For I tell you that
unless your righteousness (δικαιοσύνη) surpasses that of the Pharisees and the
teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt
5:20 NIV)
This text is problematic for many
theologies, especially Protestantism, as it seems to go against sola fide and
the traditional Protestant understanding of imputed righteousness. Commenting
on this passage, biblical scholar Ulrich Luz noted:
■ 20* Verse 20* is the Matthean heading for the antitheses. What has
been said about vv. 17–19* has not made its interpretation easier. The
continuation with “for” (γάρ) makes clear that v. 20* wants to develop further
the preceding ideas. Thus the greater righteousness that is now the subject
does not eliminate the law. What is meant, however, by the “greater
righteousness”? This verse offers no explanation of the term. It functions more
as an “empty text” that the readers will then fill with content as they go on
to read the antitheses. Nevertheless, v. 20* offers them some guidance in
filling the empty text. As in 3:15*, δικαιοσύνη is righteousness that a person does. The
comparative “shall exceed … more” (περισσεύειν … πλεῖον) is strange; μᾶλλον would be a more common word. Πλεῖον suggests a quantitative interpretation: if your
righteousness is not present in a measurably higher quantity than that of the
scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew
defines himself here over against the leaders of Israel’s majority that was
hostile to Jesus, and he tendentiously makes a negative judgment about their
“righteousness.”100 Thus there is in any case in the text a quantitative
element in its comparison of the righteousness of the disciples with that of
the Pharisees and scribes. It corresponds to the insistence in vv. 17–19* that
the individual commandments of the law also be fulfilled. Based on vv. 17–19*,
the better righteousness of the disciples thus at least means a quantitative
“more” in their fulfillment of the law. Admittedly the text does not say of
what this “more” consists.
That is clarified by the antitheses, at which we
now take a brief advance look. The issue in them is not merely that individual
OT commandments are radically intensified. It is equally important for Matthew
that the love commandment becomes the center of these sharpened individual
commandments. It is as if the first and last antitheses serve to frame all of
the antitheses. On the basis of the antitheses the quantitatively greater
righteousness of the disciples means at the same time that their lives, led by
love, are qualitatively more intense before God. Verse 20* hovers as it were
between these two ideas and faces one or the other depending on whether one
reads it “from the front” or “from behind.” The verse has a transitional or
hinge function not only in a literary sense but also in terms of content. (Ulrich Luz, Matthew
1-7: A Commentary [Hermeneia; Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2007],
221-22)
Does the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14) Support Sola Fide?