Mark 10:20 kjv
And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Mark 10:20 nkjv
And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth."
Mark 10:20 niv
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Mark 10:20 esv
And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth."
Mark 10:20 nlt
"Teacher," the man replied, "I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young."
Mark 10 20 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Matt 19:16-19 | "Teacher, what good thing shall I do...? ...If you wish to enter life, keep the commandments..." | Parallel account, lists similar commandments. |
| Luke 18:18-21 | "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? ...I have kept all these from my youth." | Parallel account, same declaration. |
| Exod 20:12-16 | "Honor your father and your mother... You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness..." | Original Decalogue given to Moses. |
| Deut 5:16-20 | Similar listing of commandments from the Deuteronomic recounting. | Echoes the core Mosaic Law. |
| Lev 19:18 | "You shall not take vengeance... but you shall love your neighbor as yourself..." | Jesus often summarizes the Law in love. |
| Psa 119:11 | "Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You." | Emphasizes heart-level commitment to Law. |
| Psa 19:7-11 | Describes the perfection and wisdom of the Lord's Law. | Law is good, but humanity's struggle. |
| Rom 7:7-13 | "What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Far from it!... I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'" | Law reveals sin; no one perfectly keeps it. |
| Rom 3:20 | "because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight..." | The Law reveals sin, not grants salvation. |
| Gal 2:16 | "nevertheless knowing that a person is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus..." | Justification is by faith, not works. |
| James 2:10 | "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all." | Total human inability to keep law perfectly. |
| Matt 5:21-28 | "You have heard... But I say to you..." Jesus expands Law's depth to heart/thought. | Jesus reveals the Law's true, deeper meaning. |
| Phil 3:4-6 | "if anyone else thinks he has a basis for confidence... as to righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless." | Paul's pre-conversion self-righteousness. |
| 1 Cor 8:2 | "If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know." | Highlights potential for self-deception. |
| 1 John 1:8 | "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." | Universal human sinfulness acknowledged. |
| Prov 21:2 | "Every person's way is right in his own eyes..." | Danger of self-deception and partiality. |
| John 5:44 | "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?" | Human reliance on self-perception and status. |
| 2 Cor 3:6 | "...for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." | Contrast letter vs. spirit of the Law. |
| Matt 15:7-9 | "You hypocrites... this people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me." | External observance vs. internal devotion. |
| Luke 16:15 | "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts..." | God sees the heart, not just external actions. |
| Rom 10:2-3 | "For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." | Misunderstanding of righteousness and zeal. |
Mark 10 verses
Mark 10 20 Meaning
Mark 10:20 presents the rich young man's earnest reply to Jesus' recitation of the commandments. He asserts that he has diligently observed all these particular laws—murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and honoring parents—consistently from his youth. This declaration reveals his sincere conviction in his external righteousness and sets the stage for Jesus to expose the one profound area where his commitment fell short, indicating a misunderstanding of true spiritual perfection and ultimate devotion.
Mark 10 20 Context
Mark 10:20 is part of Jesus' teaching on discipleship and the obstacles to entering the Kingdom of God, specifically the encounter with the rich young man (Mark 10:17-31). This exchange follows Jesus' blessing of the children, emphasizing humility and a childlike posture for Kingdom entry. The man approaches Jesus with an urgent question about inheriting eternal life. Jesus initially directs him to keep the commandments, citing several from the Decalogue (excluding "do not covet" and adding "do not defraud"). The man's reply in Mark 10:20 signifies his perception of having met this initial legalistic standard, setting up Jesus' deeper and more challenging revelation about what true, sacrificial discipleship entails beyond mere external adherence to the Law.
Mark 10 20 Word analysis
And he answered and said to Him: This phrasing emphasizes a direct, immediate response. It highlights the interactive nature of the encounter, where the man is clearly engaging with Jesus' words.
'Teacher,' (Greek: Didaskale, διδάσκαλε): This term acknowledges Jesus as a recognized instructor, master, or rabbi. The man approaches Jesus with a respectful, yet perhaps formal, recognition of His authority in teaching the Law. It doesn't necessarily imply spiritual understanding beyond an academic or religious sense.
'all these': This refers specifically to the commandments Jesus had just enumerated in Mark 10:19 (murder, adultery, theft, false witness, honoring parents, and the addition "do not defraud"). The man is claiming compliance with this specific list. It does not necessarily imply he perfectly kept every single law in the Mosaic covenant.
'I have kept' (Greek: ephulaxamen, ἐφυλαξάμην): This aorist verb means "I guarded," "I observed," "I maintained," or "I have habitually kept." It suggests a consistent, past action completed up to the present moment. From the man's perspective, he genuinely believed he had scrupulously adhered to these laws without fault. This sincerity underscores the depth of his self-righteousness; he genuinely felt blameless. The language reflects his commitment to living an outwardly pious Jewish life.
'from my youth.' (Greek: ek neotētos, ἐκ νεότητός): This phrase stresses the longevity and consistency of his obedience. He is asserting a lifelong pattern of adherence, starting from his earliest days. This reinforces his self-perception as a diligent, righteous, and exemplary observer of the Law within his community.
"Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth": This group of words conveys the man's sincere, yet ultimately flawed, understanding of spiritual righteousness. He views salvation as an outcome of outward moral and ceremonial compliance, maintained diligently over his entire life. His reply sets a contrast between human-perceived blamelessness through law-keeping and God's true standard, which requires internal devotion and surrender, demonstrating that outward obedience can coexist with internal lack. It reveals his honest effort to meet divine demands on his own terms.
Mark 10 20 Bonus section
The rich young man's statement underscores a major theme found throughout the New Testament: the inability of the Law to justify. While the Law reveals sin and sets a standard, it does not provide the power to perfectly keep it, nor does it address the issue of a sinful heart. The man genuinely believed he had succeeded where many fail, yet his reliance on personal performance blinded him to his true need. His response to Jesus indicates a legalistic mindset common among some devout Jews of the time, who equated salvation with meticulous observance. This episode serves as a powerful illustration that while external morality is valuable, it can never replace the heart-level commitment and surrendered faith that Christ demands for true salvation and discipleship.
Mark 10 20 Commentary
Mark 10:20 encapsulates the common human misconception that one can achieve salvation or eternal life through diligent adherence to rules and external good works. The rich young man's declaration, made with earnest sincerity, highlights a crucial point: it is entirely possible to outwardly keep the commandments from youth and still lack the fundamental requirement for God's Kingdom. He believed his obedience was sufficient, illustrating a self-righteousness that, while not arrogant, was profoundly ignorant of his own deeper spiritual poverty—specifically, his love for wealth. Jesus' subsequent instruction in Mark 10:21—"One thing you lack"—demonstrates that divine righteousness is not merely about avoiding sin, but about radical devotion and prioritizing God and His kingdom above all worldly possessions or self-interest, ultimately calling for a transformed heart, not just regulated behavior.