Have you ever read that verse and just wondered, how? I mean, how can I be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect? As a matter of fact, if you read the entire section bookended between the verses in Matthew 5:20, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." ESV, and verse 48 quoted above, you have to be scratching your head or rubbing your chin and just trying to figure out, how? How can I meet those demands? And then to make it worse, Jesus adds his own conditions in those verses that are in between those two bookends with the words, "You have heard..., but I say", and then goes on to explain that as hard as it was to meet the conditions of The Law, he has just raised the bar! So, we are left wondering even more: how?
What does it mean to have my righteousness exceed that of the most righteous religious group of Jesus' day or 'to be perfect' just like the Father 'is perfect', what does it mean? Is this some type of command of Jesus that sets us up for failure? Something he knows we can't attain and must live up to anyway? In a sense yes, and in a sense, no. How can that be? Wouldn’t that make God unjust to require something of us that we can’t attain? Well, yes…unless it doesn’t mean what we think it means at first glance. The way it 'can be' is set forth throughout the new testament in verses we will be looking at.
Jesus hints at this 'mystery' in the same discourse when he says, "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Mat 7:12 ESV But, this is speaking about our relationship to others and saying that in doing this we will know the true meaning of the Law and Prophets; but this veiled reference doesn't quite get to the answer of 'how can my righteousness exceed the Pharisee's and how can I be perfect like the Father. As stated, it was hinted at or alluded to, but the mystery wasn't yet revealed. Let's begin looking at some verses that will get behind the veil.
To get to this place 'behind the veil' we will need to follow the train of thought that Jesus has led us to with these statements. To start, how are we doing at obeying the requirements that Jesus gave in the above quoted verses from Matthew? The following verse will give some light to that question:
"What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;"' (Rom 3:9,10 ESV)
Since we all fall under the Jew or Gentile classification, we can already see that we have not met the standard set by Jesus in the statements he made in Matthew: if 'none is righteous, no not one', then it is evident that our righteousness cannot exceed that of the Pharisees and by no means can we be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect. And then, not only that we aren’t righteous but that even when we do things that we believe are righteous, we fool ourselves:
"For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." (Rom 10:3 ESV)
So, the question we are faced with is, “What is the ‘righteousness of God?' that we need in our lives?” How is this different than our own righteousness? Which, by the way, it evidently is or we wouldn't have this statement squarely facing us.
Let's look at what 'our righteousness' would be according to our 'standard':
"For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them." (Rom 10:5 ESV)
and,
"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law."
(Jas 2:10-11 ESV)
You see, when we (humans) get involved in deciding what is righteous or good or unrighteous or bad, we tend to think of 'works' or 'acts' that we do. God, however, has another way of looking at it. As a matter of fact, the people in Jesus' day were asking the same question and Jesus gave them the answer. Let's see what he said:
"Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."'
(Joh 6:28-29 ESV)
And Paul confirms this assertion that belief is the way to enter the road to righteousness:
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."'
(Rom 1:16-17 ESV)
This righteousness of belief or 'faith' is the Godly righteousness that we are seeking. It stands in contrast to the worlds righteousness. So, what does this righteousness consist of? and, How do I achieve it?
"Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:" (Rom 4:4-6 ESV)
Now we can see that we can't 'achieve' this righteousness at all, we must attain it by belief in Jesus. Let's now see what it consists of.
"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Rom 3:21-26 ESV)
Notice here in these verses it speaks of God's righteousness and not ours! Curious isn't it? It speaks of our justification but not our righteousness, why? I thought we were speaking of our righteousness. We are but not in the way you would think.
"For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
(Rom 8:3-4 ESV)
Here is the answer coming out from behind the veil: that Jesus was sent in the likeness of our sinful flesh, died and through that death the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who believe. And to further explain:
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2Co 5:21 ESV)
So, now we can see that the righteousness that we attain, or that is 'imputed' to us, is the righteousness of Christ and not our own:
"...not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--" (Php 3:9 ESV)
It becomes clear, that because we who believe have the righteousness of Christ as our own, we are made right and justified before God.
But if that is the case then why do I feel as though I am struggling with sin? or, a feeling that I am not right before God? or, that I need to do more? It is because you haven't been 'crucified'. Until you are 'crucified' with Christ- not your own crucifixion 'like' Jesus', but actually crucified 'with' Jesus, you can't experience the freedom that comes from living the 'crucified' life. So, you may have experienced a belief in Christ but have you put on the righteousness of Christ? As long as you are trying to live out of your own, old man, righteousness, you will be in bondage to that old sinful self. If you are trying to ‘crucify’ bad behaviors, bad habits, an immoral life style, gossip, cursing- name the sin you struggle with- if you are trying to ‘crucify’ these on your own cross and not on the cross of Jesus, you will fail. Remember, there are two types of righteousness; one is from the old self, the kind the Pharisee's had and was condemned by Jesus and is the kind Jesus said ours needs to exceed; and the other is the righteousness of Jesus that we attain by belief in him. Not a superficial belief, but an actual life that has been crucified with him on his cross and now is alive through him. Remember:
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20 ESV)
And this is the only righteousness that can save us: it is the only way we can be 'perfect, just as our Father in heaven is perfect',
"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." (Gal 2:21 ESV)
Do you have the righteousness of God? Do you believe?
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