Jesus said that unless our righteousness exceeds......?

Question

Our righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees or we can't enter the kingdom of heaven. How can I achieve that standard of righteousness when Im just an ordinary person??

Answer 1

you can't. you have to accept His sacrifice on your behalf, and His righteousness will be imputed to you. (credited to your account)

Answer 2

What Christ means in this passage is that we are not to be hypocrites like the scribes and Pharisees were. Jesus said, ""Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean." (Matthew 23:27) and
""Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous." (Matthew 23:29)

In essence, Jesus tells us that unless we practice what we preach we will enter the kingdom of heaven.

We have been giving the ability to carry out what Jesus taught us by and through the help of the Holy Spirit. We all can be righteous, just not on our own power.

Answer 3

It's not a matter of exceeding their standard of righteousness but rather having faith in God. The Scribes and Pharasies (along with the "Jews" of today) are righteous in their own eyes and do things to make themselves look "holy". But Jesus called them whitewashed tombs full of dead bones I think. They appear very righteous on the outside, however on the inside they are full of greed and don't believe anything having to do with Jesus or his mission.

So merely believing in Jesus makes your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharasies.

Answer 4

The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees is a righteousness obtained by self -effort in obedience to the law of Moses. The righteousness that Christians now have is a gift from God (Rom 5:17, 2 Cor 5:21). Pharisees try to achieve righteousness by works whereas Christains obtained their gift of righteousness by simply believing in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. The Apostle Paul put it very well when he wrote in Philippians 3:9 'and be found in Him, not having MY OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is from the law, but THAT IS BY FAITH in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.' Jesus is saying do not try to work out your righteousness like the Pharisees just receive your gift of righteousness by faith (ie by believing). The gift of God's righteousness is far superior to our self-righteousness with is unattainable in anycase under the law which has now been fulfilled by Jesus.

Answer 5

The Scribes and Pharisees were hypocrites,About like we have in church now,Jesus wants our righteousness to exceed that.In
other words don't be a hypocrite.

Answer 6

You mis-understand....while Jesus stated it is difficult to get into heaven it was in the context of keeping the Law. There are other references that show that your faith, baptism and belief in Jesus will allow you to enter heaven as a result of His attonement for human sin.

17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. 19 So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
20 “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

Luke 11 52 “What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”

14 When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” 16 Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.


23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard[a] to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”

So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Luke 11:12-14 (in Context) Luke 11 (Whole Chapter)


24 “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail.

John 3:5 (New Living Translation)
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[a]

Answer 7

You don't need to worry TOO much, as Pharisees were not very righteous at all! I'm not sure about scribes, though.

Answer 8

You can not. Jesus was making a point to ordinary people that they could not be good enough to work their way into heaven.

Answer 9

Why do ordinary people risk their lives to pull a person out of a burning car?

Why do "righteous" people get nervous around sick lonely street people?

Answer 10

Thats the very point.No one can the church intentionally set the bar so high that none are worthy of heaven.They want you to feel guilty dont you get that