When Doing Isn’t Enough: A Gospel Response to Guilt

You’ve showed up to church faithfully, done everything they told you to do, you have a “moral” track record, and yet, something still feels off. What if the issue isn’t your actions, but what you’re trusting in to make you right with God?

A Question Beneath the Surface

There is perhaps no greater question in the human heart than this: “Am I truly saved?” It may not always be voiced aloud, but it lingers beneath the surface of many religious lives, a quiet uncertainty, a restless wondering. In Matthew 19:16-22, we meet a man who dares to ask the question plainly: “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” This is not a theoretical question. It is deeply personal. The rich young ruler had everything, wealth, status, youth, and a “moral” track record. He had kept the commandments, he claimed. He had done all that religion had taught him. Yet something was missing. His soul was still unsettled.

This young man represents a multitude of modern-day believers, faithful churchgoers, well-versed in doctrine, active in service, and yet uncertain of their standing with God. Like him, they have been raised in systems that emphasize doing, a salvation earned by performance rather than received by grace. And despite their best efforts, they walk around burdened with an inner void, longing for assurance.

In this passage, Jesus doesn’t dismiss the young man’s question. He honors it, and answers it. But the answer He gives is unexpected. It reinforces a checklist of religious duty, but also exposes the heart behind the striving. What Jesus reveals is not merely what to “do,” but what is keeping so many from experiencing the assurance of salvation. And in doing so, He leads the young man, and us, beyond the pursuit of eternal life as a goal, and into a deeper understanding of what it means to truly receive it.

Jesus' Initial Response: A Challenge Beneath the Compliment

Before Jesus answers the man's question, He first addresses the way He is being approached. Jesus’ initial response is striking and deserves careful attention. The young man addresses Him as, “Good Master…”, a phrase that, in his religious context, would have been highly provocative. This wasn’t a neutral compliment. The religious system he belonged to vehemently denied Jesus’ deity. The synagogue leaders accused Jesus of having a devil, mocked His humble origins, and refused to believe that anything good could come out of Nazareth. To them, Jesus was a heretic at worst and a blasphemer at best, certainly not God in the flesh. Even among the crowds, when Jesus asked His disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” the answers were varied: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, anyone but the Son of God Himself.

So when this young man, raised under the influence of such a hostile religious culture, calls Jesus “good,” it carries weight. It is either a slip of conscience, an unintended acknowledgment of divine goodness, or an attempt at flattery to win favor. And Jesus doesn’t let it slide. He responds, “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.” This is not a denial of His own deity, but a deliberate challenge: “Are you calling Me good because you believe I am God, or are you just saying what you think a teacher wants to hear?” Jesus is forcing the young man to confront what he truly believes about Him, because before one can rightly ask, “What must I do?” one must rightly answer, “Who is this Jesus?” The young man is looking for a formula, a fix, a spiritual shortcut, but Jesus is offering something far more personal. He is not merely pointing the way to life; He is the way. And until we recognize that, we will always approach Him as a teacher to impress, rather than a Lord to surrender to.

Meeting Him Where He Is: A Works-Oriented Mindset

The next part of the dialogue shows how well Jesus understands the mindset of the rich young ruler. Jesus understands exactly where the man is coming from, and this is evident in how He responds. The young man approaches with the assumption that eternal life is something to be earned, the result of human effort and moral performance. This is the mindset of someone shaped by a works-oriented religion, where salvation is viewed as a reward for good behavior.

As Dallas Willard wisely put it, “Grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.” The issue isn’t that the young man is making an effort, effort has its place in the life of faith. The problem is that he believes his effort earns him eternal life. That’s why Jesus responds the way He does. When He tells the young man to keep the commandments, Jesus is meeting him where he is in a framework he understands, in order to uncover what lies beneath.

The Irony in Jesus’ Instruction

What makes Jesus’ response so brilliant, and subtly confrontational, is its irony. It is as satirical as the religion this young man clings to. Jesus isn’t affirming that commandment-keeping leads to eternal life; He’s exposing the futility of such an approach. He starts with law because that’s where the man’s problem lies. He says, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Now, we know that salvation doesn’t come by keeping the law, “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified”, but Jesus starts at the young man’s level. His approach is diagnostic, not prescriptive. When he asks for something “good” to do, Jesus, in essence, points him to the law, not as a formula for eternal life, but as a mirror to expose the deeper problem. Like a skillful physician, Jesus is pressing on a specific area to reveal a deeper issue. The young man is a legalist, so Jesus begins with what is familiar: commandment-keeping.

Upon closer reflection, we can see that the “good thing” the rich young ruler is asking to do may very well be the law itself. Scripture affirms this connection: “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully” (1 Timothy 1:8). And again, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul” (Psalm 19:7). In the previous article, we defined the word perfect and noted its close association with another key word: good. Here, we see the link clearly - perfect is good. The law, when “used lawfully,” has the power to lead the soul toward transformation, “converting the soul.” This is precisely what the Apostle Paul meant when he said that “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” Therefore, the law draws us to Christ, and Christ transforms. That is how the soul is truly converted. Used rightly, the law reveals the heart’s condition and prepares it for grace. The law cannot save, but it can awaken the need for the Savior.

Fragmenting the Law: A Legalist’s Tendency

The rich young man’s follow-up question reveals even more. The young man then asks, “Which?”, revealing yet another hallmark of works-based religion: the tendency to dissect God’s law, to treat it like a checklist rather than a unified expression of divine love and justice. A legalist always emphasizes some parts of the law while neglecting others. Jesus addressed this very problem elsewhere: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23).

In response to the young man’s question, Jesus lists several commandments: “Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal…”, and concludes with, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Notice how He stays within the realm of human relationships, the second part of the Ten Commandments, the very part that exposes how the young man relates to others. But still, Jesus is not done. He is leading the man somewhere deeper.

A Subtle Cry of Guilt: Commission and Omission

Here, we pause to reflect more deeply on the motivation behind the man’s original question: “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” When the rich young ruler asks this, his question reveals more than confusion, it reveals guilt. Researcher Dr. Brené Brown explains that guilt is the internal voice that says, “You’re doing something wrong.” This is typically understood in terms of commission - doing what we shouldn’t have done. But guilt can also arise from omission, knowing the right thing to do and failing to do it. Scripture affirms this in James 4:17: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” “Doeth it not” does not necessarily mean the person fails to act; it can also mean he acts in the wrong way or with the wrong spirit, making it as though he had not acted at all. This is the essence of the sin of omission.

The rich young man was not necessarily weighed down by a list of wrongdoings, but by a haunting sense that he hadn’t “done enough.” His soul was restless, not because of what he had done, but because of what he had left undone. He was guilty of the sin of omission, and that is why he came to Jesus asking for “another chore,” another box to tick, hoping that this next good deed might finally quiet the voice of his conscience and secure the assurance he craved.

The Point of the Exchange: Revealing the Real Issue

All of this brings us to the heart of the conversation. In this first part of their exchange, Jesus is not offering a formula for salvation but uncovering the fault lines in the young man’s faith. He exposes the insufficiency of rule-keeping and the emptiness of religious effort when disconnected from true surrender. The rich young ruler is not unlike many of us, sincere, moral, and yet missing the essence of the gospel. Jesus begins where the man is, but He won’t leave him there.

The young man’s question, “What good thing shall I do?”, is telling. Beneath it lies more than confusion; it reveals guilt. The very fact that he is looking for something “good” to “do” suggests that he feels something is off, something unresolved. He is driven not just by curiosity, but by conscience. And Jesus, knowing this, does not condemn his guilt, He redirects it. Not toward performance, but toward a Person.

Looking Ahead: The One Thing He Lacks

In the next part of the conversation, Jesus will go further, laying bare the one thing still standing between this man and the assurance he so desperately seeks. And in doing so, He will reveal the true cost, and the true path, of eternal life.