, wholly wrapped up in Jesus. Salvation is what Jesus does. It's entirely HIS work. HIS heart. HIS love. HIS mercy. HIS gift. HIS blessing. His life, His death, His resurrection. His Cross, His blood, His sacrifice. His righteousness, His obedience, His holiness. Not you. Not yours. You may have some other role in some other matter, but not this. The "job" of Savior belongs to Jesus. Not you. Not me. Not any other.

IF you answer "ME!" then you are the Savior. Not Jesus. Not a bit, not at all. Not now, not ever. Not in any way, shape or form or manner. Salvation is all wrapped up in YOU. YOUR works. YOUR will. YOUR love. YOUR efforts. YOUR merits. YOUR obedience. YOUR righteousness. YOUR holiness. YOUR sacrifice. Not Jesus. Not Jesus'. Jesus may have some other role in some other matter, just not this one. The Savior is you (for you).

Which is it? Try answering that. If you give the Christian answer, a LOT of Christianity falls into place. I think that's exactly what Paul is conveying.


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