“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

Jesus said that our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees if we wish to enter the kingdom. How could this be if the Pharisees were so careful and meticulous in trying to follow the Law?

The problem with the Pharisees was that they looked to the Law to learn what they thought was the minimum they needed to do to serve God. Yet God’s law is more than a mere checklist containing the absolute minimum that we have to do to please Him. Instead, the law contains explicit commands, implicit instructions, and principles that we are to follow.
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“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:23-24).

This passage is often misunderstood and misapplied. The common idea is that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for focusing too much on details when they should have focused on other matters instead. Those who allege this will argue that we must follow the “weightier provisions” and that the smaller details are, therefore, unimportant.
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