October 24

For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. — Matt 5:20 BSB

There are three types of righteousness—or at least three that bear that name. There is inherent righteousness, of which we have none. There is imputed righteousness, which is all of our justification. And there is imparted righteousness, when God the Spirit makes us new creatures and raises up in our hearts the “new man, which after God” (that is, in the image of God) “is created in righteousness and true holiness.” When the Lord said, “Except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,” He was not only referring to an external righteousness accomplished by His obedience to the law for us, but also to an internal righteousness produced by the Holy Spirit within us. Thus, we read about both the outward and inward garments of the Church: “The King’s daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold.” The Queen’s two forms of righteousness are her outward robe—her imputed righteousness, the “clothing of wrought gold”—and her inward adornment, which makes her “all-glorious within.” This inward glory is the new man in the heart, with all his gifts and graces, what Peter calls “the divine nature,” and “Christ in the heart, the hope of glory.”