Luke 18:22

22 And [when he] heard [this], Jesus said to him, "{You still lack one thing}: Sell all that you have, and distribute [the proceeds] to the poor--and you will have treasure in heaven--and come, follow me."

Luke 18:22 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 18:22

Now when Jesus heard these things
That he had kept all these commandments, and that ever since he was a child, and to that very time:

he said unto him, yet lackest thou one thing;
not but that he lacked many other things, and even every thing: for he had performed no one thing as it should be: but Christ said, partly in answer to his pert question, "what lack I yet?" and partly by an ironical concession, granting he had kept them all, as he had said, yet one thing was wanting; and chiefly with a view to mortify his pride and vanity:

sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me;
(See Gill on Matthew 19:21).

Luke 18:22 In-Context

20 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"

21 And he said, "All these I have observed from my youth."

22 And [when he] heard [this], Jesus said to him, "{You still lack one thing}: Sell all that you have, and distribute [the proceeds] to the poor--and you will have treasure in heaven--and come, follow me."

23 But [when he] heard these [things] he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.

24 And Jesus took notice of him [and] said, "How {difficult it is for} those who possess wealth to enter into the kingdom of God!

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("heard") which is understood as temporal
• [b] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [c] Literally "one still lacking to you"
• [d] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation