And when he was
gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked
him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? … Then Jesus
beholding him loved him, and
said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up
the cross, and follow me (Mark 10:17, 21).
COMMON GRACE
ARGUMENT:
This text is
often referred to as evidence of God loving the reprobate wicked, and,
therefore, is an example of “common grace.” The assumption is, of course, that
the rich young ruler was a reprobate.
(I)
Rev. Angus Stewart
Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the touching
scene in which a wealthy, religious leader in his twenties or early thirties,
usually referred to as the rich young ruler, comes to Christ and, kneeling
before Him, asks about inheriting eternal life.
The good news is that the Lord Jesus “loved” the
rich young ruler (Mark 10:21)! This young man is in fine company, along with
John, the beloved disciple; Lazarus, Mary and Martha (John 11:5); the believing
leper (Mark 1:41); and all God’s people in all ages and lands. “Many waters
cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it” (Song 8:7); how much more
the deep, unchangeable, powerful love of God in Christ Jesus from which nothing
in the present or future, nothing in life or death, nothing in the universe,
not even Satan or sin, is “able to separate us” (Rom. 8:38-39)! All whom Jesus
loves, He loves “unto the end” (John 13:1), for He is “the same yesterday, and
to day, and for ever” (Heb. 13:8)!
Christ loved the rich young ruler, even though he
was self-righteous and loved money (Mark 10:20, 22). Jesus loved him from
before the foundation of the world, when He died for his sins on the cross
(John 10:15; 15:13), when He renewed his heart and into eternity. In His
amazing grace, the Son of God loved the rich young ruler (and all His people) “with
an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness” He drew him (Jer. 31:3).
Out of love for the rich young ruler, Christ spoke
to him of his sinful love of money, calling him to repentance. The young man
went away, as Jesus commanded him, to count the cost (Mark 10:21-22). His grief
and sadness was not a worldly sorrow but a “godly sorrow [that] worketh
repentance to salvation” (II Cor. 7:10).
As Jesus explained, it is “hard,” even “impossible”
with men, for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, because we are so prone
to “trust in riches,” but “with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:23-27)!
Our God, the God of the impossible, gave a son to Sarah, a barren
ninety-year-old, and her hundred-year-old husband, Abraham (Gen. 18:14); brought
Israel back from the Babylonian captivity (Jer. 32:17); and caused the virgin
Mary to conceive and bear the incarnate Son of God (Luke 1:37)! He can and did
the impossible in converting the rich young ruler, as He has done for many like
him, both before and since!
That look of love that the Saviour cast upon the
rich young ruler two thousand years ago (Mark 10:21; Ps. 4:6), he continually
beholds in heaven from the face of the glorified Christ who loved him and gave
Himself for him (Gal. 2:20). What amazing grace and what an amazing salvation
for all who forsake their sins and trust in Christ alone and not their own good
works or riches!
-----------------------
[See also the following sermon by Rev. Stewart,
entitled “The Salvation of the Rich Young Ruler”:
------------------------------------------------
(II)
Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889)
[Source:
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,
vol. II, p. 341]
For, ‘looking at him’ in his sincerity and
earnestness, ‘He loved him’—as He loves those that are His Own. One thing was
needful for this young man: that he should not only become His disciple, but
that, in so doing, he should ‘come and follow’ Christ ... And, although we hear
no more of him, who that day went back to his rich home very poor, because
‘very sorrowful,’ we cannot but believe that he, whom Jesus loved, yet found in
the poverty of earth the treasure of heaven.
------------------------------------------------
(III)
Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)
Concerning the rich young ruler of whom it is said
Christ ‘loved him’ (Mark 10:21), we fully believe that he was one of God’s
elect, and was saved sometime after his interview with our Lord.
------------------------------------------------
(IV)
Prof. David J. Engelsma
However one might explain Mark 10:17-22, the
incident of the rich young ruler who asked Jesus about inheriting eternal life
and went away grieved, Jesus’ love for the rich ruler was a saving love, that
is, a love that desired his salvation. The context concerns inheriting eternal
life (v. 17) and entering the kingdom of God (vv. 23-31). If, then, the rich
ruler perished in his sins, it is possible that the Christ of God loves a man
with a love that desires his salvation, but that He fails, nevertheless, to
accomplish the desired salvation. This necessarily raises the further question,
‘Did Christ in His love for and desire to save some persons who yet perish also
carry this love and desire to save to the cross?’ For Mark 10:32ff. proclaims
the cross, especially verse 45: ‘... the Son of man came ... to minister, and
to give His life a ransom for many.’ In this case, Christ died for persons who
go lost forever. The doctrine of limited atonement is denied. Scripture
condemns the notion of a universal, ineffectual Messianic love as false. Christ
loved “His own,” loved them “unto the end,” gave Himself to the cross for them
alone, and effectually gives eternal life to every one of them (see John 13:1,
18; 17:1ff.). From the fact that Jesus loved the rich ruler, we may, must, and
can only conclude that the rich ruler was one of the elect and that, later, he
was converted, gladly selling all he had, giving to the poor, and following
Christ. Jesus suggests as much in verses 23-27: what is impossible with men is
possible with God, even the salvation of a rich man.
------------------------------------------------
(V)
Rev. Don Doezema
He felt a ‘lack.’ That already, it would seem, is a
fruit of the work of the Spirit in the man’s heart. That this is a correct
evaluation of the young man is borne out by Jesus’ reaction to him. Immediately
after the young man affirmed that he had kept the commandment from his youth,
we read that Jesus, ‘beholding him loved him’ (Mark 10:21). That can only be
the love wherewith Jesus loves His own. And that love is an efficacious love, a
love that accomplishes its purpose.
------------------------------------------------
(VI)
Robert C. Harbach (1914-1996)
In a conversation with the Lord he [the rich young
ruler] revealed himself as proud, self-righteous, and Christ-rejecting. Yet we
read that Jesus loved him (Mark 10:21). What matters is that we read not that Ishmael
ever returned from his banishment in the wilderness to Abraham, the church
center! When Lot separated himself from Abraham, he, so far from returning,
went farther away to end in a cave with his sodomitical daughters. What matters
is that Scripture never informs us of the conversion of the rich young ruler in
just so many words! Does not the fact that “Jesus … loved him” inescapably imply that he was then an unconverted elect,
but must have been at a subsequent period converted? For Jesus does not love
reprobates. We may therefore expect to see both Ishmael and this rich young
ruler in heaven. For God blessed the one and loved the other. Both these men,
then, must have been in the covenant, although, as for Ishmael, the covenant
line did not proceed from him in his generations, but in Isaac and his
generations (v. 21).
------------------------------------------------
(VII)
Prof. Herman C. Hanko
Concerning Mark 10:21: It is my judgment that the
rich young ruler was indeed an elect. I base this on the following: 1) He did
not “leave” Jesus, but “went away.” [It has been suggested that] “leaving” was
a determination not to listen to Jesus. I am doubtful whether that is correct.
2) He showed unusual perception when he expressed dissatisfaction with a mere
outward keeping of the law (even though this was exactly what the Pharisees
taught) and knew there were deeper
principles of the law of which he was unaware. 3) He went away sorrowful
because it was difficult to part with wealth. But his sorrow demonstrated that
he was sure Jesus was right. I think I,
in his place, would also go away sorrowful, as I considered the inner demands
of the law. 4) Jesus, in speaking of his
riches, referred to the tenth commandment—which is the perfection of the whole
law, but emphasizes the inner demands of the law. 5) Sorrow is a sure indication of salvation—sorrow
for sin. 6) An old tradition (certainly
not decisive) is that the rich young ruler was Joseph of Armimathea. At least
it demonstrates that, from ancient times, the rich young ruler was considered
an elect. Finally, I am puzzled by the fact that it is suggested that Jesus did
not know His elect. In John 13:1, we are told that Jesus loved His own—to the
end. That implies, it seems to me, that Jesus knows who are His elect. And the
love Jesus has is for His own.
It is clear from Scripture that Jesus knew things
He could not have known in His human nature. It must be that the divine nature
revealed things to Jesus that only the divine nature could know. This then
would not be a confusion of natures. Whether such revelation to Jesus' human
nature by the divine nature was constant, Scripture does not tell us. It may be
that the divine nature revealed all those things that were part of the
circumstances at that moment. But the union of God and man remains the great
mystery—and yet is our only hope of salvation. (Sept. 2nd, 2009).
------------------------------------------------
(VIII)
More to come! (DV)
NOTE: There
were those in the early church who reckoned that the rich young ruler was (a)
Saul of Tarsus or (b) Lazarus of Bethany or (c) Joseph of Arimathea or (d) John
Mark, all of whom were saved!
No comments:
Post a Comment