Righteousness of the Redeemed
“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
For I say to you – This is an established fact, so I need to warn you about it.
Unless – What I’m about to say is a pre-requisite
Three words spoke to me from this text. They are: righteousness, scribes and Pharisees, and exceeds.
Righteousness primarily is used of a man who observed the rules or customs of the society he lived in. That is; a man behaves rightly by keeping the laws. A good definition of Righteousness is given in Deut 6:25. Righteousness was accounted to Abraham on no other account except that he believed God, and obeyed his instruction. Gen 6:9 talked about Noah as a righteous man because he constantly obeyed God.
Righteousness and justice walk hand in hand. Prov 8:20, 2 Chr 9:8, Job 29:14
Mat 5:20 => “For I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the ……kingdom of God”
Now, who are the scribes and the Pharisees? To answer that question, let us look at: Mat 23:2-7
“Exceed” here implies over and above. It means rear or outstanding. It is not the same kind of righteousness as that of the scribes and Pharisees that must be increased, rather a man must have another and an outstanding kind of righteousness which is over and above those practised by the Pharisees.
The NLT bible says “unless you obey God better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees” This means the Pharisee’s kind of righteousness has some flaws in it, which makes it unacceptable to heaven and must be changed for the Redeemed kind of Righteousness
What makes the righteousness of the Pharisees and Scribes unacceptable to heaven?
It is hypocritical – It is deceitful. It is an outer righteousness, which keeps a man where he is – in his own vanity and self admiration. Mat 23:27-28.
It is People oriented – Love been recognized, honoured, flap their strength, everything they do is for show, so that people can see. Mat 23:6-7
It divorces truth from good. They spread the truth but failed to see the good of the truth. Mat23:23.
Good is another name for God. Luke 18:18-19. The parable of the good Samaritan – Luke 10:25-37. Truth alone has nothing to do with compassion or mercy. In fact the most awful atrocity in the world has been done in the name of truth. To be merciful and act from compassion is to act from Good, and when we act from good we are demonstrating Godly attribute. This Samaritan has attracted a unique Godly attribute to himself and thus he is referred to as “the good Samaritan” which is synonymous to “the Godly Samaritan.” When good is separated from truth, then the truth becomes a stumbling block, for truth is meant to lead us to good.
Another illustration of this point is seen in the healing which took place at Bethesda.
John 5:1-15 talk about the man healed at the pool of Bethesda. This man knew the truth, He knew that anyone who first step into the pool after the angel has stirred up the waters get healed, but he cannot walk in this truth. So, when asked “would thou be made whole?”, he answered, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another stepped down before me.” He described his disease, which makes him psychologically halt, lame and stagnant. He is always too slow: he is always second, never first. A man who knows the truth, but cannot act from that truth, by being good, is acting from what is second in him. If he acts from the good of that truth he knows, then he is acting from what is first in him. Jesus gave him the power to act from the truth, power to take up the bed of truth he has been lying on and begin to walk in it, begin to live it. Jesus made him to see the truth he has been taught in a living way.
The Pharisees in this passage does not mean merely the Jews, as people who hold to the literal Mosaic laws. It means those who cannot get beyond knowledge, who dispute and argue from truth, from doctrine, and theories, and care nothing for the good which the truth is meant to lead to.
Knowledge is endless unless it leads to Good. When a person is able to integrate truth with Good, then he or she is made whole, and can no longer sin. When Jesus was parting from the man who he has healed he says to him “behold, thou art made whole; sin no more.”
Mat 5:20 “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”