Luke 18:18

The Wealthy Ruler

18:18 Now ¹  a certain ruler ²  asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ³ 

Matthew 19:16

The Rich Young Man

19:16 Now ⁴  someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?”

Acts 16:30-31

16:30 Then he brought them outside ⁵  and asked, “Sirs, what must ⁶  I do to be saved?” 16:31 They replied, ⁷  “Believe ⁸  in the Lord Jesus ⁹  and you will be saved, you and your household.”

[18:18]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[18:18]  ² sn Only Luke states this man is a ruler (cf. the parallels in Matt 19:16-22 and Mark 10:17-22, where the questioner is described only as “someone”). He is probably a civic leader of some kind, a leader in the society.

[18:18]  ³ sn The rich man wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life, but Jesus had just finished teaching that eternal life was not earned but simply received (18:17). See the similar question about inheriting eternal life in Luke 10:25.

[19:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “And behold one came.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1). Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[16:30]  ⁵ tn Grk “And bringing them outside, he asked.” The participle προαγαγών (proagagwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun by supplying the conjunction “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[16:30]  ⁶ tn The Greek term (δεῖ, dei) is used by Luke to represent divine necessity.

[16:31]  ⁷ tn Grk “said.”

[16:31]  ⁸ sn Here the summary term of response is a call to believe. In this context it refers to trusting the sovereign God’s power to deliver, which events had just pictured for the jailer.

[16:31]  ⁹ tc The majority of mss add Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) here (C D E Ψ 1739 Ï sy sa), but the best and earliest witnesses read simply τὸν κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν (ton kurion Ihsoun, “the Lord Jesus”; Ì^74vid א A B 33 81 pc bo). The addition of “Christ” to “Lord Jesus” is an obviously motivated reading. Thus on both external and internal grounds, the shorter reading is strongly preferred.