Text -- Luke 18:21 (NET)

18:21 The man replied, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Luk 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.

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.

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

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.

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.