Hey everyone.
Recently I have been studying through the Sermon on the Mount. As I studied, I read Jesus' statement in Matt. 5:20, where he says, "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven." Since I very much want to be in the kingdom of Heaven, I took some time to think about this scripture. Since my righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees, it made me ask the question, "How righteous were the Pharisees?" Well, the answer to that question depends on who you are asking.
If you ask a Pharisee, the answer that you would get would probably be something like this, "It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to surpass my righteousness. God and I are really tight." In his own eyes, the Pharisee was very righteous, but his legalistic brand of righteousness was based largely on following regulations, while totally missing the heart of the scriptures. That is why Jesus said of them in Matt 23:23-24, that they tithed even their spices but neglected the heart of law, ideas like justice, mercy and faithfulness. They seemed very righteous, but totally missed the point.
Jesus' audience was probably taken aback by this statement, thinking "How could I possibly be more righteous than they are?" But, had they asked Jesus how righteous the Pharisees were, they may have been surprised by his answer. It may have been something like this, "Well, to be honest, they are not very righteous." Their self-righteous way of thinking completely missed the point and purpose of the law and Jesus spent three years pointing that out.
With that in mind, I ask the question, "Can my righteousness surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees and thereby I can enter the kingdom of Heaven?" The answer to that is unequivocally "Yes!" As I continued the study of the Sermon on the Mount, I began to compare two standards that Jesus was laying out. One I will call the Righteousness of the Pharisees. The other I will call Surpassing Righteousness, a righteousness of the heart.
Jesus immediately starts spelling out the difference. In Matt. 5:21-22, it says, "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment." Here we have two standards. One says, "Do not murder." This is a good standard, but to be honest, I have have found it incredibly easy to obey. I have never even been tempted to murder anyone. Jesus's command to not get angry with our brother is much harder to obey. Controlling our anger is much, much harder than controlling our impulse to murder people. That is because dealing with our anger goes back to our hearts and what is coming out of them.
It is interesting that the Pharisees would have undoubtedly agreed with the command "Do not murder," yet they certainly had murderous intentions. They were plotting to kill Jesus, and ultimately handed him over to the Romans to be killed. They plotted to kill Lazarus. They killed Stephen. To make them happy, Herod killed James. How could they justify all of this murderous intent? Easy, when your righteousness is bound up in legalism rather than the heart, you can justify just about anything. I believe that we are drawn to legalism, because it's a whole easier than really examining our hearts and changing ourselves on that level. That we need God for.
So, what does this mean for us? First, we have to understand that Surpassing Righteousness is about our hearts before God, and not our strict adherence to some code of laws. Obey the laws, but first give God your heart. The Pharisees obeyed the laws they wanted to obey because in actuality their hearts were far from God, (Mark 7:6) making their own desires their standard. Second, we can know Surpassing Righteousness, the one that allows us to enter the kingdom of Heaven, is possible. The Righteousness of the Pharisees, actually sets the bar pretty low. For example, I know that I can continue to not murder people. When I give God my heart, I can also learn to control my anger, too. So seeking the Surpassing Righteousness allows me to enter the kingdom of Heaven and makes me a better person, as well.
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