A frequent misinterpretation claims Jesus denies His divinity or goodness by stating only God is good, portraying Him as a mere sinful human rather than God incarnate. This ignores the rhetorical question's purpose—to provoke the man into affirming Jesus' identity as God and to highlight that calling Jesus good requires acknowledging His oneness with the Father, not separating them.
Mark 10:18
King James Version (1769)
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Jesus responds to a man addressing Him as 'good master' by redirecting praise solely to God, the ultimate source of all true goodness, emphasizing that no human is inherently good apart from God. This challenges the inquirer to recognize the depth of divine holiness and the reality of human imperfection, while subtly affirming Jesus' own divine nature through His authoritative teaching on God's exclusive goodness.