Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Matthew 5:17–20
“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20).
Our Lord, in the parable of the barren fig tree, issued a warning to the first-century Jewish leaders that time was running out for them to bear fruit; if they did not start bearing fruit soon, they would be cut down (Luke 13:6–9). History tells us that they did not hear Jesus’ warning, and the kingdom passed out of the hands of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Yet Jesus’ parable has abiding significance for professing Christians today, warning us that we must bear spiritual fruit as well. For the next several days, we will consider the nature of the fruit we are to bear with the help of Dr. R.C. Sproul’s teaching series Keeping in Step with the Spirit.
What kind of fruit is God looking for in our lives? The short answer is righteousness. As we see in today’s passage, the kind of righteousness we need to enter the kingdom of heaven is the righteousness that “exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees” (Matt. 5:20).
Jesus’ words here are difficult to interpret. We know that this is a serious teaching indeed, for Christ is giving a condition that must be achieved if we are to enjoy salvation. This condition is a righteousness that is greater than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. It is not immediately clear, however, what constitutes this righteousness.
In light of the broader biblical teaching on our redemption, Jesus could be referring to that perfect righteousness by which we are justified, or declared legally righteous before God. This is the righteousness of Christ, His life of perfect obedience to the law of our Creator, imputed to us—put on our record—and received by faith in Jesus alone (Rom. 4; 2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus’ demand for righteousness beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees could point to His own righteousness, a view supported by the fact that in context, Jesus talks about His own coming to fulfill the law (Matt. 5:17–19).
Alternatively, Jesus could be talking about the practice of righteousness, the righteousness that is a gift of the Holy Spirit and flows from a true love for God. This is the righteousness of our sanctification, the holy lives we live because we are called to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:14–16).
Truthfully, we are not forced to choose between these options. All those who have been justified only by the righteousness of Christ bear fruit in the practice of righteousness, in doing good works (James 2:14–26). If we have no concern to obey God, we have not rested in Christ for salvation.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The perfect righteousness of Christ is the only ground of our acceptance by God. As we seek to practice righteousness more and more in our lives, let us remember that our righteousness never establishes our standing before God. Forgetting that truth will hinder our sanctification and assurance. We stand before the Creator unafraid based only on the perfection of Jesus imputed to us.
for further study
- Isaiah 53:11
- Ezekiel 11:19–20
- Luke 18:9–14
- Romans 6:1–14
the bible in a year
- Job 31–32
- Acts 13:1–25