In the Life of Christ
When Jesus told His listeners, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20), I imagine the crowd becoming unusually quiet. The scribes knew Scripture, and the Pharisees were meticulous about religious conduct. If they were not righteous enough, what hope did an ordinary laborer, mother, fisherman, or tax collector have?
That unsettling question is exactly where Jesus wanted His hearers to begin. He was not raising the passing score on a religious examination. He was exposing the failure of external religion and revealing our need for a righteousness only God can give. David Platt describes it well: Jesus was demanding “not more righteous deeds by human effort, but more righteous hearts by divine grace.” Jesus was not asking people to polish the outside more carefully; He was announcing that they needed to be made new within.
The Greek word for righteousness, dikaiosynē, carries the idea of being right before God and living according to His will. The Pharisees had reduced righteousness largely to visible compliance. Jesus later compared them to cups cleaned on the outside but filthy within and to whitewashed tombs that appeared beautiful while concealing death (Matthew 23:25–28). Warren Wiersbe summarized their problem: “Their religion was a dead ritual, not a living relationship.” The issue was not that obedience did not matter. The issue was that their obedience had become a performance disconnected from a surrendered heart. A Matthew 5 commentary drawing upon Wiersbe and other scholars similarly describes this as an artificial righteousness that produces pride rather than spiritual life.
Jesus had already made clear that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them. Matthew presents Jesus as the promised Messiah and authoritative Teacher who brings Israel’s scriptural story to its intended fulfillment. The BibleProject’s overview of Matthew notes that Matthew deliberately portrays Him as a new and greater Moses, teaching from the mountain and inaugurating God’s new-covenant work. Yet Jesus does more than explain the Law—He fulfills its promises, bears its curse for sinners, and gives the Holy Spirit so its righteous intent may begin to be lived within His people.
I see this illustrated when Jesus speaks with Nicodemus in John 3. Nicodemus possesses biblical knowledge, religious standing, and a respectable life, but Jesus tells him, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). The Greek expression genēthēnai anōthen can mean “born again” or “born from above.” Nicodemus does not need another layer of religious achievement; he needs life from above. This fulfills the prophetic promise that God would cleanse His people, give them a new heart, and place His Spirit within them (Ezekiel 36:25–27).
This prevents us from making two opposite mistakes. We must not trust our moral record as though good behavior could earn entrance into God’s kingdom. We must also not treat grace as permission to remain unchanged. Christ’s righteousness is counted as ours through faith, and the Holy Spirit begins forming righteous desires and actions within us. John Piper writes, “Righteousness is being pure in heart before God who alone can see the heart.” His exposition of righteousness in Matthew 5 connects it with mercy, purity, and peacemaking. These are not costumes worn to impress an audience. They are the growing fruit of a heart being governed by Christ.
So I must ask more than, “Did I appear righteous today?” I need to ask, “What was happening within me while I did what was right?” I can speak politely while harboring contempt, give generously while craving recognition, or avoid visible sin while secretly feeding it in my imagination. The righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees is not a better disguise; it is the life of Jesus taking root within us.
When we recognize that we cannot manufacture such righteousness, we are finally ready to receive it. We come to Christ empty-handed, trusting His finished work, and then open every hidden room of the heart to the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit. That is how exceeding righteousness begins—not with pretending to be better, but with being born from above.
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