It Really is Extra Difficult For a Rich Person to be Saved (While it is Very Hard For Anyone)

Luke 18:18-27: “And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save (except) one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”

Jesus was not denying that He is God here. He was rebuking this man’s faulty reference point for goodness and speaking with the implication that this man also did not understand Jesus’ divinity at this point. He was also rebuking the mentality which causes people to flatter themselves that they are good (and which proclaims others to be good) that isn’t compatible with how God defines goodness (faithfulness to His commandments).

The word which this young man used for his keeping of the commandments is a weaker word in the Greek text than the word which Jesus used for keeping the commandments. The word which the young man used is speaking of keeping the eye upon or keeping in custody. The word which Jesus used for keeping the commandments in the Greek text is speaking of diligently holding fast in constant attendance upon.

The real issue here is that this man was shackled from following the Lord unhindered due to his attachment to his riches. This became clear by the young man’s reaction to Jesus’ instruction to him.

Consider along these lines what is said in Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

God’s commandments, used properly, are not only evidence that we need an atonement for sin and cannot earn our salvation, they are also the guide to an adequate faith which seeks Him diligently. They are the proper reference point for defining what it means to turn from sin and seek the true God diligently with one’s whole heart.

Psalm 119:29-30: “Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.”

Those who said “Who then can be saved?” understood Jesus properly about how hard it is for a rich person to be saved. They even understood that Jesus had a much broader definition of rich than ultra-wealthy- since they obviously understood that very many people fall into the category of rich (and the Western world today is much more materially comfortable and prosperous than their society was).

Now, professing Christians have generally been deluded to have the opposite mentality: A narrow definition of being rich and a broad view of salvation (and I especially mean a broad view of salvation in terms of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ and who might even have a Biblical worldview).

James 2:5: “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?”

This is not saying that all poor people will be saved nor is it saying that only poor people can be saved. However, these have the greatest capacity for genuine faith. Since we must be poor in spirit to be saved, there is a sense in which any who would be saved and enter God’s kingdom must relate to Him as a poor person. Yet even multitudes of exceedingly poor people still choose to make money their god and/or choose sin in other ways- and thus miss out on obtaining a saving interest in Jesus Christ.

In the parallel account of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark, we read in Mark 10:23-25: “And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

It is clear by comparing the parallel accounts of this event that it is virtually impossible for one to have riches and not trust in them so that they are a rival to God in their heart.

Luke 16:13: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

Consider the obvious snares involved in being rich in the following passages (and note their implication that many who are materially rich don’t consider themselves to be).

Ecclesiastes 5:12: “The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.”

Proverbs 18:10-11: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe (now notice the contrast in the next verse). The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit (that is, imagination).”

Jesus intended everything He said in the Gospels to be analyzed in light of the rest of Scripture. The entire Bible is His Word. It is consistent with the rest of the Bible to conclude that much greater than normal workings of God are necessary for the salvation of a rich person.

In the case of some, those much greater than normal workings might be highly intense training, teaching, and discipline to manage riches faithfully in a position which is obtained in righteousness to serve others yet can’t really be separated from being rich (think of Joseph in Genesis here). None of this ever could or would take away a person’s free will or ensure by any means that they would cooperate with such working. In the case of Moses, he became so taken up with doing righteousness and with real, impartial justice prevailing that the things which money can buy which aren’t used for this end seemed like a very small thing anyways to him. That is what saved him in his extremely perilous state as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Moses was a defender, not a murderer, in standing up for the oppressed- the thing which got him banished from Egypt and removed from the luxury he lived in there).

We ought to heed the lessons from this real life illustration of how Jesus dealt with a rich man who knew he needed to be saved and earnestly sought to be saved- yet still walked away from Jesus sorrowful.

In the parallel account in Matthew, we read of the same moment in Matthew 19:22: “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”

If Jesus had used the methods of Billy Graham and most other popular evangelists (if not all of them), this young man would have prayed a “1, 2, 3 repeat after me” sinner’s prayer and walked away with an unwarranted happiness and a false solution to his ultimate problem. If this young man could have just accepted Jesus as his Savior and disregarded being Jesus’ disciple unshackled from sin, Jesus would have greatly deceived him here. Those who speak against or skip over turning from covetousness, idolatry, other sins, and are not utterly concerned to bring people into subjection to God’s law (that is, to true repentance) in order to obey God’s Word without shackles are not faithful ministers of Christ (this proves that all the Prosperity Preachers, along with those who yoke with them on TBN and elsewhere, are deceivers).

Though it is very difficult for anyone to be saved, and that difficulty has only increased now due to the distractions and added temptations which the internet and other technology have brought, it is surely much more difficult yet for a rich person to be saved. With this in mind, don’t think that eliminating opportunities to become rich and stripping those who are already of what they have through implementing a Socialist-type government is any kind of righteous solution to anything. While it is extra difficult for a rich person to be saved, it is utterly impossible by any and every measure for anyone who thinks they are entitled to the wealth of others to be saved.

Google AI has defined covetousness as “a strong desire to have something, especially something that belongs to someone else. It is often used in a negative sense to describe an excessive desire for material wealth or possessions.”

Those who want other people’s wealth taken away so they can have it instead are greedy as much or more than the person who has set their heart on becoming rich through Capitalism.

Exodus 20:17 says: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass (donkey), nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.”

The following verdict which the Lord gave concerning the inhabitants of Judah was not given because of, nor brought about by, the economic or political philosophy which they were living under. They had sin issues which no amount of reform or renovation in these areas was going to fix. They had to repent towards God of the sin in their hearts.

Jeremiah 6:13 says: “For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.”

There is no such thing as any political and/or economic philosophy which is a solution to bring about paradise or utopia. Socialist or Communist-type governments however brand themselves to be such a solution. Receiving this deceptive and idolatry-promoting claim, which inevitably results in some exercising unrighteous God-like power over others, is destructive in relation to this world and leads to perdition in the next.