a “Whoever therefore shall loose (relax, treat lightly, render ineffective) one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so,
b Will be called least in the Kingly Rule of Heaven,
a But whoever shall do and teach them,
b He will be called great in the Kingly Rule of Heaven.
a For I say to you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees,
b You will in no way enter into the Kingly Rule of Heaven.”
Note that the first ‘a b' and the last ‘a b' both indicate an undesirable situation, while the central ‘a b' indicates the desirable state of affairs. (A few important manuscripts such as Aleph, D, W, omit the central ‘a b' but it is included by the majority of manuscripts. The omission was probably due to a scribal lapse in picking up his copying from the wrong ‘ouranown' (Heaven).
Here we are given three alternative positions of people over against the Law. There are those who are lax towards what they see as the less important commands, and will thus be called ‘the less important ones'; those who treat all the commands without exception (because they honour the fact that every jot and tittle is from God) with the seriousness that they deserve, and will thus be called ‘great'; and those who actually misrepresent the whole by following the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees, who will simply be excluded. The first will lose out in that they will be seen as ‘least important' in the Kingly Rule of God, the last will lose out because they will not even enter the Kingly Rule of God (they prefer rather to obey the Scribes), and those who honour all God's words without exception will be called great in the Kingly Rule of God (compare Matthew 18:4). Attitude to God's word and all His requirements is thus seen as vital for our future. The seriousness of what is involved in not entering the Kingly Rule of God is brought out in Matthew 8:11.
It should be noted that Jesus' purpose in these words is in order to stress the need to observe every last detail of the word of God. Nothing may be cast aside. A lax attitude towards the word of God is seen as making someone of little account in the sight of God. On the other hand to take a totally wrong approach to it as the Scribes and Pharisees did, and thus to misuse it, will be to be cut off from God completely. This was very much preparing for what Jesus would now go on to say. It was a serious warning to take heed to His words, and not to let one of them be lost or disregarded.
‘Shall loose.' The Rabbis were said to ‘loose' a law when they relaxed it and made it less demanding because it was felt to be too severe in practise. But Jesus is here rather thinking of those who set aside a law because it is thought to be unimportant. His aim in saying it is certainly not in order to allow His disciples to choose what their level of dedication should be, but to make clear that what their attitude should be is to see all His requirements as equally important. He thus makes clear His severe disapproval of those who are lax with God's word.
Yet at the same time He does not want to exclude absolutely those who did not have quite that total dedication. He rather makes clear that, while He does not reject them outright, He has a low esteem of them. Elsewhere Jesus certainly does allow that there will be different levels of devotion (Matthew 11:11; Matthew 18:4), and different levels of ‘reward' (1 Corinthians 3:15), yet we should also remember that He let the rich young man walk away sorrowfully and did not suggest that he was nevertheless acceptable as a minor disciple and had received eternal life, which was what his question had been all about (Matthew 19:16-26). The impression given is in fact that he went away without eternal life. We do well not to treat lightly the loss of Jesus' esteem.
Note that it is those who teach laxity as well as those who are lax, who are ‘least'. Jesus clearly saw any laxity towards the word of God as being heinous.
‘One of these least commandments.' ‘These commandments' loosely connects with the overall commandments of the Old Testament of which not one jot would fail until all was accomplished. Note that the idea is not of general laxity. (Jesus does not expect that). The person in question has only been lax on one. But in the event is one too much! Jesus is really concerned to ensure fully disciplined lives and a total commitment to all His commandments.
‘Great.' That is, of the highest standard. In other words they pass out ‘A1'.
‘The Kingly Rule of Heaven.' Whether this refers to the Kingly Rule of Heaven while on earth or the eternal Kingly Rule is not a question we have to answer. Both are in fact the same Kingly Rule and those within it are simply either on earthly or heavenly service. Thus this signifies that whether on earth or in Heaven, those who have treated lightly any part of the Law of God lose out in His eyes. The only difference is that for those on earth there is still time to do something about it.
‘The righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees.' That is, their way of keeping the Law criticised by Jesus in chapter 23, involving detailed observation of ritual, and the interpretation of it to their own advantage, while ignoring the principles of mercy and compassion. The Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was speaking about (the majority) analysed the Scriptures minutely so as to exactly follow the letter of the Law, rather than considering its implications and the wider implications of such commandments as which required love for their neighbour and for the stranger among them (Leviticus 19:18; Leviticus 19:34), and yet they made a great show of how religious they were (compare Luke 18:9-14). Tithing the smallest thing was more important to them than going out of their way to help others, and they judged all men on that basis. They were condemned both for behaving like this (Matthew 23:3), and teaching the same attitude to others (Matthew 23:15). We can compare here Isaiah 1:11-18.
‘Your righteousness.' Jesus was not simply comparing their dedication with that of the Pharisees, nor saying that somehow they needed to outdo them. He was talking about a different form of righteousness. It was the righteousness worked within men who had repented and come under the Kingly Rule of Heaven, a God-implanted and God-imputed righteousness (see on Matthew 5:6. Compare Isaiah 61:3). They were illuminated, empowered and forgiven by God, and transformed into those who obeyed God's Law as revealed by Jesus. His righteousness and deliverance had been revealed (Isaiah 46:13). This was the righteousness that saved, and produced the kind of people who will fulfil the injunctions He is about to give. We may again compare this with the idea of righteousness found in Isaiah where righteousness is paralleled with deliverance (Isaiah 46:13; Isaiah 51:5; Isaiah 51:8; Isaiah 56:1). Isaiah declared that Israel would enjoy ‘righteousness and deliverance' when God broke in to save. The righteousness was God's as, in His righteousness, He acted to bring about the ‘righteousness' and ‘salvation', the setting free and restoration of His people, with the result that they too became righteous. Something of that is reflected in the use of the term ‘righteousness' here. What was required was a God-inworked righteousness. His idea is that God will have acted on them in righteousness in order to make them righteous, firstly in His sight, and then in their lives. When used in Matthew of believers, righteousness always has this significance of the delivering power of God (see Matthew 3:15; Matthew 5:6; Matthew 5:10; Matthew 6:33; Matthew 21:32).
‘In no way.' An emphatic negative.
‘Enter into the Kingly Rule of Heaven.' Compare ‘enter into life ‘(Matthew 18:8-9; Matthew 19:17). We enter the Kingly Rule of Heaven now when we yield our lives to Him and submit to His rule, and will one day enter it in its fullness after the resurrection.
Note on the Scribes and Pharisees.
The Scribes were looked on as the Biblical scholars of the day. The majority were Pharisees, but there were also Scribes of the Sadducees and probably also more general Scribes. Their aim was to enable the people to understand the Torah and the Prophets, with especial emphasis on the former, and the Pharisaic Scribes isolated from the Torah over six hundred laws, making pronouncements on many of them as to how they should be observed. The interpretations were sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes rigid, and all too often facile. Their dicta were united with other traditions brought down from the past known as ‘the traditions of the elders'. When people had a problem about how they should behave in particular circumstances they would seek out the Scribes who would have memorised all the traditions of the elders and would call on them in order to provide a solution to their problem. But the problem with many of the Scribes was that they had become tied down to their own traditions rather than looking afresh at the Scriptures, and their interpretations were regularly rigidly determined by their traditions. Their interpretations therefore followed set patterns. There had been, and were, godly Scribes who were full of compassion according to their lights, and wise in their teaching, but the truly great ones were few, and the false copies many, and it was these last who mainly continued to pester Jesus. There can often be no one more narrow-minded than those who cling to and expound and try to carry forward the words of great Teachers, interpreting them by their own narrow ways of thinking, and that was true of these. For Jesus' overall criticism of them see chapter 23.
The Pharisees only numbered about six to seven thousand but their influence was huge because of what was seen as their piety. Initially they had probably been mainly godly men who reacted against the Hellenisation programmes carried out against the Jews by the Syrian overlords, with the result that they had therefore developed a concern for special Jewish practises, aiming thereby to preserve distinctive Jewishness. They thus begun to lay great emphasis on ritual washing, avoiding ritual ‘uncleanness', tithing even the smallest thing, and strict observance of the Sabbath in accordance with their rules. And these had gradually taken a place in their thinking above what they should have had. They hoped thereby to attain merit. This had initially been alongside a living faith in God, but as can happen all too easily, the living faith tended to diminish over time, and the ritual took over and thereby became all-important. (The same process occurred later in the Christian church, resulting in all the distortions of the mediaeval church. It is always to be guarded against. This was true legalism). Their main strength was in Judaea, although there were also Pharisees in Galilee. They would meet in groups, often around the meal table, for discussion and mutual encouragement. They did not run the synagogues, but undoubtedly had influence in them. Jesus was sometimes invited to join in with such groups (see for example Luke 14:1-24, also Luke 7:36-50). So not all Pharisees were in total disagreement with Him, or totally antagonistic towards Him. We tend to hear about the ones who were and overlook the ones who were not.
Both the Scribes and the Pharisees were highly respected by the people, the former for their knowledge and the latter for their ‘piety'. The suggestion therefore that their righteousness was lacking, and was insufficient to allow entry into the Kingly Rule of God would have been startling to the common people, for they were seen as portraying Scriptural standards and Scriptural truth, (we can compare the later monks and friars, some of whom were godly men, but many of whom became rogues and self-seekers benefiting from the reputation of the few) something about which Jesus was now about to undeceive them. For Jesus was only too well aware that they had become bogged down in an overemphasis on ritual which had begun to count for them more than morals, and that much of their piety was at the worst hypocritical and self-publicising, or at the best simply self-striving. He wanted the people to recognise that they must look away from ritual and self-striving to experiencing the power of God working on them in righteousness and deliverance.
We must beware of thinking that Jesus was at odds with all Scribes and Pharisees. Many came to Him with genuine questions (Matthew 22:34-40; Luke 10:25-37; John 3:1-6), and others invited Him to partake in meals with them. They were willing to listen to what He had to say, even if critically. A number of them later became believers. The danger is that we tend to see them all in the light of the more bitterly critical ones who dogged His steps. But that many of the Scribes and Pharisees undoubtedly did end up opposed to Him the Gospels make clear. They felt that He was undermining their credibility among the people (which in some ways He was) and grew more bitter as time went on, until in the end they undoubtedly consented to His crucifixion, with some even taking part in brining it about.
End of note.
Having laid down the importance of the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and having stressed that both were of God and to be treated with the greatest of respect and honour, and that both should be obeyed, Jesus now set about showing what that obedience should consist of. It was not to be on the basis of listing certain commandments, and then ticking them off and saying smugly, ‘All these things have I observed from my youth up'. It was to be by seeing these commandments against their whole background, and recognising the approach to life that they demanded. As the Law itself had said, by recognising this and living by it they would find what it meant to live a genuine spiritual life (Leviticus 18:5). This was the full-orbed spiritual life to which God had delivered them by His active righteousness at work upon them.