“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone."
The word 'good' has different descriptive meanings in the Bible. In this verse Jesus questions how the rich young ruler referred to Him. With his question (vs 18), the young man recognized Jesus' authority (by calling Him Good Teacher) but failed to recognize Him as Lord.
Jesus' response is classic. Since only God is good, how did the rich young man know that Jesus is good? I don't think he consciously knew. The question is asked for all generations to know the answer: Only God is Good. We know that God is our heavenly Father, God is The Son, and God is The Holy Spirit. Only God is Good.
This word 'good' used here means inherently, intrinsically good. According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, this word 'good' means "describes what originates from God and is empowered by Him in their/our/my life, through faith. And not just any faith either. Faith that is given by God to the born again believer when they/we believe. Empowered faith originates in God. We know this because: Only God is Good.
