Lukas 18:21-22

18:21 The man ¹  replied, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed ²  all these laws ³  since my youth.” ⁴  18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have ⁵  and give the money ⁶  to the poor, ⁷  and you will have treasure ⁸  in heaven. Then ⁹  come, follow me.”

[18:21]  ¹ tn Grk “And he”; the referent (the ruler mentioned in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:21]  ² tn Grk “kept.” The implication of this verb is that the man has obeyed the commandments without fail throughout his life, so the adverb “wholeheartedly” has been added to the translation to bring out this nuance.

[18:21]  ³ tn Grk “these things.” The referent of the pronoun (the laws mentioned by Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:21]  sn While the rich man was probably being sincere when he insisted I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws, he had confined his righteousness to external obedience. The rich man’s response to Jesus’ command to give away all he had revealed that internally he loved money more than God.

[18:21]  ⁴ sn Since my youth. Judaism regarded the age of thirteen as the age when a man would have become responsible to live by God’s commands.

[18:22]  ⁵ sn See Luke 14:33.

[18:22]  ⁶ tn The words “the money” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[18:22]  ⁷ sn See Luke 1:50-53; 6:20-23; 14:12-14.

[18:22]  ⁸ sn The call for sacrifice comes with a promise of eternal reward: …you will have treasure in heaven. Jesus’ call is a test to see how responsive the man is to God’s direction through him. Will he walk the path God’s agent calls him to walk? For a rich person who got it right, see Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10.

[18:22]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the conversation.