Matt 5:20
“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
“λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐὰν μὴ περισσεύσῃ ἡ δικαιοσύνη ὑμῶν πλεῖον τῶν γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.”
“lego gar humin hoti ean me perisseuse humon e dikaiosune pleion ton grammateon kai Pharisaion, ou me eiselthete eis ten basileian ton ouranon.”
If we consider the incredible devotion to the law, shown by the Pharisees and the Scribes, how can we ever hope to exceed their righteousness?
Everybody knows that there is no place in Heaven for “bad” people. The Pharisees were “good” people, however, Jesus tells us that we must be more righteous than the Pharisees if we ever want to enter Heaven…
So the question is not “Do bad people go to Heaven”, it is “How good do we have to be to get into Heaven?”
The Pharisees:
The Pharisees were so scrupulous in keeping the law that they even tithed the spices they harvested in their spice gardens (Matt 23:23). We find the same devotion to the law in modern orthodox Jews. In fact, they are so meticulous that they refuse to use electricity on the Sabbath, because an electrical flow is seen as “work”. This includes using the telephone (which uses a current in the telephone cable) or even driving a vehicle (gas combusting is an explosion and is considered as “work”).
Most people would see this as just another form of insanity, but this is how serious they take the law.
The Pharisees kept the laws to the best of their ability, devoting their lives to following the law down to the T. They would spend hours thinking about how they were breaking the law and how they could change that. Remember that the Pharisees were not all hypocritical, most of them were honest and serious about their religion. However, like many “Christian” denominations today, some of their doctrine had gone astray.
So the question is: How can we be more righteous than people who spent all day, focusing on how they can obey the law?
“Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees…”
The Greek word translated as “exceed” is “perisseuse”, a derivative of “perisseuo”. It means to exceed in quantity or quality.
The Greek word translated as “righteousness” is “dikaiosune”. It is the righteousness or justification of character or act.
The verse literally tells us that we must be more righteous in character and actions in quality and quantity than the Pharisees to enter the Kingdom of God.
The Pharisees were very righteous when we look at their outward, observable actions. It becomes very difficult for anyone to exceed the righteousness of their outward character… But it is not the outward character that Jesus is talking about.
The righteousness of the Pharisees consisted only in outward observances of the law. They offered the correct sacrifices, fasted often, prayed much more than most Christians do today, they were punctual regarding tithes and all religious ceremonies, but they neglected the inward righteousness! They neglected justice, truth, purity and holiness of heart before God.
They focused on what others would see, not on what God would see. They did not strive to be noticed by God, but rather, to be noticed by men.
The Pharisees knew the law back to front. There was nothing anyone could teach them about the texts of the Torah. They knew the requirements God had for His people, but they also knew that man could never attain a sinless, perfect life. God also knows that we are sinners and we cannot possibly hope to lead a sinless and perfect life. That is the reason why Jesus saved us…because we could not save ourselves!
If they realized that God already knew that man could not be sinless and if they consulted the Lord as the prophets of old did, perhaps they too would have come to the conclusion that God alone can save them. However, they decided to create their own system where they could circumvent the requirements of the law.
The Pharisees had codified the Scriptures into 365 negative commandments and 248 positive commandments. They taught that if men kept these commandments they would be acceptable and righteous in the eyes of God. However, each of the commandments were set up merely as external observances. They were only concerned with what others could see.
They taught that it is wrong to murder, but they would not say anything about hate that leads to murder.
They taught that it is wrong to commit adultery, but they would say nothing about the lust that leads to adultery.
They taught that it is wrong to steal, but they would say nothing about the covetousness which leads to stealing.
If the people could keep the laws in front of other people, the Pharisees believed that they were righteous and acceptable to God.
How can we exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees?
Each of us can exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees because we strive to exceed them in kind, not degree.
In Philippians 3:7-9 Paul tells us about the two kinds of righteousness in this world:
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. – Philippians 3:7-9
The 1st kind of Righteousness: The Law.
This righteousness comes from observing the law. This is commonly known as “works”. If man could be saved through works, then the Pharisees would already be saved and we would not need to be more righteous than they were.
Many “Christian” denominations, like Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that we are saved through works. This verse clearly apposes that point of view. The righteousness of the law is but one aspect of our Christian mission to live as righteously as possible, but works cannot get us into Heaven.
How the righteousness that man has achieved by following the law appears to the Almighty God is clearly described in Isaiah 64:6:
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. – Isaiah 64:6
Man cannot achieve the righteousness required to enter the Kingdom of God through works. Therefore, we need to look for another kind of righteousness…
The 2nd kind of righteousness: God’s righteousness through faith.
The second kind of faith that Paul tells us about is the righteousness we receive from God through faith.
We cannot achieve perfect righteousness through the law, because every single person has broken the law in their life, therefore the law condemns us and our works become like filthy rags before God. However, there is one who never broke any of the laws. One who perfectly represented God throughout His entire life. One that personified the love God has for each of us through His sacrificial death.
Jesus is the only person in all of history that perfectly followed the law, never breaking a single rule. He is the only person who’s righteousness is not as filthy rags because His works was perfect in outward and inward observances.
Jesus died so that we do not have to face what our righteousness really deserves. Through faith in Him we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus and His righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees in both kind AND degree.
We are being challenged to take up the second kind of righteousness. That of faith in the Lord Jesus. Once we have His righteousness covering us, we must hold on to that righteousness by also trying our best to pursue the first kind of righteousness, which is the observance of God’s laws. Therefore, let us strive to be more righteous than the Pharisees by having the righteousness of Christ represent us.