Latest / Reformed Thinking / Your Righteousness Must Exceed That of the Pharisees, for It Was Hypocritical and Ugly | John Piper

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Your Righteousness Must Exceed That of the Pharisees, for It Was Hypocritical and Ugly | John Piper · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to reformed thinking. This is the place where we
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  really try to consider what it means to align our minds with
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  timeless truths. That's right.
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  And today we're diving into a really crucial topic, one that
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  Jesus himself brought up in a pretty startling way.
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  Definitely startling for his audience at the time.
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  So our mission for this deep dive is to unpack Jesus's
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  surprising statement, the one where he says our righteousness,
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  yours and mine, has to go beyond that of the scribes and
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  Pharisees if we want to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
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  Yeah, that's Matthew 5.20. It's a verse that really stops
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  you in your tracks when you first hear it.
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  It really does, yeah. So we'll look closely at why
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  this was such a challenging statement for them.
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  You know their context. Right, considering who the
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  Pharisees were. Exactly.
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  And then what it truly means for our understanding of, well,
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  genuine faith today. And for this, we'll be drawing
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  on the gospel accounts themselves.
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  Those foundational records? Yes, and also looking at some
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  insights from scholars, people like John Piper and John Stott,
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  who've really wrestled with these texts.
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  Good. Sources.
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  They offer some valuable perspectives.
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  So the core question then, the thing we're really trying to get
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  at is what did Jesus actually mean in Matthew 5.20?
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  Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
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  Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.
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  Right. And like you hinted, it's easy
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  to misread that. It doesn't mean we need to, you
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  know, outperform them, keep a longer list of rules, or be more
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  nitpicky. OK, so not just more doing, no.
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  Not at all, As we'll see. It points to something much,
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  much deeper. Something internal.
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  Something about the heart. Precisely.
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  It's about the condition of the heart.
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  That's where the real exceeding happens.
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  It's a radical shift in perspective.
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  OK, that makes sense. So to really grasp this, let's
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  let's start by getting a clearer picture of these scribes and
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  Pharisees. Yeah, we need to understand who
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  they were and why they were well seen as the standard.
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  Absolutely critical context. These weren't just average Joes
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  on the street, they were highly regarded.
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  The Pharisees especially had a very specific role of vocation.
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  What? Was that role exactly?
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  They were seen and saw themselves as the most
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  meticulous students of the Mosaic Law.
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  You know, the Torah, the foundation of Jewish life and
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  worship. OK, the experts in the law.
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  Exactly. And not just students, but
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  rigorous enforcers of its details.
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  Their whole focus, the primary calling, was getting these laws
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  right and keeping them with absolute precision.
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  Wow, so hyper focused on the details.
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  Extremely, and we're not talking about a small list of rules
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  here, Tradition at the time often held there were 246
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  positive commandments, things you must do, and 365
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  prohibitions, things you must not do.
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  Wait 246 6 + 365 that's 611 command.
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  That was the traditional count often cited.
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  Yeah, 611 specific instructions understood to cover pretty much
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  every aspect of life. Imagine trying to keep track of
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  all. That it's overwhelming just
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  thinking about. It it really was.
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  It demanded constant vigilance. A life's work, really.
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  And this number 611, did it stay fixed?
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  I seem to remember reading something about Maimonides.
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  Yes, Maimonides, towering figure, 12th century Spanish
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  Jewish philosopher, physician, probably the greatest medieval
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  Jewish scholar. Right, and he worked on listing
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  these lies. He did.
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  He undertook this massive task of creating a definitive list of
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  all the laws in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the
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  Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
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  Numbers, Deuteronomy. Exactly, and after all his
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  study, his count came out slightly different.
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  Higher or lower? Higher, he determined the number
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  to be 613. 13 So two more than the six and 11 tradition.
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  Why the difference? It's fascinating, actually.
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  His rationale was that he included two specific verses as
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  positive commandments that maybe others hadn't counted in the
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  same way. Which verses were those?
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  1st I'm the Lord your God from Exodus 20 verse one, the very
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  beginning of the 10 commandments, and 2nd the Shima
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  from Deuteronomy 6.4. Here, O Israel, the Lord, our
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  God, the Lord is 1. So he saw these core statements
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  of God's identity and unity, not just his beliefs, but his
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  commands. Commands to know and acknowledge
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  God. Precisely.
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  Which adds a really interesting dimension, doesn't it?
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  It suggests the law wasn't just about behavior, but also about
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  right belief and recognition of God himself.
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  Yeah, that's a significant point.
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  Did he do anything else with these numbers?
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  He did. He found symbolic connections
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  to. He linked the 248 positive
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  commands to the 248 distinct parts of the human body
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  recognized at the time 2. 148 parts of the body.
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  Why? The idea was that you you were
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  to obey God with your whole self, every part of your being.
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  OK, that's quite profound. And the prohibitions?
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  The three. 165 prohibitions he connected to the 365 days of the
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  year. Symbolizing the need to avoid
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  disobedience every single day. Exactly.
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  A call for constant daily faithfulness.
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  And ever since Maimonides that #613 has pretty much become the
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  accepted traditional count for the mitzvot, the commandments,
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  and Judaism. So 613 laws, that really frames
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  the kind of meticulousness we're talking about with the
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  Pharisees. It wasn't just a casual thing
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  for them. Not at all.
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  And this intense focus, this dedication, it wasn't kept
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  private. That's a key point.
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  Right. You mentioned their public
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  displays. Very public.
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  The Gospels tell us they did all their deeds to be seen by
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  others. It was performative.
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  What kind of things did they do? Well, for example, they made
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  their phalacteries broad. Those are the small boxes with
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  scripture verses inside, worn on the forehead and arm during
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  prayer. OK, I've seen pictures of those.
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  By making them larger, more noticeable, they were signaling.
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  Look how devout I am. Same with the fringes that sits
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  it on their garments, commanded in the law to remind them of the
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  commandments. They made those longer too, yes.
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  Made their fringes long again, a visible sign meant to draw
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  attention to their piety, their adherence.
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  It was about making sure everyone saw their
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  righteousness. Absolutely, and it extended
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  beyond just clothing or ritual items.
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  How else did it show? Up in their social interactions,
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  they loved the place of honor at feasts, the best seats.
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  They wanted prominence. To be seen as important.
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  Yes, and the best seats in the synagogues, the center of
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  community life. They craved greetings in the
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  marketplaces, public acknowledgement of their status.
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  And being called Rabbi. All they loved that the title of
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  respect showing they were masters of the law so hourly.
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  The picture presented was, well, impressive.
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  Beautiful, the Gospel say, appearing righteous to others.
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  Exactly like they had it all figured out.
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  Clean religious clothing, law keeping exactitude.
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  From the outside looking in, they seems like the pinnacle of
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  religious devotion. Which makes Jesus statement even
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  more shocking then if these guys, the apparent gold
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  standard, weren't good enough. Precisely.
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  That's the tension. Jesus comes along and says your
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  righteousness needs to exceed theirs.
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  And his point? The core of his critique, wasn't
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  that people needed to try even harder at the same game.
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  Not about adding law #614. Definitely not.
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  It wasn't about outperforming them in external observance.
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  That misses the point entirely. So what is the point?
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  What is this exceeding righteousness?
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  You mentioned John Stott's clarification.
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  Yes, Stott puts it very clearly. He says Christian righteousness,
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  the kind Jesus requires, is deeper.
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  It's a righteousness of the heart deeper.
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  He explains it as an inward righteousness of mind and
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  motive. Why?
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  Because, as Scripture consistently affirms, the Lord
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  looks on the heart. Not just the outward actions
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  that people see. Exactly.
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  It's a fundamental shift from the visible performance to the
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  invisible reality within the desires, the affections, the
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  true loyalties of a person. That's what God sees, and that's
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  what matters. That really turns the pharisaic
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  system on its head, doesn't it? Completely.
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  And Jesus used a really potent, even jarring, analogy to make
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  this clear. Why wash tombs?
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  That's the one he called the scribes and Pharisees
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  hypocrites, comparing them to whitewashed tombs.
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  Whitewashed. Tombs were often whitened,
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  especially before major festivals like Passover, so
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  people wouldn't accidentally touch them and become ritually
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  unclean. So on the outside they looked
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  clean, maybe even beautiful, maintained.
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  But inside. Inside, Jesus said they were
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  full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness, a stark image
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  of hidden decay and defilement. Wow, that's incredibly blunt.
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  It is. He was directly exposing their
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  hidden state. He follows it up by saying so.
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  You also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within
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  you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
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  Hypocrisy and lawlessness, even while they were championing the
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  law. That's the devastating irony.
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  Their outward conformity masked an inner reality that was
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  fundamentally opposed to God's true intent.
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  And Jesus traced this back to the heart, quoting Isaiah.
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  Yes. He quoted Isaiah 29.
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  This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far
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  from me. Their worship, their prayers,
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  their public piety. It was lip service.
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  Because their hearts didn't actually treasure God.
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  Exactly. Their affections were elsewhere.
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  Their inner condition, as Jesus diagnosed it, was one of greed,
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  self indulgence, dead bones, unclean hypocrisy and
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  lawlessness. A complete contradiction to
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  their outward appearance. And this focus on the external,
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  the cleaning, the outside of the cup in the plate, as Jesus put
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  it. He saw it as something
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  particularly egregious. He saw them as using the law of
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  God to conceal the rejection of God.
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  Using the sacred to hide the profane.
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  Precisely. And our sources suggest the
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  specific kind of hypocrisy. This twisting of God's good law
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  into a mask for sin made Jesus especially angry.
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  It was a profound betrayal. So if their hearts weren't
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  treasuring God, what were they treasuring?
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  What were these inner corruptions Jesus pointed to?
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  The sources highlight three main idolatrous loves that had
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  captured their hearts instead of God.
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  OK, what were they? 1st a love of money, second, a
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  love of human praise, and 3rd a love of illicit sex.
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  Money, praise and sex, those are powerful lures.
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  Extremely powerful. And these weren't just minor
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  flaws, they were fundamental misdirections of the heart that
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  defined their inner reality despite the religious exterior.
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  Let's unpack those The love of money.
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  How did that show up specifically with the Pharisees?
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  Well, the gospels are quite direct.
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  Luke 16.14 explicitly calls the Pharisees lovers of money.
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  Jesus himself pointed out their greed and self indulgence.
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  So it was known. Oh yes, and it wasn't just a
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  passive love. They actively manipulated
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  religious traditions to feed this greed.
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  How did they do that? A key example Jesus condemns is
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  their application of the Corbin Rule.
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  Corbin What's that? Corbin means a gift dedicated to
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  God. They had developed a tradition
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  where a person could declare their money or property Corbin.
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  OK, sounds pious enough. On the surface, but the way they
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  interpreted it meant that once something was declared Corbin
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  dedicated to the temple or God, in theory it could no longer be
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  used for other obligations. Like what?
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  Like supporting their needy elderly parents?
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  A direct commandment from God? Honor your father and mother,
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  which certainly included providing for them.
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  So they could say sorry mom and dad can't help you.
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  This money is Corbin, dedicated to God.
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  Exactly. They used a religious
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  declaration to bypass a fundamental moral duty Jesus
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  accused them of making void the word of God for the sake of
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  their tradition. That's quite manipulative, using
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  piety to excuse selfishness. It is he accused them of
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  effectively devouring widows houses, likely referring to how
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  their legalistic maneuvers and potential exploitation of temple
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  finances could harm the vulnerable.
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  All while they maintained this facade of holiness.
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  Their love of money distorted the very law they claim to
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  uphold. OK, that's damning.
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  What about the second love? Human praise?
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  We touched on this already with their public displays.
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  Their motivation was skewed. They weren't seeking God's
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  approval or the joy of fellowship.
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  With him, they wanted applause from people, yes.
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  The admiration of the crowd, that was their reward.
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  Loving the best seats, the public greetings, the title
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  Rabbi. It was all about securing human
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  glory. And Jesus said this actually
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  prevented real faith. He did.
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  He asked them pointedly. How Can you believe when you
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  receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that
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  comes from the only God? Wow.
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  So if human approval is your ultimate goal.
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  Then you're blind to or simply uninterested in the approval
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  that truly matters. God's approval your heart is an
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  oriented towards Him. It's a fundamental blockage to
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  faith. OK.
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  And the third love illicit sex. Jesus called that generation and
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  often seem to be directing it, particularly at the leadership,
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  a wicked and adulterous generation.
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  Now, that term adulterous often refers to spiritual
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  unfaithfulness in the Old Testament, right?
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  Israel chasing after other gods? It certainly carries that
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  meaning, yes. Israel turning away from God,
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  their true husbands, so to speak, and not wanting Jesus.
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  That's definitely part of it. But does this also mean literal
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  adultery? The sources suggest it's very
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  reasonable, even likely, to understand it in that literal
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  sense as well, when the heart isn't truly satisfied in God.
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  It seeks satisfaction elsewhere. Exactly.
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  And the pitiful powers, as Piper calls them, of money and human
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  praise often go hand in hand with illicit sexual desire and
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  behavior. It's a pattern of seeking
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  fulfillment and created things rather than the Creator.
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  So it's combination greed, craving praise, lust.
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  This was in a reality. Yes.
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  And what made it so particularly offensive, so insidious, was
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  that it was hidden. It came wrapped in those clean
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  religious clothing. The law keeping.
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  The rigorous adherence to the law became the cloak, the
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  perfect disguise for this inner idolatry and corruption that was
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  the essence of their hypocrisy, using God's commands to hide a
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  heart that rejected God's supremacy.
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  When you put it like that you can start to understand Jesus
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  reaction. And you mentioned both anger and
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  aching. Yes, it's a really striking
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  combination. No other group seems to provoke
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  such strong, seemingly contradictory responses in
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  Jesus. Where do we see the anger most
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  clearly? Matthew 23 is the prime example.
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  Just relentless 7 woes pronounced against the scribes
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  and Pharisees. Woes like curses.
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  More like declarations of judgment and sorrow over their
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  condition. He calls them hypocrites, blind
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  guides, fools, snakes, brood of Vipers.
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  It's incredibly harsh language. Uncompromising.
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  Absolutely. He condemns their hypocrisy,
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  their focus on trivial details while neglecting justice, mercy
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  and faithfulness, their desire for show, their inner
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  corruption. It's the most severe criticism
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  in the Gospels. But then you mentioned aching, A
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  longing even after all that. Yes, right at the end of that
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  same chapter, Matthew 23, after all the woes, Jesus looks over
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  the city, the center of this religious leadership, and
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  laments. The O Jerusalem.
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  Jerusalem Passage. Exactly.
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  Oh, Jerusalem. Jerusalem.
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  The city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to
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  it. How often would I have gathered
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  your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her
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  wings, and you are not willing? Wow.
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  So even after denouncing their sins so fiercely, there's this
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  deep sorrow, this desire to save them.
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  It shows his heart fierce anger against the sin and the
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  hypocrisy that dishonors, guide and harms people, but also this
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  deep aching love and longing for the sinners themselves to repent
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  and turn to Him that. Longing.
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  That invitation wasn't just expressed in lament, was it?
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  You mentioned the parable of the Prodigal.
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  Son, yes, that's another crucial piece.
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  Remember why Jesus told that story?
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  It was because the Pharisees were grumbling about him eating
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  with sinners, right? Exactly.
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  They were scandalized. This man receives sinners and
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  eats with them. Their complaint revealed their
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  own hearts, their disdain for the unclean, and their self
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  righteousness. So the parable was his answer to
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  that criticism. It was.
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  The main point was to illustrate God's extravagant love and
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  pursuit of the lost, the sinners.
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  His eating with them wasn't endorsing their sin, it was
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  seeking their redemption, just like the Father running to meet
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  the prodigal Son. And the elder brother in the
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  story. He's the key representation of
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  the Pharisees and scribes listening to Jesus.
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  How so look? At his reaction, he's angry,
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  resentful, refuses to join the celebration.
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  Why? Because he sees himself as the
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  faithful, dutiful servant who deserved the Father's favor
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  based on his hard work and rule keeping.
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  Not as a son freely loved. Precisely, he complaints about
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  never getting a party, focusing on his own merit, his
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  performance. He cannot comprehend and
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  certainly doesn't share the Father's joy over the repentance
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  of the undeserving younger brother.
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  He fundamentally misunderstands grace and mercy.
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  You would not love mercy. Exactly.
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  And notice the father's response to him.
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  He doesn't condemn him immediately.
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  No, the Father goes out to him, pleads with him and treats him
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  to come in and share the joy. Son, you are always with me and
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  all that is mine is yours. It's an offer of relationship,
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  of grace, even to the self-righteous son.
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  So the parable itself becomes an invitation of the Pharisees.
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  A powerful merciful invitation. It's open-ended.
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  Jesus there and tell us if the elder brother went in.
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  He leaves the Pharisees listening.
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  With that choice, will you cling to yourself righteous anger, or
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  will you lay it down except a Father's mercy, and rejoice when
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  sinners find grace? That's quite something.
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  Did did any of them accept the invitation?
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  Did any Pharisees respond? Well, sadly the record suggests
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  very few did. The leadership by and large
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  remained opposed, ultimately engineering Jesus crucifixion.
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  But were there any exceptions? There's one very notable
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  potential exception, Nicodemus. Nicodemus.
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  He came to Jesus by night. Yes, John's gospel tells us he
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  was a Pharisee and significantly, a ruler of the
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  Jews, likely a member of the Sanhedrin, the high council.
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  He came seeking Jesus out, asking questions, leading to
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  that famous conversation about being born again.
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  So he was at least searching, curious.
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  Definitely seemed to be, but the really striking part comes
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  later. After the crucifixion.
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  Yes, after Jesus died, when association with him was
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  incredibly dangerous, Nicodemus steps forward.
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  What did he do? He brought an enormous quantity,
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  75 lbs of myrrh and aloes, expensive spices to anoint
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  Jesus's body for burial. £75 That's a huge amount.
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  A royal amount, almost. It was an act of profound
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  respect and devotion, extremely costly and very public.
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  And he did this together with Joseph of Arimathea, another
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  council member who was a secret disciple.
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  They took Jesus's body and gave him a proper burial in Joseph's
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  own tomb. That sounds incredibly risky for
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  a Pharisee, a leader at that moment.
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  Extremely risky. While John doesn't explicitly
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  call Nicodemus A disciple like he does Joseph, it's very hard
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  to imagine a Pharisee taking such a bold, costly, and
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  dangerous step unless he had genuinely come to faith in
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  Jesus. So he stands as a hopeful
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  example that transformation was possible even for them.
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  I think so. A rare but compelling example of
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  someone from that background who seems to have moved beyond the
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  external righteousness to embrace Christ.
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  OK, so bringing this all together, then, the
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  righteousness of the Pharisees, all that meticulous law keeping
• 19:15
  the public piety, Yeah, it wasn't enough.
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  It would not avail with God, as the old writers might say.
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  It looked good on the outside, but it was ultimately a cover
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  up. Using the law of God to conceal
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  the rejection of God. That's the heart of it.
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  It was a performance, not genuine righteousness flowing
• 19:32
  from a heart aligned with God. So if we want to enter the
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  Kingdom, our righteousness must exceed theirs, And this
• 19:39
  exceeding isn't about quantity, but quality.
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  Exactly. It's about that inward
• 19:43
  righteousness of mind and motive that's not talked about.
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  It stems from a pure heart. Like Jesus said in the
• 19:49
  Beatitudes, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
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  God. That's the standard purity of
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  heart, because as Jesus also taught, all the things that
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  truly defile us, evil thoughts, greed, deceit, pride, all those
• 20:00
  things, they come from within, out of the heart.
• 20:02
  So cleaning has to start there on the inside.
• 20:05
  If the source is corrupt, the stream will be too.
• 20:08
  Cleansing has to begin within It's about heart transformation,
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  not just behavioral modification.
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  This means genuine righteousness, the kind God
• 20:16
  values, isn't about competing with others in religious
• 20:19
  activities. No, because even the most
• 20:22
  impressive outward show can hide a heart that's still enslaved to
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  idols. Like money or human praise or
• 20:30
  other desires? Right.
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  True righteousness is about the heart genuinely treasuring God
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  above all those things. It's about having our affections
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  reordered by His grace so that He becomes our supreme love and
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  delight. A fundamentally different
• 20:43
  pursuit. Entirely different.
• 20:45
  Not about outward scorekeeping, but about inward devotion.
• 20:48
  So let's try to recap this deep dive we've seen.
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  Jesus challenge wasn't about giving more rules than the
• 20:54
  Pharisees. That wasn't the point at all.
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  No, the core issue was the heart.
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  Their outward piety, however impressive it looked, was
• 21:00
  masking an inner reality alienated from God.
• 21:03
  They were driven by idols, wealth, human approval, sinful
• 21:06
  desires. Making their righteousness,
• 21:08
  despite its appearance, unacceptable to God.
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  Right, because God looks at the heart.
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  And the true standard, the righteousness that actually
• 21:15
  matters for entering the Kingdom, is that purity of heart
• 21:18
  and motive. Sincere devotion to God that
• 21:21
  comes from the inside out. It's a righteousness that flows
• 21:24
  from a heart that's been genuinely changed, remade by
• 21:27
  God. Not just a life reshaped by
• 21:29
  external rules or wanting to look at.
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  Exactly. It's transformation, not just
• 21:33
  performance. So as we finish up, maybe a
• 21:36
  final thought for you, the listener, to consider.
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  If the Pharisees who were so meticulous, so outwardly
• 21:43
  committed to God's law, could still have hearts that were far
• 21:46
  from him, well, what might our own outward expressions of faith
• 21:51
  be hiding? That's a sobering question.
• 21:53
  What things maybe subtly draw our hearts away from truly
• 21:57
  treasuring God above all else? Could it be money or the need
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  for approval or some other desire?
• 22:02
  And perhaps how can we actively invite God to do that deeper
• 22:06
  work, that cleansing work within us, so that our righteousness
• 22:09
  truly comes from a pure heart? Something important for all of
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  us to reflect on.