Commenting on Matt 5:20 and the meaning of "righteousness" in that passage, Herman Hendrickx wrote the following which shows that the "righteousness" is not a forensic, imputed righteousness, but righteousness flowing from good works empowered by God's grace (and not one from a strict legalism--his comments show the importance of a balance approach to "righteousness" and human and divine activities):
In Matthew, 'righteousness' may have either of the two Old Testament meanings of the term: the saving will and activity of God, or the moral activity of men who do the will of God. In Mt 5:20 we find the second meaning . . .The exceeding righteousness consists in a radical and total obedience to God in complete self-giving to one's fellow-man, which carries the ethical intent of the Law to its God-willed conclusion, even when this means in some instances abrogating the letter of the Law. All this is possible because of the eschatological character of Jesus' presence; in other words, what is new about Christian righteousness is Christ himself and his radical demand, 'Follow me' (Mt 19:21). That this righteousness is not simply a matter of human achievement is suggested by the petition of Mt 6:10, 'your will be done' . . . What is meant by the 'righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees' may receive further specification in Mk 7, where Jesus said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.' And he said to them, 'You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition!' (Mk 7:6-9). Jesus then used the example of how they misused the corban (Temple offering) to violate God's concern about sharing resources with the needy, in this case one's parents. The scribes and Pharisees had created a religion based on the practice of their own norms (who would venture to say that today's 'religion' is free from similar distortions?). As a result of what Jesus refers to as their transgressions of God's basic commandments, injustice was sanctioned as a religious act. Referring to such perversion of justice--all in the name of a 'religion' defined by its institutional leaders--Jesus is clearly calling for a conversion to greater justice not merely of individual persons, but of the system with all its underpinnings and supports. (Herman Hendrickx, The Sermon on the Mount: Studies in the Synoptic Gospels [London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1979], 55, 57)
