Matthew 5:17-26
The Role of the Law in the Life of the Christian
Trinity 6
July 8, 2018
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus spoke these words as part of His sermon on the mount. The chief purpose of this sermon was to teach the right understanding of divine justice. This is why He came into the world: to bring people to realize His gracious deeds so that by His righteousness they would be justified before God, and that people rely solely upon His righteousness and abandon trust in their own works. For whoever continues to seek righteousness within himself does not seek it with Christ.
Now, if people are to abandon trusting in their own works, they must have a proper understanding of God’s Law, which requires not just perfect outward obedience, but also perfect inner obedience. This is why Christ explains the Law in so much detail here. He counters the Pharisees false teaching that only an outward obedience is what matters. Jesus doesn’t speak these words in opposition of the Law as if He wanted to make something more perfect or do away with what Moses delivered to the people. For Jesus comes not to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them.
So Christ, the giver of the Law itself, states here that the Law demands more. In His example of the 5th Commandment He says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” He differentiates between the judgment, the court, and the fire of hell according to Leviticus 19, in which these judgments were exacted, all upon the pain of death. He wishes to teach that even the slightest breaking of this commandment, outward or inward, in itself is deserving of judgment.
God gave His Law and His demands are high. Not just perfect external works, but also a purity of heart. When God says, “You shall not murder”, it is His wish that the hand, the mouth, the heart should not be inclined to hurt or harm the neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need (SC). This is what the Law requires. But when we examine ourselves, we do not find this within us. The Law requires holy and pious thoughts, but as Matthew 15:19 states, out of our hearts comes every evil thought, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. The Law demands a perfect righteousness, yet as Isaiah 64:6 states, all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.
So what are we to do? We can’t do away with the Law, for it is simply God’s will for His creation. People try to live without the Law, and yet God’s nature demands perfect justice. You break the Law, you face the consequences. It is as simple as that. Without righteousness we are not able to stand before a holy and perfect and righteousness God.
So we seek the righteousness of Christ. He has taken our place. He is perfectly obedient to the Law, both outwardly in His words and actions, and also inwardly, for His obedience flows out of a totally perfect and sinless heart, doing everything out of a perfect love. Not because He had to, for He Himself was the Lawgiver, and there was nothing that He had to earn for Himself through His own obedience, for He had everything by His eternal begotten-ness from the Father.
Here’s the beauty of the Gospel: Jesus does it all for you. As St. Paul so eloquently put it in 2 Corinthians 5[:21], “For our sake, [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” His obedience, His righteousness, His eternal love is yours, received only by faith in Him. We become righteous only when His righteousness is imputed, is given and received, to and by us, held on to by faith: by the fear, love, and trust in Him above all things.
And this is why we value the means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments, so highly. In Baptism, we are clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness that covers all our sin. How do you know you stand righteous before God? I am baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. We begin the Divine Service in the name of the Triune God, making the sign of the cross upon ourselves just as it was given us in those blessed waters. In the Absolution, we hear God’s declaration that our sins are forgiven and we stand righteous before God. In the Sacrament of the Altar, the very body and blood of Christ are given and shed for us for the forgiveness of all our sins, that we are kept steadfast in the true faith to life everlasting.
This is the righteousness, the reception of and the faith in Christ’s righteousness, that one must have before God. From this flow all good works, by faith hearts are made pure. Where a pure heart exists, good works must follow. The Christian can never do this perfectly in this life. We remain poor, miserable sinners who need the forgiveness of our sins for Christ’s sake. But we are to strive toward this active righteousness of our faith, but always and only trusting in the perfect righteousness of Christ. That is what Jesus means that our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, that we have the righteousness of faith, the righteousness of Christ, which alone can stand before the judgment seat of God.
This sermon was partly based upon one by Johann Gerhard, Postilla, Vol. 2. “On the Sixth Sunday after Trinity” pp. 68-76.