And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callst thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (Matt 19:16-17 [cf. Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19])
This is a problematic passage for Trinitarian Christology at it differentiates, not simply between the “persons” (a poorly-defined term in Trinitarianism to begin with) of the Father and the Son (ambiguously tolerated), but “God” and the Son. Much ink has been spilt on this passage, but let us look at its interpretation in early Christian writings which reveal that Jesus was being distinguished from God:
· JUSTIN, an early Church Father, writing n 140-160, writes in his Dialogue 101.2: “One is good, my Father in the heavens.” This very early quotation is not what we read in the Bible today.
· EPHREM: Commentary on the Diatessaron XV.9, in both the original Syriac and the Armenian (2 manuscripts) reads: “One is good, the/my Father who [is] in the heaven.” Ephrem died in 373, and the Syriac manuscript of the Commentary is fifth century.
· TATIAN, about 172, composed the Diatessaron (the Gospel harmony upon which Ephrem was commenting), on the basis of the Gospel texts current then. And this citation agrees precisely with Justin’s.
· IRENAEUS: Haer. V.7.25 (pre-185): “One is good, the/my Father in the heavens.” Another second century source confirming the “wrong” version of Matthew 19:17.
· HIPPOLYTUS: Haer V.7.25 (pre-222): “One is good, the/my Father in the heavens.” Another early Christian Father has the “wrong” version.
· CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Strom. V.10.63 (composed c. 207): “One is good, the/my Father.”
· PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE HOMILIES: XVI.3.4 about 260 AD. “For one is good, the/my Father in the heavens.”
· VETUS LATIN MS e (apud Matthew, fifth century): “Unus est bonus, pater.” This is the second most ancient manuscript and it also has “Father.”
· VETUS LATINA MS d (apud Luke, fifth century): “Nemo bonus disi unus Deut pater.” ”Father” again. (Clifford Hubert Durousseau, “Appendix 1: On John 20:28: What Did Thomas Say in Hebrew?” in Anthony F. Buzzard, Jesus was not a Trinitarian: A Call to Return to the Creed of Jesus [Morros, Ga.: Restoration Fellowship, 2007], 385-412, here, p. 411).
