Nielsen’s Nook

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Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII

III. The Teaching of Christ

A. Righteousness that Abundantly Surpasses … (Mt 5:20)

We have reviewed the Law of God and saw that the Old Testament presents it as a description of the Righteousness of God. We then turned our attention briefly to the Law of the Pharisee, which we have said was a perversion of the Law of God, having twisted it into a prescription for attaining righteousness. So now we come to contemplate together the meaning of Jesus’ teaching in our passage.

Matt. 5:20 is the exclamation point, the conclusion to which the rest of our passage is flowing (Mt. 5:13-20). It will serve us well to begin there and then consider the preceding verses. In this way, we will better appreciate what Christ is teaching us along the way if we have His destination in mind.

Matt. 5:20 (ESV) 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds [abundantly surpasses] that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never [in any way ever] enter the kingdom of heaven.

Three Implications For Righteousness In Matt. 5:20

When Jesus says that a person’s righteousness must abundantly surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees he is making subtle and powerful implications.

Insufficient Righteousness

First he is saying that the righteousness of the Pharisees is insufficient. They write checks and have nothing in the bank to show for it. Imagine how this would have shocked not only the Pharisees, but also the masses that thought of them as being icons of righteousness in the community.

Non-Existent Righteousness

Second, the Gentiles, who were there from the surrounding territories, were of course aware that in the economy of Jewish religion the Pharisees were considered wealthy in currency of righteousness. Therefore, it is safe to say that Jesus is also implying that none of his hearers - Jew or Gentile- had any righteousness whatsoever of which to speak - their righteousness was non-existent. Paul in great unity with the thought of our Lord tells us in Romans 3:9-20 that there is none who are righteous - and he had previously been a Pharisee of Pharisees (Phil 3:1-11).

Remember how Jesus began his sermon:

Matt. 5:3-6 (ESV) 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

The Beatitudes give us the paradigm for understanding the entirety Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, they speak to our passage (Mt. 5:13-20). We find here that it is precisely those - and only those - who are poor in spirit and hunger and thirst after righteousness who are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven and who will be satisfied in their appetite for righteousness.

What is profound about Jesus’ statement is that he describes those who hunger and thirst after the righteousness that they do not themselves have! It is these, who know their own righteousness is insufficient and non-existent, who are the ones who are blessed; it is these - and these only - who will be the sons and daughters of God! The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those - and those only - who are poor in spirit.

Pharisaic Self-Deception

Jesus exposed the righteousness of His hearers as insufficient and non-existent. The problem is that many of His hearers were convinced otherwise. And so we come to the third powerful implication that Jesus teaches us in Matt. 5:20 - that of self-deception.

Jesus is exposing the self-deception of the Pharisees. They are deceived in themselves about what righteousness is on an essential or most basic level. Consequently, the Pharisees are deceived in their understanding of what the LAW OF GOD actually taught. They believed that they were rich in spirit because of the cacophony of their ‘righteous acts’. They had printed off Monopoly money by the ream and then declared themselves rich!

Jesus explains that they hunger and thirst after something other than righteousness. In fact, they are only playing religious games. They play a kind of Religious Russian Roulette with a fully loaded revolver.

Unless your righteousness abundantly surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never in any way enter the Kingdom of Heaven.