The Master's words, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven," may en superficial consideration seem cf no application to our time, since Christianity is an established fact and undoubtedly stands in a measure for a better concept of righteousness. Even outside of religious aspects it might seem rather an easy matter to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and to reach higher standards of conduct. The scathing rebuke which was meted out to that condition of thought by Jesus, may appear to give us the right to draw such conclusions, because it seems to brand it as shallow hypocrisy, self-deluding, insincere, and intentionally deceiving.
Our acceptance of the teachings of Jesus, and our consequent right to the assurance cf having received the justification which is by faith, seems to place us in a position where we are compelled to consider our righteousness, namely, the acceptance of doctrinal Christianity of some sort, as the righteousness which exceeds that of the Pharisees. We may be tempted self-complacently to thank God that we are not as these Pharisees. We may ask, Were they not very wicked; did they not persecute and crucify Jesus and reject his teachings? But the fact is, that too often the acceptance of Jesus' teachings by those born and nurtured in a Christian community is much less a matter cf conviction than of training.
Jesus did undoubtedly fulfil in every particular the old prophecies concerning the Messiah, as is discernible in the grand perspective of history; yet on mature consideration we come to realize that to his contemporaries he presented only the aspect of his human personality, even though his teaching was supported by miracles. In an age of startling occurrences these miracles may not have meant more to most people than many of the Christian Science demonstrations seem to mean to some at the present time. They were probably never thought of as due to the operation of spiritual law, hence their rejection.
