Ariel HaNaviy
Messianic Jew and Torah Teacher with Messianic Congregation 'The Harvest'
This is a great verse to teach on the importance of genuine, Spirit-led, God-honoring commandment keeping (viz, Torah observance), all the while avoiding the dangers of stone-cold, people-judging, legalism.
A fellow Torah Teacher and good friend of mine explained the verse to me this way, “…it seems to me, that while Yeshua (Jesus) emphasized the utter necessity of heart obedience if one intended to keep the commandments, He did not in any way negate the requirement of outward performance. That is to say, one surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees not by neglecting the outward performance of the mitzvot (commandments), but by performing them as the fruit of a heart given over to the true worship of God. Another way of saying it is this: if the commandments are received as purely obligation, it would be impossible, from God’s perspective, to keep them. But if they are received rather as divine blessing and privilege, then the keeping of them is pure delight. However, only the heart borne out of faith in God is able to so receive the commandments as blessing, and it is this kind of “keeping” which Yeshua teaches His disciples… The point is simply this: “far surpassing the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” cannot exclude the performance of the commandments.”
Since we know beyond doubt that mere performance of commandments will not merit eternal life, then Yeshua’s words cannot be meaning what they seem to be saying at face value. In like fashion, Yeshua challenged other 1st century people he met with the seeming offer to grant them eternal life if they would faithfully follow the commandments (Jn. 5:39, 40; Matt. 19:17). Also, it seems the apple did not fall far from the tree where Yeshua’s disciple Paul was concerned. For indeed, Paul uses similar cryptic language:
Rom. 2:13
“For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”
What do all these verses have to do with our righteousness exceeding that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, and how is heaven attained? Simply that, our salvific righteousness is not our own. If you are in Christ then your righteousness is that which flows from him into you, by his grace, through faith, and by his blood. Period. If you have put on the righteousness of Christ then your righteousness WILL exceed that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, and you WILL enter heaven, amen? We cannot earn a righteousness that will grant entrance to heaven, no matter how many commandments we keep, and no matter how perfectly we think we are keeping them. So Yeshua’s words are also a warning against this legalistic mindset. To be sure, it was a veiled indictment against those religious readers within earshot of his words that day.
Paul’s words in Romans 10:9, 10 (as rendered from the KJV since they use the word “righteousness”) warrants our attention at this point:
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
We don't keep Torah to BECOME saved. We keep Torah because we ARE saved.
My fellow Torah Teacher’s concluding words are fitting to end this short study: “We ought to guard ourselves from any satisfaction which derives from equalling the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. For according to Yeshua’s words, those with such righteousness will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. Only those who surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees are viewed as truly righteous. To whatever extent, then, we consider our mere meeting the obligation of the Law as sufficient righteousness, we misunderstand both the Law and Yeshua’s teaching here. Only as our love for God enables us to understand the commandments as a blessing from Him, will we be enabled to keep them as He intended.”
September 04 2015
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