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Luke 18:21

in Luke 18

“All these I have kept from my youth,” he said.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he said, All these things have I observed from my youth up.

KJV

And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

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This verse in Luke 18

Commentary

11 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 420.

(in Matt. 19:19.) The young man speaks false, for if he had fulfilled that which was afterwards placed among the commandments, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, how was it that when he heard, Go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, he went away sorrowful?

This site's exposition

to inherit eternal life

on Luke 18:18-21

Jesus answers the ruler's title first: No one is good except God alone. The commandments He then lists are duties owed to other people, and the ruler answers, All these I have kept from my youth.

This site's exposition

All these I have kept from my youth

Bede reads the ruler's claim as sincere: he had kept the commandments at least in outward things, and Mark 10:21 says Jesus loved him. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear a man who sensed that keeping them was too easy a way to eternal life. He still lacks one thing.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Tertullian

Against Marcion Book IV · Written before 220.

proposed

Then, when he affirmed that from his youth up he had kept all the principal commandments, (Jesus) said to him: "One thing thou yet lackest: sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Well now, Marcion, and all ye who are companions in misery, and associates in hatred with that heretic, what will you dare say to this? Did Christ rescind the forementioned commandments: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother? "Or did He both keep them, and then add what was wanting to them? This very precept, however, about giving to the poor, was very largely diffused through the pages of the law and the prophets.

The Medieval Church3 voices

A commentator

Bede

On the Gospel of Luke · Written before 735.

proposed

He said, "All these I have kept from my youth." Jesus, hearing this, said to him, "You still lack one thing." This prince is not to be thought a liar when he claimed he kept the commandments of the law, but he confessed simply as …

A commentator

Bede

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 735.

proposed

Or we must not think him to have lied, but to have avowed that he had lived honestly, that is, at least in outward things, else Mark could never have said, And Jesus seeing him, loved him. (Mark. 10:21.)

A commentator

Bonaventure

Commentary on Luke, Chapter 18 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

And since these commandments do not justify through simple knowledge, but through experiential observance, therefore the Lord was not asking about simple knowledge when He said: You know the commandments, but about experiential knowledge, because, as is said in Romans 2, "not the hearers of …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And he said,.... That is, the ruler said to him, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions add; "to Jesus", as the Persic version expresses it; all these have I kept from my youth up; See Gill on Mat 19:20 where it is added, what lack I yet?
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

The story we have now read is three times reported in the Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke were all moved by the Holy Spirit to record the history of the rich young ruler. This fact should be noticed. It shows us that there are lessons before us which demand special attention. When God would impress on Peter his duty towards the Gentiles, He sent him a vision which was repeated "three times." (Acts 10:16.) We learn, firstly, from these verses — to what lengths men may go in self-ignorance.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Ah! this gives us a glimpse of his heart. Doubtless he was perfectly sincere; but something within whispered to him that his keeping of the commandments was too easy a way of getting to heaven. He felt something beyond this to be necessary; after keeping all the commandments he was at a loss to know what that could be; and he came to Jesus just upon that point.
The story we have now read is three times reported in the Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke were all moved by the Holy Spirit to record the history of the rich young ruler. This fact should be noticed. It shows us that there are lessons before us which demand special attention. When God would impress on Peter his duty towards the Gentiles, He sent him a vision which was repeated "three times." (Acts 10:16.) We learn, firstly, from these verses — to what lengths men may go in self-ignorance. We are told of "a certain ruler," who asked our Lord what he should "do to inherit eternal life." Our Lord knew the ruler's heart, and gave him the answer which was most likely to bring to light the real state of his soul. He reminds him of the ten commandments. He recites some of the principal requirements of the second table of the law. At once the spiritual blindness of the inquirer was detected. "All these," said the man, "I have kept from my youth up." An answer more full of darkness and self-ignorance — it is impossible to conceive! He who made it could have known nothing rightly — either about himself, or God, or God's law. Does the case of this rich ruler stand alone? Do we suppose there are none like him at the present day? If we do — then we are greatly deceived. There are thousands, it may be feared, in all our congregations, who have not the least idea of the spiritual nature of God's law, and consequently know nothing of their own sinfulness. They do not see that God requires "truth in the inward parts," and that we may break commandments in our heart and thoughts — even when we do not break them in outward actions. (Psalm 51:6, Matthew 5:21-28.) To be delivered from such blindness, is one of the first things needful to our salvation. The eyes of our understandings must be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:18.)

The words behind it

8 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

9 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Luke 16:15So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.5 worksPhilippians 3:6as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.3 worksRomans 10:2–3For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge.2 worksLuke 15:7In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.2 worksMark 10:20–21“Teacher,” he replied, “all these I have kept from my youth.”2 worksMatthew 19:20–21“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”2 works
The other 3 cross-references, with their words ▾
Luke 18:11–12The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.2 worksRomans 7:9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.2 worksLuke 15:29But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Luke 15:7

    In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.

    it leads to

    • Luke 15:10

      In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

    • Luke 5:32

      I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

    • Luke 15:32

      But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

    • Matthew 18:13

      And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices more over that one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

    • Proverbs 30:12

      There is a generation of those who are pure in their own eyes and yet unwashed of their filth.

  • Through

    Philippians 3:6

    as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.

    it leads to

    • Galatians 1:13–14

      For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how severely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.

    • Acts 8:3

      But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

    • Acts 26:9–10

      So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Where this verse is studied

About Luke

The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt, about 1668. Public domain.
The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt, about 1668. Public domain.
Luke: the study guide →Read Luke 18 →
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, On the Gospel of Luke; Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 18; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Luke; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748) and Tertullian, Against Marcion Book IV.

Read on in Luke 18 →