What Does This Mean: Matthew 5:20 Kjv - Except Your Righteousness Shall Exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees?
1) Direct answer
It means entrance into the Kingdom requires a righteousness that is not outward rule‑keeping like the scribes and Pharisees, but an inward righteousness—Christ’s own life in you—fulfilling God’s law from the heart by the Holy Ghost.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The Bible says the Pharisees were clean outside but full of uncleanness within (Matthew 23:25–28). Jesus was not asking for “more” of that; He demanded a different kind: heart righteousness.
- Right in this chapter, Jesus raises the law to the heart level: anger is murder in seed, lust is adultery in seed (Matthew 5:21–28). That shows the righteousness God requires is inward.
- By the law shall no flesh be justified (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16). If outward works could open the Kingdom, the Pharisees would have qualified.
- Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth (Romans 10:4). God made Him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- The new covenant writes the law in the heart (Hebrews 8:10; Ezekiel 36:26–27), so that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:3–4).
- You must be born again to see and enter the Kingdom (John 3:3–5). That new birth is the only way your righteousness can exceed theirs.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- How will you “out‑Pharisee” the Pharisees—men who fasted, tithed, and kept traditions strictly—if righteousness is measured by external performance? You can’t.
- Jesus exposed the heart. Since sin begins within, righteousness must begin within. That’s why He pointed from acts to motives.
- The law can measure you but cannot change you. Christ gives a new nature; then the life of the Spirit produces what the law demanded: love that fulfills the law (Romans 13:10), the fruit of the Spirit against which there is no law (Galatians 5:22–23).
- So “exceed” means a higher quality, not a higher quantity—God’s righteousness, not self‑righteousness. It is received by faith and proven by a transformed walk.
4) Reinforcing statement
Repent and believe the Gospel, be identified with Christ, and receive the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38). Then the One who wrote the law will live it through you. That is the righteousness that exceeds and that opens the Kingdom.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 8:E-49
It would have been wonderful if this 'open door' had followed the Divine pattern of Pentecost which was set forth in Hebrews 2:1-4, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the Word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by...
Lean not unto thy own understanding
65-0120 §12
Let us turn in the Old Testament, to the book of the Proverbs, written by Solomon, one of the wisest men in the world outside of our Lord Jesus. But He wasn't exactly like Solomon, insomuch as Solomon was a man born of a woman, and was begotten by an earthly father, David. But Jesus was a virgin-born son and was not altogether a man, but He was God, the God-man. And He was more than a man. He was a man, plus. But Solomon was just a man, like you and I. And he asked God for wisdom to run his kingdom. And he had a gi...
Questions and Answers
62-0527 §69
In other wise, the righteousness, in returning with Christ to the earth, shall tread upon the ashes. When you see these people, haughty, arrogant, despicable, snoopy, and yet claiming to be Christians, they're nothing but ashes. That's all. That's what the Scripture says. Now watch. Remember ... the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded ... him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send unto you Elijah the prophet before the coming of that great and dreadful day of the LORD:...
But it wasn't so from the beginning
61-0411 §67
And that's what the church needs. It needs a revival. And what starts this wind? What starts this a-going on, this revival? There comes a wind---who-o-o-ew---picks up all... That's what we need, is another mighty rushing wind to start a revival, to beat the trash out of the church and the unbelief! Get all the unbelief piled up on the bank, and have a real Pentecostal meeting, a real genuine meeting. Amen! That's what we need, exactly. [Tongues and interpretation are given from audience. "Yea, for I shall pour out...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 5:E-121
You will recall that I brought out in the Ephesian Age that the word, Nicolaitane, comes from two Greek words: Nikao which means to conquer, and Lao which means the laity. Nicolaitane means, "to conquer the laity". Now why is this such a terrible thing? It is terrible because God has never placed His church in the hands of an elected leadership which moves with political mindedness. He has placed His church in the care of God-ordained, Spirit-filled, Word-living men who lead the people through feeding them the Word...