A surpassing righteousness
Can you please explain Matthew 5:20 in relation to the doctrine of salvation by faith alone? I always understood the doctrine of faith alone to mean that someone is not saved by their own righteousness, but rather by their faith in Jesus.
Your understanding is correct. Let’s see what Jesus’ words mean in the light of their immediate context and the wider context of Scripture.
“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). In Jesus’ day, many people regarded the Pharisees and the teachers of the law as exemplary models of godly living. The Pharisees prided themselves in outward obedience of God’s laws and their own laws.
Without faith in Jesus, the promised Messiah, their “righteousness,” the outwardly good things they were doing in life, meant nothing to God. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). The only righteousness the Pharisees and the teachers of the law had was what we call “civic righteousness.” They were good citizens.
With that in mind, Jesus stated: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Keep in mind Jesus’ audience. These words are part of the Lord’s sermon on the mount. He was speaking to his followers—people who were joined to him in faith. The only way that his followers’ righteousness could surpass that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law was through his righteousness.
Just a few verses earlier, Jesus had said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus, and only Jesus, kept God’s law perfectly all his life. Jesus is “the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1). Through faith in Jesus his righteousness is credited to people like you and me. And so in that way, “our” righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.
Martin Luther put it this way: “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You took on you what was mine; yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not.”
I hope this helps clarify your understanding of Matthew 5:20.