Righteousness,  Matthew 5:20

This post concerns the righteousness needed to please God.

Righteousness of the religious leaders of the day as described by Jesus involved a life and conduct that did not fit the beatitudes described in this chapter, Matthew 5:20. “…unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  

Righteousness as a problem involved the scribes and Pharisees’ interpretation of the Law. They had distorted the law into the Tradition of the Elders. Then, they urged the people to regard these traditions as the word of God. Jesus plainly condemned the Tradition of the Elders. For example, the Pharisees objected to Jesus’ disciples not washing their hands before eating due to their ruling on washing hands as part of their Tradition. At that point, Jesus criticized them, Matthew 15:3. “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? So, by their tradition they voided God’s word.

Therefore, they not only warped the law to suit themselves; they also hypocritically put forth an image of self-righteousness that kept them from actually keeping the law, Matthew 23:13. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”

In this way, they hypocritically appeared to people as righteous, Matthew 23:27-28. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So, you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Thus, they appeared as righteous even though their lives were filled with wickedness and a lack of real love for obeying God’ word as found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. “The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

So, what did we learn?

1.The scribes and Pharisees exhibited a fake righteousness which disciples should not emulate.

2.They twisted the Law into a tradition of the elders which lacked real love and obedience to God’s law.

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