Righteousness That Exceeds

Righteousness That Exceeds

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.

Matthew 5:20

To put another nail into the coffin of self-righteousness, Christ declared, ‘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.’  Consider please, the effect of this statement upon His hearers. The scribes and Pharisees, were the most religious and ostensibly ‘holy’ people in the land. No one, but no one, exceeded the ‘righteousness’ which they paraded before the world.  How would anyone of Christ’s hearers ever hope to do better than these supposed models of righteous behavior? Again, as we have said before, Christ is the Answer. Christ said that He did ‘not come to Destroy but to Fulfill.’ His Righteousness did, in truth, ‘exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.’ This is because it was a genuine righteousness, not merely fabricated for public display.  Hence, the only way for us, who could never obtain the impossibly high standard which Christ sets forth, can only ever find acceptance with the Holy God by being robed in the righteousness of Christ.  ‘And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.’ Here is how our righteousness can ‘exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.’  Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which God gave the Law. As a result, all who believe in Him, are made right with God. There is no way that our ‘righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,’ apart from the Imputed Righteousness of Christ to us.  Christ is the Answer.

Our most Holy and Righteous Savior,
we praise You, that You fulfill in every respect,
all the demands of God’s Holy Law,
and that we can appear before His Holy Throne,
robed in Your Righteousness.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning