Glad the answer to this question has changed...

Daily Bible reading, January 16, 2010 - Matthew 19

This young man asks a very important question for his time. Let me explain. Before the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus all humanity was under the Law. The Law consisted of the 10 commands given to Moses and then there were something like 300 other laws dealing with cleanliness, sins of commission and omission (what you DO and Don't Do, respectively) and laws about the tabernacle, etc. The way it worked was this. You had to obey the law. If you obey the law you're okay before God. If you disobey or break the law you were not okay before God. The catch is that the Bible says that if you break even one part of the law you're guilty of breaking it all! Couple that with the Romans passage that says "all have sinned" and you see the pickle. No one (except Jesus) was sinless. No one ever was able to keep the law - all the law. If you broke the law you missed perfection and that meant hell was your eternal destination.

So this guy is looking for an attaboy. He's obeyed the law (he thinks all of it) and thinks what he will be told he's got a pretty direct path to heaven.

But Jesus knew that after his resurrection humanity would not be under law but under the grace of God, expressed in the sacrifice of Christ. But the rule at that moment was the law and the young man knew it.

So the interaction lives in both the present and the future. Jesus doesn't humiliate him, but points out that spiritual perfection does not exist in just obeying every law, but in living according to the spirit of the Law. And everybody knew that the greatest command, the greatest law was to love God and then to love others. This young man had the law part down - but obviously didn't have the "care" part down. He loved God, he may not have loved others very much - certainly not enough to give his life for them, as Jesus was about to do.

I'm glad that the answer to this question has changed. What must I (and you) do to inherit eternal life? Believe in the one that He sent, Jesus. It's about who you are in Christ - not what you do in life.