What does Jesus mean by saying, “Why do you call me good?”

Question

Luke 18:19 (NKJV)
¹⁹ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

Luke 18:19 (KJV)
¹⁹ And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

My question is; is this contradictory? What does Jesus mean by this statement?

Answer 1

This passage is often used to bolster the claim that Jesus is not God. The usual misinterpretation is that Jesus is saying that He isn't good, because He isn't God.
The opposite is true. In this passage, Jesus is establishing His deity. The Answering Islam site offers a fairly good explanation.

Excerpt:

In the central passage of chapter 10, Jesus makes the statement:

I am the good shepherd. (John 10:14) This establishes his claim to deity in a double way. First, because of the criterion above, since he calls himself good, and this not only in a general way as "a good shepherd" (one of many) but as "the good shepherd".

It is a simple syllogism:

No-one except God is good and Jesus is good therefore Jesus is God

Somebody might want to argue that here "good" is only qualifying something else (i.e. "shepherd"), but we simply observe that in the original passage (Luke 18:18 above), it was qualifying "teacher". So, the situation is indeed parallel, and the argument applies.

Second, Jesus calls himself not only "good", but he claims the title "shepherd". This is a clear reference back to Psalm 23 and, even more important, Ezekiel 34, where God himself is the shepherd of Israel (see this discussion). Thus, with this statement Jesus takes upon himself yet another title of God.

Why do we call him good? Because he is - AND he is the Lord God.

A more succinct answer (with the same outcome) can be found on this article about WJD at Heartlight.

Jesus is challenging the religious leader to wake up and understand the truth that stands right in front of him. If he is calling Jesus "good," then he must come to understand that Jesus is God and not play religious games, but come to truly believe. Jesus isn't denying that he is God; Jesus is affirming that he is God and that man truly needs to acknowledge that he is. Eternal questions are not simply religious speculation, but the core questions of the human soul. Only God can answer those questions. So if he is going to ask Jesus this question, he needs to pay attention and place his faith in Jesus' answer. So do we!

Answer 2

Jesus saw His earthly human body as inherently "limited". The man was referencing Jesus as a man. I think Jesus was simply saying "who is this 'good' teacher you are speaking of? There is no such thing as good men, only God is good.

Jesus being God (as God) is therefore good.

Or put another way, Jesus was saying if you address me as a "good teacher" I can not help you, for no man is good. Only as God can I do anything to help you.