March 2026: The Right Righteousness

Published on 03/01/2026 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

"A city on a hill" and "turn the other cheek" are among the popular quotes from Lord Jesus' sermon on the mount. But how much of his teaching do you understand to apply correctly to your life?

Though the sermon on the mount is a well-known and beloved teaching of our Lord Jesus, it is often misinterpreted. Many people incorrectly believe that Jesus was "changing" the ordinances of the Torah that Yahweh gave to Israel through Moses, that somehow Jesus disagreed with his Father and was "re-writing" the laws and giving Israel a new set of laws. Nothing can be further from the truth. What Jesus taught in the sermon was nothing new or different from the Torah. He was teaching the same Torah. What he changed was the Jews' own misinterpretation and misapplication of the Torah. He corrected their erroneous beliefs and application and taught the Torah to be properly understood. I dub his teaching the "clarifying teaching," for it clarifies people's misinterpretation of the Torah. In the next several studies, we'll see how our Lord corrected some of the major misinterpretations of the Torah so we can live a life that truly honors our Creator.

The King Correcting Erroneous Beliefs Concerning His Ministry

"I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17, WEB)

Before he began teaching the Torah and clarifying its ordinances that people had distorted, Jesus prefaced his teaching with this solemn declaration: "Don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18)

Jesus focused on teaching the truths regarding the law and the prophets. The "law" is speaking of the Torah, which has two meanings: broadly, it refers to the first five books of the Scriptures, from Genesis to Deuteronomy; more specifically, the Torah refers to the set of instructions and commandments that Yahweh gave Israel in Exodus through Deuteronomy. The context determines its meaning.

The "prophets" refer to the prophetic books of the Bible. The Torah, Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings) are the major divisions of the Tanakh (the Old Testament), so Jesus was speaking of the two sections, the Torah and Nevi'im, in Matthew 5:17-18 but would later get to the specific ordinances of the Torah in its narrow sense.

To Jesus' audience, what he was about to teach regarding the Torah would sound "different," as if he was giving them an entirely new set of laws. Lest they think such a thing, Jesus first corrected them. From the onset, he made it clear to the Jews that he was not sent into the world by God to abolish the very laws that God Himself gave to the people. Instead, Jesus noted that he came into the world to fulfill the Torah. In this context, to "fulfill" the Torah means to "make full the meaning" of the Torah. In other words, it means to explain to the Jews the actual meaning of the commonly misunderstood and misapplied ordinances of God's laws so people could start applying them correctly.

In addition, Jesus' sacrifice, positions, and ministry fulfilled numerous foreshadows of the Torah; they were mere shadows, while he's the ultimate reality. For example, all the animal sacrifices pointed to him. He's our sin offering that makes atonement for our sins. He's the peace offering that reconciled us to God and brought us peace. He's the trespass offering that paid off our debt to God. He's our burnt offering that was entirely "burned up" so that we can surrender our whole selves to God. He is our High Priest who made atonement for us, not with the blood of goats or bulls but with his own precious blood.

Jesus also came to "fulfill" the prophets. Jesus came to fulfill all the prophecies that spoke of his first coming. His first advent, ministry and sacrifice fulfilled what the old prophets foretold centuries ago. Prophecies regarding his second advent remain yet to be fulfilled.

The Truths of the Law and the Prophets

Regarding the Torah, Jesus said, "For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished." (Matthew 5:18) This also applies to the Nevi'im.

Jesus didn't come to abolish the Torah or the Nevi'im but to fulfill them. In actuality, no part of the Torah would ever pass away until all plans and purposes of God for humanity are achieved. Since not all of God's plans have been accomplished yet, the Torah stands for all of God's people, including Christians, to follow. It's only after the old Earth and heaven pass away and are replaced with the new Earth and heaven will there be a change or abolishment to the Torah and Nevi'im, as something that has completely served its purpose automatically expires or is no longer needed.

The Least and the Great in the Kingdom of God

The least in the Kingdom of God will be those who break the least (most "insignificant") ordinances of the Torah and teach others to do the same. On the other hand, those who obey the Torah and teach others to do likewise will be called "great" in the Kingdom of God.

As we can clearly see, the Torah should be obeyed in order to please God. While violating the least commandments of the Torah won't cause anyone to lose their salvation, it is displeasing to God. In order to glorify Yahweh, we are to obey His ordinances as fully as possible, with divine empowerment.

Though the Torah is enforceable, not all of its ordinances have "passed" to the new (Christian) covenant from the Mosaic covenant because some were fulfilled in Christ, while some others have been transformed to a higher standard for Christians. For instance, divorce was permitted in the Torah due to the hardness of men's hearts, even though Yahweh hates divorce, but divorce is not permitted in the transformed Torah under the new covenant unless there's adultery or an unbeliever wants to leave their Christian spouse. The ordinances that do not apply to the new covenant include ones about animal sacrifices, since Jesus' sacrifice replaced such sacrifices. Today, we should not adhere to any such statutes. But from the book of Ezekiel, we learn that Yahweh will reinstitute the animal sacrificial system during the millennial reign of Christ for Israel. The system will likely be commemorative rather than atoning.

Righteousness as the Entrance into the Kingdom of God

Jesus warned his disciples, "For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:19)

None of us can enter the Kingdom of God if our righteousness does not surpass that of the Pharisees and scribes. There are several shortcomings with their "righteousness" which include:

a) The Pharisees adhered to manmade traditions and the "oral" laws and esteemed them as divinely inspired. Unlike them, we should not add to the Torah or God's Word as a whole, and should not esteem any extrabiblical ordinance as divinely inspired. God's Word is complete, and we should obey all His commandments as He commanded us.

b) Many of the Pharisees and scribes were self-righteous and flaunted their piety in order to be praised by man. They focused on external practices rather than their heart condition. Pharisees prayed long prayers to get noticed by people. They tithed all they had, even the smallest crops, but neglected love and justice, failing to show mercy to those they deemed "irredeemable sinners." Unlike them, we should be sincere seekers of God and obey Him without pretense. We should do good for the sake of righteousness, not for praises of man. We should aim to please God rather than merely humans.

c) Many of the scribes and Pharisees rejected Jesus as the Messiah. This was their fundamental flaw. They failed to understand that salvation comes from nothing else but faith in Jesus Christ. No one can see God's Kingdom without being born of Spirit and water, and such spiritual rebirth can only come about through faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Only Jesus can give us the "living water" to permanently cleanse us of our sins. No amount of righteous living apart from faith in Jesus can save anyone because we cannot meet God's righteous standard while the sin nature is still in us. If we could do so, then Jesus died in vain.

So to be more righteous than the Pharisees and scribes, we must put faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, accept the entire Tanakh as divinely inspired without adding anything to it, and obey all of God's ordinances sincerely. Breaking God's commandments from time to time will be forgiven so long as we repent every time, and try our utmost best to live a life that pleases our Father by following the Holy Spirit's lead.

At this point, let us turn to the book of Ephesians for a fuller understanding of righteousness unto salvation.

The apostle Paul explained, "You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Before we had put faith in Christ, we were spiritually dead in our sins just like the rest of the world. Though our hearts may beat, God considers us "dead" when we live in transgression. To live in transgression is to live according to the "prince of the power of the air," referring to the devil who rules in the unseen spiritual realm. The dark world is under the influence of and follows in the course of the wicked one, and we once lived according to such a course, giving in to our lusts and letting our sinful thoughts lead us to commit sins against Yahweh (e.g., worshipping money instead of God) and against one another (e.g., shoplifting and lying) and even against ourselves (e.g., fornication). The saddest part of this was that we were sinners by nature; we were born with a sin nature (what Paul metaphorically called the "flesh") that inclined us to sin. Thus, we sinned as naturally as breathing and eating. Yet, most of us were unaware of our sad condition; we told lies with no reservation and justified our broken promises and unabashedly looked down upon others in arrogance, for instance.

By His rich mercy and bountiful grace, Yahweh made us alive when we were dead in sins. He did so by having His Son die for us and then calling to us to put faith in Christ for our salvation!

Paul pointed out, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Since we were called by God when we were dead in disobedience and subsequently adopted as His children, then it is evident that we have been saved from eternal condemnation solely by divine grace, not by any good works we have ever done. We can never earn God's salvation because we are by nature sinners whose works can never meet the perfect standard of divine righteousness, no matter how hard we may try to be righteous. Our righteousness cannot attain perfection during this current age before Christ returns. So Yahweh's salvation is a gift to us, stemming from His grace, and this gift is given to us through our faith in Christ. Hence, we cannot take credit for our salvation nor can we boast in our works. There is only one road to salvation for everyone: God's gift of salvation through Christ. We do not earn our way to God's Kingdom. Therefore, Yahweh gets all the glory for saving us.

Now you may think: since God's salvation is a gift of grace and cannot be earned by our works, then we can sin all we want and still get into God's Kingdom, right? Wrong!

We're saved for righteousness, as Paul explained that "we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)

Yahweh didn't adopt a bunch of rowdy children with the intention for them to remain unruly forever. The reason He adopted us is to transform us into godly people. He made us His own in order to make us like Himself: holy, righteous, and just. He made us His masterpiece to walk according to His holy precepts and principles. We're His workmanship created in Christ to do good works, and this is our purpose our Heavenly Father ordained before He adopted us.

Moreover, our righteous works are evidence of our faith. Obedience to God proves whether our faith in God and in Christ is genuine. Hence, if we continue to live in sin with no repentance after professing faith in Christ, then it would show that we don't have true faith. Such dead faith will not save us (James 2:19-26).

So on one hand, we cannot earn our salvation by our works because our righteousness is not good enough. But on the other hand, we must do our best to live righteously before Yahweh to show that our faith in Christ is genuine. Only faith that produces righteousness leads us to salvation.

We must have righteousness through a saving faith in Christ, which surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees who failed to attain righteousness in Christ.

What kind of righteousness do you have? Do you try to work to obtain righteousness apart from faith in Christ like the scribes and Pharisees? Or do you have the only righteousness required for salvation--faith in Christ proven genuine by obedience to God?


~*~ Q&A with Dr. Shirley ~*~

Question: By studying and meditating on the Scriptures, I've come to know that God is timeless. Can you tell me more about what this means?

Answer: Indeed, God is timeless. That's a good truth you've come to know. Being a timeless God means multiple things. First, He is unaffected by time, since He created time. According to science, on Earth, time is a measure of decay. Everything is decaying in some way (everything is aging). But God does not age. He is eternal. He has no beginning or end.

Second, God transcends time. He is outside of time, being its Creator. This is related to the first point. The Creator is beyond His creation.

Third, Yahweh is almighty and can do anything anytime in a split second. Time matters to us a lot because we have to spend time to do anything. But God can achieve anything outside of time. He is not restricted or bound by time.

Fourth, God's nature is timeless. This means who He is does not change. If He's good and wise yesterday, He will always remain good and wise. So everything we learn from His Word about Him, such as His fairness, righteousness, love and mercy, will always remain true about Him.

Fifth, God being timeless means His moral standard and principles will not change. His morality is part of Him so His principles by which we should live will also not change. They remain forever, regardless of our culture. For example, we must not lie and we must love one another. This is true for everyone, regardless of time.

Do you have Bible questions and want answers? Contact Dr. Shirley and she'll be happy to answer your questions by the grace of God.

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