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NASB | Matthew 5:20 ¶ "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 5:20 ¶ "For I say to you that unless your righteousness (uprightness, moral essence) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. |
Bible Question: I hopw this doesn't sound stupid, but were scribes and Pharisees bad or good. If they were good, and I have to be better, how will I ever get to heaven? |
Bible Answer: Hello carrib, Welcome to the Forum! In short, here's what Eastons' Bible Dictionary gives as a summary of the Pharisees: "They were probably the successors of the Assideans (i.e., the “pious”), a party that originated in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes in revolt against his heathenizing policy. The first mention of them is in a description by Josephus of the three sects or schools into which the Jews were divided (B.C. 145). The other two sects were the Essenes and the Sadducees. In the time of our Lord they were the popular party (John 7:48). They were extremely accurate and minute in all matters appertaining to the law of Moses (Matt. 9:14; 23:15; Luke 11:39; 18:12). Paul, when brought before the council of Jerusalem, professed himself a Pharisee (Acts 23:6–8; 26:4, 5). There was much that was sound in their creed, yet their system of religion was a form and nothing more. Theirs was a very lax morality (Matt. 5:20; 15:4, 8; 23:3, 14, 23, 25; John 8:7). On the first notice of them in the New Testament (Matt. 3:7), they are ranked by our Lord with the Sadducees as a “generation of vipers.” They were noted for their self-righteousness and their pride (Matt. 9:11; Luke 7:39; 18:11, 12). They were frequently rebuked by our Lord (Matt. 12:39; 16:1–4). From the very beginning of his ministry the Pharisees showed themselves bitter and persistent enemies of our Lord. They could not bear his doctrines, and they sought by every means to destroy his influence among the people." Note that Christ Himself said of them in Matt. 3:7; "...You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" In Matt. 23:23, 27 they are called, "hypocrites" and "whitewashed tombs". You will never get to heaven on your own or trying to be better than the Pharisees. Gal. 2:16 warns that, "nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified." Only through believing upon The Lord Jesus Christ will you be saved. Acts 4:12 tells us, "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." In John 11:25, we find, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies," May you be certain that Jesus Christ died for your sins. Believe on Him! Speaking the Truth in Love, BradK |