The disciples were shocked. If a rich man, who seemed to have every advantage, could hardly enter the kingdom, what hope was there for anyone? Matthew says they were "exceedingly amazed," and Mark says they were "astonished out of measure, saying among themselves" (Mark 10:26). Matthew Henry hears in their question a wider worry: if riches hinder the rich, are not "pride and sinful lusts found in those not rich," just as dangerous? Gill reads it differently. He thinks the disciples still pictured a worldly kingdom and meant safety, not eternal salvation: if the rich opposed the Messiah, how could poor men like them stand? Either way, the question comes from people suddenly seeing that the way into the kingdom is beyond human reach.

"Jesus beheld them" and answered plainly: "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). He did not soften what He had said about riches. He moved the question from what people can do to what God can do. Mark records the same answer with the added words "but not with God" (Mark 10:27), and Luke gives it as "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" (Luke 18:27).

The Greek word behind "exceedingly amazed" is exeplēssonto, from ekplēssō, which Thayer defines as "to strike one out of self-possession." The tense pictures astonishment that kept going, and Matthew adds sphodra, "exceedingly."

Barnes explains that the camel and needle saying was a proverb "in common use among the Jews" to describe something extremely difficult. He adds that "a rich man" here especially means one who "loves his riches, and makes an idol of them," which fits Mark's wording, "them that trust in riches" (Mark 10:24).

This question shows that salvation is God's work from start to finish. Jesus answered the disciples' alarm by agreeing with it: with men, it really is impossible. Matthew Henry puts the answer simply: "None, saith Christ, by any created power." Then He pointed them to God, for whom "all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).

The whole chapter turns on this. The young man asked "what good thing shall I do" (Matthew 19:16) and went away sorrowful. The disciples asked "who then can be saved?" and were told to look to God. Henry adds that the point is not that rich people can be saved in their worldliness, "but that they should be saved from it." Barnes agrees that every obstacle riches raise can be overcome, because "God can give grace to do it."