Greek Word Studies

Advanced Level

Lesson 4


Lesson Title:  Agathos


Text:  Matthew 19:16-22  ‘And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good (agathos) Master, what good (agathos) thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?  And he said unto him, Why call you me good? there is none good (agathos)  but one, that is, God: but if you will enter into life, keep the commandments.  He says unto him, Which? Jesus said, You shall do no murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honour your father and your mother: and, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.  The young man says unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?  Jesus said unto him, If you will be perfect, go and sell that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.’

 

Theme:  Follow after ‘agathos’.

 

Introduction:  Meaning of  Agathos

A good (agathos) heart is one that instead of working ill to a neighbour, acts beneficially towards him.   (Vines)

Agathos means good that acts for the benefit of others.

 

Agathos’ and ‘Kalos’.

There are two different Greek words in the New Testament which are usually translated ‘good’,  agathos’ and ‘kalos’.

In the parable of the sower some seed fell on good ground.  In Luke 8:8, the word for good is ‘agathos’ but in Luke 8:15 in describing the same ground the word translated good is ‘kalos’.

Both ‘agathos’ and ‘kalos’ are translated as ‘good’, but there is a difference in the meaning of these Greek words.


We are to follow after ‘agathos’.

1 Thessalonians 5:15 ‘See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good (agathos), both among yourselves, and to all men.’

We are to hold fast to ‘kalos’.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 ‘Prove all things; hold fast that which is good (kalos).’


Agathos refers to something that is good in its character or constitution and is beneficial in its effect(Vines).

The character of ‘Agathos’ is seen by what it does.

A good (agathos) tree will produce fruit

Luke 8:15 ‘A good heart’ (agathos) will give sacrificially. 

 

See Lesson 5 for teaching on ‘Kalos

 

Introductory Illustration:  Example of Barnabas

Look at the good (agathos) heart of Barnabas in Acts 4:36-37 – he sold a large piece of land and gave to the assembly of believers.

Barnabas is described as good (agathos) Acts 11:24 ‘A good man’ (agathos) ‘full of the Holy Spirit’. 

 Acts 11:22-24  ‘Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.  Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.  For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.’

 

 

Main Points:

1. The Rich Young Ruler needed to recognise the person of Jesus.

The Rich Young Ruler approached Jesus using the word ‘agathos’.

 

There is confusion over this passage.  Jesus asked the Rich Young Ruler ‘Why do you call Me good, there is none good but God’.  He did not tell the young man not to say it but only drew his attention to what he had said.

Jesus was the Master Teacher and he spoke to the man with the intention of guiding him into truth. 

 

Deductive Reasoning

 

Jesus used deductive reasoning with the Rich Young Ruler.

First of all Jesus drew the man’s attention to what he had said.

The logic of his words could only leave one conclusion that Jesus is God.

 

‘Good (agathos) Master’

‘Why do you call ME good?’  There is none good but God. 

 

Deductive reasoning begins with a proposition (‘Only God is good’)

Then we associate the subject with the proposition (‘Jesus is good’)

From this we draw the conclusion (‘Jesus is God’)

If the proposition is right the conclusion must be right.

 

 

2. The need to recognise the bankruptcy of good works.


Jesus then continued to answer the question of the Rich Young Ruler:

He came to Jesus seeking to be justified by his deeds ‘what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?’

No matter how good he was, his conscience told him he wasn’t good enough.  This is seen by the fact that he asked Jesus this question.

 

Jesus did not give an immediate answer as He needed to guide Him into truth.

He did not just say ‘follow Me’.

He had to remove the Rich Young Ruler’s trust in his own deeds.

So He leads him first by telling him to do what he already tried to do.

Jesus said ‘keep the commandments’.

In Mark’s gospel it says ‘defraud not’ – this was not a specific commandment but it is commandment derived from the others – do not covet, do not steal, do not lie.

 

Notice Jesus doesn’t mention the commandments in relation to ‘Love the Lord your God’, but only ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’.

This is because the question was ‘what good (agathos) thing must I do’ and Jesus was dealing with the issue of doing good ‘agathos

Definition:  A good (agathos) heart is one that instead of working ill to a neighbour, acts beneficially towards him.   (Vines)

The rich young ruler believed he had always done this.

He was using his authority as ruler, his youthful energy, and his money for the benefit of others.   Jesus loved him.

 

The inability of works

Jesus sought to bring the Rich Young Ruler to the place of unconditional surrender


Illustration:  First World War was ended by an Armistice.

The result was that the German people did not know they had been defeated.

The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 was seen as a betrayal

The result was the eventual rise of Hitler, Nazism and WW2.

But learning by the mistake the allies would only accept ‘unconditional surrender’ to end WW2 and instead of having a treaty to ‘make Germany pay’ the Marshall Plan was formed to help rebuild Germany.

The church today is weak because we try to bring people to Christ without bringing them to the point of ‘unconditional surrender’.

 

Jesus took the Rich man down the road of works.

Jesus showed him the one ‘good’ thing that he should do.

He deals with the issue of trusting riches and the law’s requirement to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ in regard to ‘giving to the poor’. 

No matter how much you give to the poor, there will still be more poor.

Jesus said ‘the poor you always have with you’, John 12:8

 

You find this with missions

The more you give the more they need – there is no end.

That is why missions should aim to become indigenous.

This is not always possible but it should always be the aim.  See the book ‘The indigenous Church’ by Melvin Hodges.

But in regard to the poor, how can you ever fulfil this law ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’?

The scripture says concerning the poor (our neighbour)

Proverbs 21:13  ‘Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.’

 

Jesus is answering the question ‘What good (agathos) thing must I do’. 

The rich man is following after ‘agathos’ ‘to inherit eternal life.

Jesus says do this good thing - ‘sell everything you have and give it away to the poor’.

 

‘Robertson states that the Rich Young Ruler "Went away grieved." He felt that Jesus had asked too much of him. He worshipped money more than God when put to the test. Does Jesus demand this same test of every one? Not unless he is in the grip of money. Different persons are in the power of different sins.  One sin is enough to keep one away from Christ.’ (see Online Bible)

 

This misses the point.

The man’s riches was not the issue.

The issue is ‘agathos’ what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life.

The good thing is ‘love your poor neighbour’.

 

There are only two ways to ‘love your poor neighbour’ and for your conscience to know you did all that was possible. 

1.      To give until world poverty has come to an end,  or

2.      ‘Give all away’ so you become poor yourself.

No. 1 is impossible so No. 2 was the only option.

 

The end of the road of good works is no nearer eternal life than at the start.

What good thing must I do? – Well if you want to walk down the road of ‘doing good to inherit eternal life’ then this is as far as the road can go - ‘sell all your property, everything that you have and give to the poor’. 

It is a wonderful truth that earthly riches can be used in this life to gain an eternal inheritance when it is given with a good (agathos) heart filled with the love (agape) of Christ.  But giving all away is not enough to inherit eternal life.

1 Corinthians 13:3 ‘And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.’

Riches can not bring eternal life, but riches can stop a person inheriting eternal life.

He went away sorrowful because he had much riches.  He was unable to do this good thing – but even this good thing could not have saved him.  

Jesus was showing him how far the road of works went – ‘sell all that you have and give to the poor’ – this is the ‘good thing’. 

But from this road of spiritual bankruptcy there was a way to inherit eternal life.  Jesus says to him ‘then come and follow me’.

 

 

3. Follow Me:

It is not by following ‘agathos’ that we inherit eternal life.  It is by following Christ that we inherit eternal life.

This is the message of the book of Galatians.

The Law was the tutor to bring us to Christ, Galatians 3:24 ‘Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.’

 

Jesus said ‘Be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.’

Perfection is maturity.

Under the law –  we are like children.

Under the gospel – we grow towards maturity as disciples of Christ.


There is none agathos except God

Jesus is Agathos

Jesus is God

 

We should follow after agathos

Jesus is agathos

Follow Jesus


Theological Question: Goodness is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Why did Jesus say ‘there is none good but God?’

What about the angels?

Are they not good?

The angels are ‘holy’ but being ‘good’ is more than this.

Being ‘good’ (agathos) is higher than the nature of angels; only God is ‘good’ (agathos).

Being good (agathos) is having the character of God.

Adam and Eve were created in the image of God – the angels were not.

Goodness is a ‘fruit of the Spirit’.

Galatians 5:22 ‘goodness’ ‘agathosune’ from ‘agathos

It is produced through the life of Christ in the believer.

The Rich Young Ruler said ‘what good thing must I do?’

Here is the answer:  Follow Christ and let His goodness live through us by bearing the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’.

 

We will be rewarded for ‘agathos’ – the works we fufil because the life of Christ dwells in us.   2 Corinthians 5:10   ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good (agathos) or bad (kakos).  C.T. Studd (1860-1931) put it this way ‘Only one life will soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last’

 

Summary:

Jesus is ‘agathos’.  We must seek after Him.

1)  The Rich Young Ruler needed to recognise that Jesus is God.  He recognised His character but failed to understand the significance that He is the Christ, the Son of God.

2)  The Rich Young Ruler needed to recognise the bankruptcy of good works.  He sought to inherit eternal life through good works but not matter how much we do we can never inherit eternal life by works.

3)  The Rich Young Ruler needed to recognise that he needed to follow after Jesus.  It is not by following good works that we inherit eternal life.  It is by following Christ that we inherit eternal life.

 

 

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