Mat 5:17-18 | KingComments | STEP | What the Lord Jesus proclaims does not mean that the old is set aside. The Lord accomplishes in His own Person all that is written. He has fulfilled every requirement of the law. But He has done more. He has also shown the true meaning of everything written in the law and the prophets. He is the fulfilment of all this, for everything in it points to Him. Everything that is written will really happen. Respect for what God has said is expressed by doing what God has said. After that, what God has said can also be taught to others. But he who explains the smallest precept of God as of no significance and then teaches that to others, will not be counted in the kingdom. “Your righteousness” is the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. It is their own righteousness, for which they already receive the reward in the form of appreciation by people. But their righteousness is not sufficient to enter the kingdom of heaven. The righteousness of the Pharisees, which consists of going to the temple every day, doing long prayers and the like, has no substance for God. With all this outward display there is no sense of sin before God. And the latter is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven. The “surpassing” righteousness is the recognition of God’s righteous judgment on sins. Whoever acknowledges that God is righteous when He would exercise this judgment upon him, takes his true place as a convinced sinner before God. Such a person may enter the kingdom of heaven.

‏ Matthew 5:17-18

The Law and the Prophets

What the Lord Jesus proclaims does not mean that the old is set aside. The Lord accomplishes in His own Person all that is written. He has fulfilled every requirement of the law. But He has done more. He has also shown the true meaning of everything written in the law and the prophets. He is the fulfilment of all this, for everything in it points to Him. Everything that is written will really happen. Respect for what God has said is expressed by doing what God has said. After that, what God has said can also be taught to others. But he who explains the smallest precept of God as of no significance and then teaches that to others, will not be counted in the kingdom.

“Your righteousness” is the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. It is their own righteousness, for which they already receive the reward in the form of appreciation by people. But their righteousness is not sufficient to enter the kingdom of heaven. The righteousness of the Pharisees, which consists of going to the temple every day, doing long prayers and the like, has no substance for God. With all this outward display there is no sense of sin before God. And the latter is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The “surpassing” righteousness is the recognition of God’s righteous judgment on sins. Whoever acknowledges that God is righteous when He would exercise this judgment upon him, takes his true place as a convinced sinner before God. Such a person may enter the kingdom of heaven.