Ron Rhodes interprets it as saying "Do you realize what you are saying when you call Me good? Are you saying I am God?" and "'If I am not deity, don't call me good, for only God is good.' Or perhaps: 'You have given me a title which belongs only to God. Do you understand and mean it?' Clearly, Matthew 10:17, 18 does not support the...contention that Jesus is not God Almighty simply because he lacks the goodness of God." pp. 157, 158 Reasoning from the Scriptures....
There are several things wrong with the above. Firstly, the verses in question are at Mark 10:17, 18, NOT in Matthew.
Also, Vine's says in his Expository Dictionary of the Bible:
"God is essentially, absolutely and consummately "good," Mat_19:17; Mar_10:18; Luk_18:19."
This sets him apart from others that are also called GOOD:
There are several things wrong with the above. Firstly, the verses in question are at Mark 10:17, 18, NOT in Matthew.
Also, Vine's says in his Expository Dictionary of the Bible:
"God is essentially, absolutely and consummately "good," Mat_19:17; Mar_10:18; Luk_18:19."
This sets him apart from others that are also called GOOD:
Mat 25:21 "And his lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave." LITV
Luk 23:50 "Now there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathe'a. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man" RSV
Acts 11:24 "For he [Barnabas] was a good man, and was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith" Weymouth
1 Pet. 2:18 "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to those good and forbearing, but also to the perverse ones." MKJV
Additionally, in Mark, only the Father is hO QEOS, never Jesus. Jesus addresses him in this fashion at Mark 15:34 (hO QEOS MOU [hO QEOS MOU])
That Mark 10:18 should be seen as a rebuke is cemented 2 verses later, where the same man THEN refers to him simply as "Teacher" without the qualifying "Good.":
"He said to him, 'Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.'" NRSV
Did Jesus correct him here? No. The man understood then only God is essentially, absolutely and consummately "good," and that God was NOT Jesus.
Rhodes complains that some view this verse as saying that the Father is in a "'class' distinct from Jesus Christ", but this is how is it has historically always been viewed:
Clement of Alexandria Strom. V. 10.63 (c. 260 CE)
"And if, the Creator above all is confessed to be just, and the Lord to be the Son of the Creator; then the Lord is the Son of Him who is just. Wherefore also Paul says, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested; " and again, that you may better conceive of God, "even the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ upon all that believe; for there is no difference." And, witnessing further to the truth, he adds after a little, "through the forbearance of God, in order to show that He is just, and that Jesus is the justifier of him who is of faith." And that he knows that what is just is good, appears by his saying, "So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good," using both names to denote the same power. But "no one is good," except His Father." ( hEIS AGAQOS, hO PATHR )
Hippolytus - haer. V.7.25 (pre-222 CE)
'They affirm, then, concerning the substance of the seed which is a cause of all existent things, that it is none of these, but that it produces and forms all things that are made, expressing themselves thus: "I become what I wish, and I am what I am: on account of this I say, that what puts all things in motion is itself unmoved. For what exists remains forming all things, and nought of existing things is made." He says that this (one) alone is good, and that what is spoken by the Saviour is declared concerning this (one): "Why do you say that am good? One is good, my Father which is in the heavens , (hEIS ESTIN AGAQOS, hO PATHR EN TOIS OURANOIS) who causeth His sun to rise upon the just and unjust, and sendeth rain upon saints and sinners."'
Justin Martyr - Dial. 101.2 (c. 150 CE)
"Then what follows of the Psalm is this, in which He says: `Our fathers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. They cried unto Thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people; 'which show that He admits them to be His fathers, who trusted in God and were saved by Him, who also were the fathers of the Virgin, by whom He was born and became man; and He foretells that He shall be saved by the same God, but boasts not in accomplishing anything through His own will or might. For when on earth He acted in the very same manner, and answered to one who addressed Him as `Good Master: '`Why callest thou me good? One is good, my Father who is in heaven.' (Luke xviii. 18 f.)"
the Pseudo-Clementine Homiles XVI.3.4 (c. 260 CE)
"AT break of day, when Peter went forth to discourse, Simon anticipated him, and said: "When I went away yesterday, I promised to you to return to-day, and in a discussion show that he who flamed the world is not the highest God, but that the highest God is another who alone is good, and who has remained unknown up to this time. At once, then, state to me whether you maintain that the framer of the world is the same as the lawgiver or not? If, then, he is the lawgiver, he is just; but if he is just, he is not good. But if he is not good, then it was another that Jesus proclaimed, when he said, `Do not call me good; for one is good, the Father who is in the heavens.'" (hO GAR AGAQOS hEIS ESTIN, hO PATHR hO EN TOIS OURANOIS)
Justin, Dial. 101.2 hEIS ESTIN AGAQOS, hO PATHR MOU hO EN TOIS OURANOIS - "One is good, my Father in the heavens."
Taitian Diatessaron (c. 172 CE) , as per Ephrem Syrus, Comm. on the Diatessaron, XV,9 (Syr & Arm] "Unus est bonus, Pater, qui in caelo."
Irenaeus, haer. I.210.2 (pre-185 CE) "hEIS ESTIN AGAQOS, hO PATHR EN TOIS OURANOIS"
Hippolytus, haer. V.7.25 (pre-222 CE) "hEIS ESTIN AGAQOS, hO PATHR EN TOIS OURANOIS"
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. V.10.63 (c. 207 CE) "hEIS AGAQOS, hO PATHR"
the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies XVI.3.4 (c. 260 CE) "hO GAR AGAQOS hEIS ESTIN, hO PATHR hO EN TOIS OURANOIS"
Vetus Latina MS e (apud Matthew; V cent) "Unus est bonus, pater."
Vetus Latina MS d (apud Luke; V cent) "Nemo bonus misi unus Deus pater."
Bottom Line? The ancients viewed the Good God at Mark 10:18 NOT as Christ, but his Father.
Additionally, in Mark, only the Father is hO QEOS, never Jesus. Jesus addresses him in this fashion at Mark 15:34 (hO QEOS MOU [hO QEOS MOU])
That Mark 10:18 should be seen as a rebuke is cemented 2 verses later, where the same man THEN refers to him simply as "Teacher" without the qualifying "Good.":
"He said to him, 'Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.'" NRSV
Did Jesus correct him here? No. The man understood then only God is essentially, absolutely and consummately "good," and that God was NOT Jesus.
Rhodes complains that some view this verse as saying that the Father is in a "'class' distinct from Jesus Christ", but this is how is it has historically always been viewed:
Clement of Alexandria Strom. V. 10.63 (c. 260 CE)
"And if, the Creator above all is confessed to be just, and the Lord to be the Son of the Creator; then the Lord is the Son of Him who is just. Wherefore also Paul says, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested; " and again, that you may better conceive of God, "even the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ upon all that believe; for there is no difference." And, witnessing further to the truth, he adds after a little, "through the forbearance of God, in order to show that He is just, and that Jesus is the justifier of him who is of faith." And that he knows that what is just is good, appears by his saying, "So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good," using both names to denote the same power. But "no one is good," except His Father." ( hEIS AGAQOS, hO PATHR )
Hippolytus - haer. V.7.25 (pre-222 CE)
'They affirm, then, concerning the substance of the seed which is a cause of all existent things, that it is none of these, but that it produces and forms all things that are made, expressing themselves thus: "I become what I wish, and I am what I am: on account of this I say, that what puts all things in motion is itself unmoved. For what exists remains forming all things, and nought of existing things is made." He says that this (one) alone is good, and that what is spoken by the Saviour is declared concerning this (one): "Why do you say that am good? One is good, my Father which is in the heavens , (hEIS ESTIN AGAQOS, hO PATHR EN TOIS OURANOIS) who causeth His sun to rise upon the just and unjust, and sendeth rain upon saints and sinners."'
Justin Martyr - Dial. 101.2 (c. 150 CE)
"Then what follows of the Psalm is this, in which He says: `Our fathers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. They cried unto Thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people; 'which show that He admits them to be His fathers, who trusted in God and were saved by Him, who also were the fathers of the Virgin, by whom He was born and became man; and He foretells that He shall be saved by the same God, but boasts not in accomplishing anything through His own will or might. For when on earth He acted in the very same manner, and answered to one who addressed Him as `Good Master: '`Why callest thou me good? One is good, my Father who is in heaven.' (Luke xviii. 18 f.)"
the Pseudo-Clementine Homiles XVI.3.4 (c. 260 CE)
"AT break of day, when Peter went forth to discourse, Simon anticipated him, and said: "When I went away yesterday, I promised to you to return to-day, and in a discussion show that he who flamed the world is not the highest God, but that the highest God is another who alone is good, and who has remained unknown up to this time. At once, then, state to me whether you maintain that the framer of the world is the same as the lawgiver or not? If, then, he is the lawgiver, he is just; but if he is just, he is not good. But if he is not good, then it was another that Jesus proclaimed, when he said, `Do not call me good; for one is good, the Father who is in the heavens.'" (hO GAR AGAQOS hEIS ESTIN, hO PATHR hO EN TOIS OURANOIS)
Justin, Dial. 101.2 hEIS ESTIN AGAQOS, hO PATHR MOU hO EN TOIS OURANOIS - "One is good, my Father in the heavens."
Taitian Diatessaron (c. 172 CE) , as per Ephrem Syrus, Comm. on the Diatessaron, XV,9 (Syr & Arm] "Unus est bonus, Pater, qui in caelo."
Irenaeus, haer. I.210.2 (pre-185 CE) "hEIS ESTIN AGAQOS, hO PATHR EN TOIS OURANOIS"
Hippolytus, haer. V.7.25 (pre-222 CE) "hEIS ESTIN AGAQOS, hO PATHR EN TOIS OURANOIS"
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. V.10.63 (c. 207 CE) "hEIS AGAQOS, hO PATHR"
the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies XVI.3.4 (c. 260 CE) "hO GAR AGAQOS hEIS ESTIN, hO PATHR hO EN TOIS OURANOIS"
Vetus Latina MS e (apud Matthew; V cent) "Unus est bonus, pater."
Vetus Latina MS d (apud Luke; V cent) "Nemo bonus misi unus Deus pater."
Bottom Line? The ancients viewed the Good God at Mark 10:18 NOT as Christ, but his Father.
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