“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19, 20, NKJV).
Mega-righteousness
The key words in this passage fall into contrasting logical word pairs: "breaks" and "teaches"; "does" and "teaches"; "least" and "great". These are followed by a single complimentary pair, "these commandments" and "righteousness".
The word translated breaks also has the connotation of dismiss, unloose, melt, or destroy.
Didasko is the Greek word for "teaches". It's a prolonged form of the word, signifying a continuous rather than a one-time action. There was an ancient, very early Christian writing called The Didache, attributed either to the Apostles themselves, or their immediate successors whose title is reflective of the same thought. It was perhaps the very first extra-Biblical Creed, and it taught the basic precepts and tenets of the Christian faith. It was thought to be the required catechism of early converts to the Church.
Poieo means "does", and is another prolonged verb form indicative of, again, continuous doing, more like a state of being.
Elachistos and mega comprise the last pair. The first means basically shortest or smallest - a "bottom of the totem pole" kind of ranking in terms of significance or impact or distinction, with mega being its opposite - greatest, most significant, most distinctive.
In addition, I believe that when Jesus says "these commandments" He is referring specifically to the ten instructions for continuous action He has just completed:
- continuously recognizing the need for a Savior (poor in spirit);
- abiding mournfulness over personal and corporate sin (those who mourn)
- having a steadfastly humble and teachable spirit (meek);
- a craving for what is right and true (hunger and thirst for righteousness);
- being merciful;
- having a pure heart;
- being a peacemaker;
- being steadfast in the face of persecution;
- having a purifying and preserving effect on the world (salt);
- being a reflective source of the truth and goodness of God (light).
I believe also that "these commandments" and "righteousness" are inextricably tied together. Being righteous is being these ten things. Don't get me wrong. This is not a works thing. It's a state-of-being thing. YOU can't change your essential nature, but CHRIST can. And when He is done conforming you to His image in this life, sanctifying you, "these commandments" are HOW YOU WILL BE, not WHAT YOU WILL DO WHEN YOU'RE GOOD.
So here's my point. In this passage Jesus is completely destroying the so-called righteousness upon which the professional law keepers, the scribes and Pharisees, were relying. There's was an outward righteousness, the result of their own fallen and corrupt human will. They did stuff in superficial compliance to their own interpretation of God's law, but inside their motivations were filled with rot and decay. They were "white washed sepulchers". Furthermore, in comparison to that kind of surface goodness, the elemental regeneration in Christ was so far superior that even a born-again Christian who dismissed the importance of consciously conforming to Christ's images, and mouthed off about it being unimportant, were more righteous than the professional law keepers. Quite a shock to human pride, then and now! Jesus was basically saying "without Me, no matter what you do, no matter how well you comply with doing right outwardly, you are prohibited from entrance into Heaven". Beware, He is warning, "without Me, you can do nothing…".
However, that born-again who understands the blessing that comes from BEING like Jesus inside (along with the outward goodness that flows naturally from that) and teaches others about that blessing and goodness, is mega-righteous in the eyes of God.
All of this is extremely good news for those who believe, for those of us who continuously desire to "…be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;" (Philippians 3:9, NKJV).
