What Must I Do to Receive Eternal Life? (Mark 10:17-31)

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

Many have heard the account of the Rich Young Ruler, but not everyone has taken in the 2 key points as it is recorded in Mark 10.

Key point [a]

If you want eternal life, keep the commandments [Torah].

Yahushua tells the rich young ruler to keep all of the commandments [Torah] – not just the Ten Commandments to get [inherit] eternal life.

Key point [b] Almsgiving atones for sin. This point is studied in another eCourse lesson.

Go sell all you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, then come follow me.

In Mark 10:17, a young man comes up to the messiah, to the master, and he says, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

A lot of preachers today would get upset about being asked just that kind of a question. They would say to the person - don't you know it's all been done? Just believe, you don't have to do anything, it's all just by faith through grace. By ‘believe’ they mean that you believe something in your mind - that's where belief starts and stops with a lot of people. Many preachers today think that faith is the absence of law or any need to keep the law. That's not scriptural but that's what is thought in a lot of ‘Christendom’ today. But Yahushua doesn't get upset, he doesn't tell the man you're asking the wrong question. He says, you know the commandments and then he begins to cite some of the commands written on the second stone of the Decalogue = the Ten Commandments.

There are slight differences in the records of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but this just shows that different authors come at things from different points of view, different perspectives, different flavors. It is always best that we read each account and in different versions to get the best understanding. ‘You know the commandments’ in Mark and Luke is basically telling the rich young ruler - you know the answer to this question = keep the commandments. This response from Yahushua was that he should actually keep ALL of the Torah and this becomes very clear as we examine it further.