Righteousness That Exceeds

Jesus emphatically declared that, although He came to fulfill the Law, fulfilling did not mean that He abolished the Law. “For Christ is the end [fulfillment] of the law for righteousness” (Romans 10:4). Law reflects the character of God and can be abolished only when God no longer exists. The issue here involves the kingdom of heaven and the responsibility of kingdom citizens.

Kingdom citizens must keep kingdom laws; however, they must do so in a way that transcends the reputation of the scribes and Pharisees (v. 20). To understand what this means, one needs to know who the scribes and Pharisees were. The Sadducees were not included because they basically rejected the authority of the Scriptures, so why obey them? On the other hand, the Pharisees were set on preserving the purity and integrity of Judaism. The Pharisees took upon themselves the responsibility of the Levites (Sadducees) as “teachers of the law” (Luke 5:17). Those so devoted were called scribes. They were also referred to as lawyers due to their claim of expertise.

They “sit on Moses’ seat” (Matthew 23:2), a colloquialism for teaching the Law. However, they became legalistic because there is no power in the law to change the heart of anyone. Thus, as Paul states of them that, “Being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Romans 10:3). They were hypocrites. “They preach, but they do not practice” (Matthew 23:3b). They expected their followers to take up “heavy burdens hard to bear” while “they themselves are not willing to move them with their little finger” (Matthew 23:4). They were also externalists, praying and giving before others just to be seen and admired (Matthew 23:5).

Knowing the Pharisees to be lovers of money, Jesus rebuked them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:14, 15). Each of God’s children must search his own heart in the light of this revelation of the Pharisees. Do we demonstrate a loving relationship with God through sincere and humble obedience to His will, or are we slavishly devoted to impressing those around us of our spiritual piety with empty and sterile hearts before God?

The Lord began His discussion (vv. 21ff) with the second table of the Law, not the first, because the Pharisees reasoned that if they kept the second table in their public conduct, they must be faithful to the first table as well. However, Jesus sought to reveal how evil and deceptive the heart truly is.

Righteousness is simply doing what the Law requires. We may think that we have fulfilled our obligation, for example, by not murdering someone. What we fail to understand is that not loving our neighbor in godly obedience, harboring hate and anger towards him, makes us guilty of breaking the sixth commandment. May God grant us spiritual sight to see whether our righteousness is merely Pharisaical, or if it exceeds as Spirit-generated to the glory of God.