Luke 18:21

And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) From my youth up.—The detail may be noted as a point in common with St. Mark, as also is the omission of the question, “What lack I yet?” given in St. Matthew.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:18-30 Many have a great deal in them very commendable, yet perish for lack of some one thing; so this ruler could not bear Christ's terms, which would part between him and his estate. Many who are loth to leave Christ, yet do leave him. After a long struggle between their convictions and their corruptions, their corruptions carry the day. They are very sorry that they cannot serve both; but if one must be quitted, it shall be their God, not their wordly gain. Their boasted obedience will be found mere outside show; the love of the world in some form or other lies at the root. Men are apt to speak too much of what they have left and lost, of what they have done and suffered for Christ, as Peter did. But we should rather be ashamed that there has been any regret or difficulty in doing it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 19:13-30.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. All these, &c.—"what lack I yet?" adds Matthew (Mt 19:20). Ah! this gives us a glimpse of his heart. Doubtless he was perfectly sincere; but something within whispered to him that his keeping of the commandments was too easy a way of getting to heaven. He felt something beyond this to be necessary; after keeping all the commandments he was at a loss to know what that could be; and he came to Jesus just upon that point. "Then," says Mark (Mr 10:21), "Jesus beholding him loved him," or "looked lovingly upon him." His sincerity, frankness, and nearness to the kingdom of God, in themselves most winning qualities, won our Lord's regard even though he turned his back upon Him—a lesson to those who can see nothing lovable save in the regenerate.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 18:18"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he said,.... That is, the ruler said to him, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions add; "to Jesus", as the Persic version expresses it;

all these have I kept from my youth up; See Gill on Matthew 19:20 where it is added, what lack I yet?

Geneva Study Bible

{7} And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

(7) The enticement of riches carries many away from the right way.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 18:21. ἕν σοι λείπει: ἕν σ. ὑστερεῖ: in Mk. λείπει = fails, so in Titus 3:13.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. All these have I kept] There seems to have been an accent of extreme surprise in his reply. ‘You bid me not be a thief, adulterer, murderer! For whom do you take me? I am no criminal. These I kept since I was a child.’ And then he added, ‘what lack I yet?’ (Matthew 19:20).—Here, again, the Gospel is true to the letter in its picture of a Pharisaic Rabbi. Thus the Talmud describes one of the classes of Pharisees as the tell-me-something-more-to-do-and-I-will-do-it Pharisee; and when R. Chaninah was dying he said to the Angel of Death, “Go and fetch me the Book of the Law, and see whether there is anything in it which I have not kept.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. He listens to the Master with something like impatient surprise. There is a ring of concealed indignation in his "All these have I ever kept. What do you take me for? I am a religious, God-fearing Jew; from my child-days have I kept these." Kept these! How little the poor questioner knew the secrets of his Own heart! Yet he had answered Jesus in the true spirit of a Pharisee trained carefully in the rabbinic schools. We read, for instance, in the Talmud how "when Rabbi Chaninah was dying, he said to the angel of death, 'Go and fetch me the book of the Law, and see whether there is anything in it which I have not kept.'" Luke 18:21