The Unbreakable Word and the Righteousness That Exceeds Text: Matthew 5:17-20
Introduction: The Un-Hippie Jesus
There is a popular conception of Jesus, particularly in our sentimental and effeminate age, that pictures Him as a sort of gentle revolutionary, a first-century flower child who came to do away with all the harsh, judgmental, and frankly embarrassing parts of the Old Testament. This Jesus came to replace the stern scowl of Yahweh with a gentle, affirming smile. He came to replace the hard edges of the law with the soft pillows of unconditional love. He came, in short, to abolish everything that makes modern people uncomfortable.
And this Jesus is a complete fabrication. He is an idol, fashioned out of the syrupy residue of our own cultural preferences. The true Jesus, the Jesus of the Scriptures, walks onto the stage of the Sermon on the Mount, and before He even begins to expound the law, He first lays down the unshakeable foundation of His relationship to it. He comes not to tear down, but to build up. He comes not to erase, but to fulfill. He comes not to relax the standard, but to reveal its true and terrifying height.
These four verses are a frontal assault on every form of antinomianism, which is the fancy word for lawlessness. They are a rebuke to the ancient heretic Marcion, who tried to sever the New Testament from the Old. And they are a direct rebuke to the modern evangelical church, which too often treats the Old Testament like a dusty attic full of heirlooms that are interesting but ultimately irrelevant to daily life. Jesus here tells us that the entire book, from Genesis to Malachi, is His book. It all points to Him, it is all authoritative, and it all stands until the end of time. If we want to understand the new covenant, we must first understand that it is the fulfillment, not the abolition, of the old.
What Jesus does here is establish the ground rules for His kingdom. His kingdom is not a lawless anarchy. It is a kingdom where the law of God is written on the heart, and where righteousness is not a matter of external performance but of internal transformation. He is about to raise the bar, and He does so by first securing the bar to the bedrock of Moses and the Prophets.
The Text
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
(Matthew 5:17-20 LSB)
The Law's Fulfillment (v. 17-18)
Jesus begins by correcting a potential and dangerous misunderstanding.
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17)
The "Law or the Prophets" was a standard way of referring to the entire Old Testament. Jesus is saying, "Do not imagine for a moment that My ministry is intended to invalidate the Hebrew Scriptures." This is a foundational claim. The God of the Old Testament is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. The story of Israel is the story that culminates in Him. He is not starting a new religion from scratch. He is bringing the one true religion to its appointed climax.
The key word here is "fulfill." What does it mean? It means to fill it up to the brim, to bring it to its intended goal, to complete it. Think of a blueprint for a cathedral. The blueprint is not the building, but it is essential, and it points to the building. When the cathedral is finished, you don't abolish the blueprint and say it was wrong; you say it has been fulfilled. The cathedral is the reality to which the blueprint pointed. Jesus is the cathedral. The entire Old Testament, with its ceremonies, sacrifices, and laws, was a series of signposts pointing down the road. Jesus is the destination. He is the true Temple, the true Sacrifice, the true King, the true Prophet. He doesn't just obey the law; He embodies it. He is its living substance.
He then underscores the absolute permanence of this Word with a staggering statement.
"For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished." (Matthew 5:18)
This is one of the strongest affirmations of the divine inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture found anywhere. The "smallest letter" is the iota, and the "stroke" is a tiny serif or hook on a Hebrew letter. Jesus is saying that the authority of God's Word extends to the very punctuation. It is all God's breath, and none of it is disposable. It is more permanent than the Rocky Mountains. Heaven and earth will be uncreated and rolled up like a scroll before one serif of God's law fails in its purpose.
This is the bedrock of a Christian worldview. We stand on an infallible, unbreakable Word. When the culture tells us that the Bible's teachings on sexuality are outdated, or its view of creation is primitive, or its moral commands are too restrictive, Jesus tells us that it is the culture that is flimsy and passing away, while the Word of God endures forever. We do not get to edit God's Word; God's Word gets to edit us.
The Law's Teachers (v. 19)
From the permanence of the law, Jesus moves to the responsibility of its teachers.
"Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:19 LSB)
Here Jesus establishes a direct link between our view of God's law and our status in His kingdom. Notice the two required actions: doing and teaching. Orthopraxy and orthodoxy must walk hand in hand. It is not enough to have a high view of the law in your head; you must have a high view of it in your hands and feet. And it is not enough to simply live it; you must teach it.
To "annul" or "loosen" a commandment is to treat it as optional, to explain it away, to find clever loopholes. The one who does this, and encourages others to do the same, is not cast out of the kingdom, but he is demoted. He is called "least." He is a spiritual lightweight. This is a solemn warning to every pastor, every parent, every Christian. We will be judged by our fidelity to the whole counsel of God. The temptation is always to soften the hard sayings, to domesticate the lion of Scripture. But the great man or woman in God's kingdom is the one who takes God at His Word, submits to it entirely, and faithfully teaches others to do the same, without apology or embarrassment.
The Law's True Righteousness (v. 20)
This all builds to the climactic verse, which must have landed like a thunderclap on His audience.
"For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20 LSB)
We have to understand who the scribes and Pharisees were. They were not the designated bad guys in a children's story. They were the most respected, most outwardly righteous, most biblically literate people in the nation. They were the ones who had their quiet times, tithed meticulously, and knew their catechism backwards and forwards. They were the gold standard of religious devotion. When the average Jew heard this, his jaw would have hit the floor. "More righteous than the Pharisees? Who can possibly do that?"
And that is precisely the point. Jesus is not calling us to become Super-Pharisees, trying harder to keep an external list of rules. He is calling for a righteousness of a completely different kind. The righteousness of the Pharisees was external, for public show. It was self-manufactured, a product of their own willpower. And it was prideful, a way of establishing their own status before God and men. They were polishing the outside of the cup while the inside was full of filth.
The righteousness of the kingdom, the righteousness that surpasses, is first of all, internal. It is a righteousness of the heart. As Jesus will go on to explain, it's not enough to not commit adultery; you must not lust. It's not enough to not commit murder; you must not hate. God's law penetrates past the action to the attitude, to the very root of the heart. Second, this righteousness is not self-manufactured; it is a gift. It is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself, imputed to us by faith. We cannot earn it; we can only receive it. And third, because it is a gift, it produces humility, not pride. It is a righteousness that flows from a transformed heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, out of gratitude for grace.
Conclusion: The Only Righteousness That Counts
So where does this leave us? It leaves us driven to our knees. Jesus has just raised the standard of the law to its true, perfect height. He has shown us that the law demands not just external conformity, but total internal perfection of thought, word, and deed. And if we are honest, we must all admit that we have failed. We are all lawbreakers. Our righteousness does not surpass the Pharisees; it doesn't even come close.
And that is the point. The law, when preached in its fullness, serves as a severe schoolmaster to drive us to Christ (Gal. 3:24). The law shows us our sin and our desperate need for a savior. The bad news is that you cannot be righteous enough to enter the kingdom. The glorious good news is that Jesus Christ was righteous enough for you.
He is the one who fulfilled the law. He is the one whose righteousness surpassed the Pharisees and, indeed, was perfect in every respect. And through faith in Him, His perfect record of obedience is credited to your account. God looks at you and sees the righteousness of His Son. This is the great exchange of the gospel.
Once we have received this gift, we are then freed to love the law. It is no longer a ladder we must climb to try and reach God. It is now the beautiful pathway of wisdom on which we walk with our Father. We obey not in order to be saved, but because we have been saved. We do and teach His commandments not out of a slavish fear, but out of a joyful, grateful love. The question, then, is not whether you are trying hard enough. The question is, are you clothed in your own righteousness, which is as filthy rags, or are you clothed in the surpassing righteousness of Jesus Christ?