⭐WEB · Matthew 5:20
What does Matthew 5:20 mean?
"For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."
— Matthew 5:20 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.
“If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you,
Explanation
Matthew 5:20 records Jesus speaking to his disciples and the crowds during the Sermon on the Mount, and the statement is blunt: entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven requires a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees. On the surface this is startling, because the scribes and Pharisees were widely regarded as the most religiously devoted people in Jewish society. They studied the Law meticulously, tithed carefully, and structured their entire lives around religious observance. For Jesus to say that their righteousness was insufficient would have struck his listeners as almost impossible — if these men weren't righteous enough, who could be?
To understand this, it helps to know the setting. Matthew's Gospel was written primarily for a Jewish-Christian audience, people steeped in the Law and familiar with the religious culture of first-century Judaism. The scribes were experts in interpreting and copying the Law, and the Pharisees were a lay movement devoted to strict adherence to that Law along with an extensive body of oral tradition meant to "build a fence" around it. Their righteousness was real in the sense that they followed rules — but as Jesus goes on to explain in the verses that follow (5:21-48), their righteousness tended to be external and technical rather than internal and wholehearted. They avoided murder but harbored hatred; they avoided adultery but indulged lust; they kept oaths carefully rather than simply being people whose word was reliable. Jesus consistently exposes a gap between outward compliance and inward transformation.
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