Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, ” ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” (Matthew 19:16-19)

Which Ones?

Jesus was asked many questions in his life, and none was so telling as the conversation with a rich young ruler seeking eternal life. The heart of the man was honest in seeking how to find eternal life. There is no greater aspiration of life than to know what will happen after death. The young man came to the right source for his answer. Jesus was the Son of God, and if the question could be answered directly, it would come from Him. The man commends the character of Jesus by calling Him a good teacher, but Jesus deflects the accolade to show He was only seeking the Father’s will. Jesus answers the question of eternal life with the simple answer given to men from the beginning of time. Obedience has always been the hallmark of those who are faithful to the Lord. If the man wants to enter into eternal life, he must keep the commandments of God.

There is no more straightforward manner to answer the question of eternal life than keeping the laws, testimonies, statutes, and commandments of the Lord. God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Satan attacked the word of God, suggesting Eve could ignore the word of God. Spiritual death was the consequence. Moses delivered the law to the Hebrews with the preamble of the Ten Commandments to codify the will of the Lord. The Holy Spirit inscribed the Ten Commandments on stone as a guide for the people with the full intention that all ten commandments would be followed.

The young man’s question to Jesus of which laws to keep would be as if a man read the Ten Commandments and asked which part of the Ten Commandments were required to be followed. Why would God give ten laws without the expectation that all ten laws were to be kept? The Ten Commandments were not the Ten Options! Israel was to keep all ten commandments plus the various laws in the Law of Moses. There was never an option of the law allowing the picking of which laws were favored and which were not. God expected Israel to keep the whole law fully. Asking Jesus which laws were required was an effort to find loopholes in the word of the Lord to allow a man to live as he pleases. Which laws did the rich young ruler think he could live without? How would a man decide which to include and which to exclude? The idea is preposterous at best and dangerous in the end.

When a man comes to the Bible trying to find which laws apply to him and which do not, he will never find eternal life. Salvation is not measured by how successful a man keeps the laws of his liking. The Bible contains the mind of God so that everyone can read and understand the will of the Father. Keeping 90% of the commandments of God will not bring eternal life. Salvation is not measured on the merit badge that the individual decides to maintain, with the exception of others. The whole law judges, and the whole law condemns. There is no middle ground.

Jesus summarized the keeping of the law, showing the need to obey the whole law. The reality came when the young man’s heart turned away from God because he was unwilling to give up his riches. He wanted to serve God about 90% without giving away all his wealth. To the rich young ruler, obedience was determined by how much he was willing to sacrifice without giving it all away. He could not do what Jesus required because he tried to justify himself by asking which laws to keep. The better question would have been, “What more can I do?” Do you measure your eternal life by choosing which laws to keep?