“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). Many have taken Christ to be talking about imputed righteousness in this statement. In other words, that since Christ’s own righteousness, which of course far exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, is imputed to us by faith therefore our righteousness now exceeds theirs. But the context makes it clear that He was really teaching about practical righteousness; the remainder of His sermon bears this out.
In chapter five, several times He says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old…” (vv. 21, 27, 33, 38, 43), “But I say to you…” (vv. 22, 28, 34, 39, 44). Christ was reminding His listeners of what the scribes and Pharisees, “those of old,” had said. Then when He said “But I say to you…” He was stating how His standard of righteousness exceeds theirs. They taught, “You shall not commit adultery” (v.27) which by their standard meant not committing the act of adultery. But the true interpretation of the seventh Commandment is that we don’t even lust in our hearts. This is the standard of righteousness Christ expects of us. So, if we’re committing adultery in our hearts we are not exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees and we will “by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” regardless of our confession of faith in Him.
The Sermon on the Mount is a sermon for believers to live by. In fact, if we don’t live by it we are not saved. Our practical righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. But, as you may be objecting, it sounds like you are teaching salvation by works. Not so. Christ and His apostles taught holiness “without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). There is no such thing as “no-Lordship salvation” or “easy believism.” A person cannot receive Christ as Savior only and not serve Him as Lord for the very requirement of salvation is that we confess Him as Lord (see Rom. 10:9).
Christ’s parting words to His apostles was: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” (Matt. 28:19, 20). To be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be obedient to His commandments. Christ had also taught, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me” (John 14:21), “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” (v. 23). A person can say they love Jesus but the true test is whether or not they are keeping His commandments. Obedience is the essence of true saving faith.
It’s truly a sobering thought that if we’re not consistently keeping the supreme commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:39; Rom. 13:9; Jam. 2:8), then we are not saved. Many of us don’t even love our own spouse as ourselves. Who are we kidding? If we don’t express love to our spouse in servitude then we are certainly not serving others in the body of Christ as we should.
Christ taught that there will be a judgment before Him of the sheep and the goats (see Matt. 25:31-46). It will be based on the amount, or lack thereof, of good works a person has done. But please keep in mind that these are works of love toward fellow brothers and sisters in Christ which validates true saving faith, not moral works toward earning salvation. James also taught about the works that accompany faith and the example he used is: “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food” (Jam. 2:15). To clothe and feed our brethren is to express true saving faith: “I will show you my faith by my works” (v. 18). This is also what the apostle John taught (see 1 John 3:16-18).
Paul revealed “the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath” (Rom. 2:5-8). Eternal life is to those who patiently continue to do good but indignation and wrath awaits the disobedient. In other letters, Paul listed multitudes of sins and said that the people who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (see 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5). He taught practical righteousness in order to enter heaven.
Peter taught the same thing: “as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Pet. 1:14-16). In his second letter he expressed, “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love” (1:5-7). He said that if we diligently do these things “for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 11). In other words, the entrance into His kingdom is open to those who diligently “add” these virtues to their faith. This entrance is the “narrow gate” which few find (Matt. 7:13, 14) because few live-out what they say they believe.
Toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ foretold of many who call Him “Lord” which will someday hear Him say “depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (7:23). Luke records Him saying, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (6:46). Calling Him Lord without obedience to Him as Lord is not salvation.
Finally, at the end of His sermon Christ taught: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock” (7: 24), “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand” (v. 26). What determines whether we are building on the rock or on the sand is whether or not we are keeping Christ’s sayings in His sermon. “But I say unto you” is the standard of righteousness which exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. And if we don’t exceed their righteousness, we won’t enter the kingdom of heaven.
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