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.
The Pharisees' righteousness failed in three ways: its principle was the applause of men, not love of God; its aim was their own credit and worldly gain, not God's glory; its manner lacked the purity and spirituality of heart the law required. You must exceed them in sincerity, simplicity of aim, humility, and charity to all.
AI summary
Those Jews who loved the Old Testament feared Christ came to destroy it; the libertines hoped He came to free them from it. Both were wrong. Christ keeps the Law and Prophets on the throne as the rule of faith and practice. He cancels nothing that was forbidden by nature or the moral law, and forbids nothing that was permitted by either.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 5:17-20
The Pharisees boast of their zeal for the law while their lives expose them as scarcely concerned with it at all. But the core problem is their corrupted manner of teaching: by confining God's law to outward duties alone, they train their disciples like apes to hypocrisy. Christ restores the law to its true purity in what follows.
AI summary