The least and the greatest
First-century Judaism though Deuteronomy’s regulations concerning raiding birds nests (Deut 22:6-7) epitomised a light (or lesser) commandment. In Jesus’ day there were generally accepted guidelines for interpreting the scriptures, one of which was that if God’s attitude to a light matter was clear, then that same attitude would surely apply to a heavy (or greater) matter.
(Matt 5:19-20 WEB)5:19 “Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
5:20 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.”
Terms for entering the Kingdom
Jesus is careful to stress that a persons significance within the Kingdom of Heaven directly relates to their attitude to God’s commandments. Just how willing would they be to obey them when it meant personal inconvenience. For Jesus’ audience “the Kingdom of Heaven” was a familiar term. They would have understood it as that part of God’s creation which willingly sought to comply with his judgements.
Jesus was teaching on the Ten Commandments, the greater of which were those that directly concerned a person’s behaviour towards God. The lesser commandments concerned their behaviour toward other people. However, whilst the ten commandments were foundational, Judaism generally recognised that the Torah, the legal books of the Hebrew Bible, contained some 613 commandments in all. Within these, they the rabbis held that some were weightier, or more important, than others.
Even the breaking of a minor commandment was a disappointment to God, conversely even the keeping of a minor commandment was worthy of praise. However, even those most committed to keeping the commandments, the Scribes and the Pharisees, were incapable of keeping them well enough to be granted entry into the Kingdom of Heaven simply on the basis of their behaviour. Jesus was underlining that if you wanted to enjoy the benefits of favour with God, then there was more involved than simply trying to do the right thing. There was more required, and that was what Jesus had come to reveal.
. . . commentary continues with Matt 5:21-7:12 Outline
This page is just an overview. For a detailed analysis of Matt 5:19-20, with supporting material and citations, see the further notes on Matt 5:19-20.