The Righteousness of Christ

At a glance

The chapter heading text (KJV)

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil… For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:17–20 KJV

Summary

Bonhoeffer takes Jesus' statement that he has come to fulfil, not abolish, the law as proof that discipleship is not a relaxation of moral seriousness but its intensification — with one crucial difference in where that righteousness comes from. The Pharisees represent a righteousness earned through careful, sincere obedience to the law, which becomes, almost inevitably, something the person possesses and can measure themselves by. It is a real achievement, not a sham, which is exactly what makes Jesus' demand to exceed it sound absurd on its face.

The resolution, for Bonhoeffer, is that disciples are not asked to out-perform the Pharisees at their own game. Their righteousness is not a personal accomplishment at all; it is Jesus' own righteousness, given to them because they have been called into fellowship with him and made partakers of everything he is. What looks, from outside, like a higher bar to clear is actually a different category of righteousness altogether — received rather than achieved.

This is why Bonhoeffer insists the beatitudes already promised this righteousness to ‘the poor,’ ‘the hungry’ and ‘those persecuted for righteousness' sake’ — it belongs to people precisely at the point where they have nothing to bring, not to people who have finally accumulated enough merit. It is not, however, a righteousness that stays theoretical or invisible: because it is real communion with Christ, it produces real, visible obedience in exactly the way the previous two chapters described. It must be done, not merely believed, or it has not actually been received.

The chapter's closing line about the disciples' righteousness being ‘the new law, the law of Christ’ is Bonhoeffer's way of holding together everything argued so far: fulfilment rather than abolition, gift rather than achievement, and yet a gift that necessarily issues in obedient action. The rest of Part II — on anger, oaths, retaliation and enemies — will show in concrete terms what a righteousness received from Christ, rather than earned by law-keeping, actually looks like in daily life.

Key points

• Jesus fulfils rather than abolishes the law — discipleship intensifies moral seriousness rather than relaxing it.
• The Pharisees' righteousness is a genuine, sincere achievement through obedience, which is exactly what makes it something to be measured and possessed.
• The disciples' righteousness is not a personal accomplishment but Christ's own righteousness, given through fellowship with him.
• This righteousness belongs, according to the Beatitudes, to those who have nothing to bring — not to those who have finally accumulated enough merit.
• A righteousness received from Christ still must be done, not merely believed — real communion with him produces real, visible obedience.

Related Scripture

• Romans 3:21–22
• Philippians 3:9
• Matthew 23:23
• 1 Corinthians 1:30

For reflection and discussion

1. Where do you catch yourself treating your own spiritual disciplines the way the Pharisees treated the law — as a personal achievement to measure and be proud of?
2. What does it change, practically, to think of your righteousness as ‘received through fellowship with Christ’ rather than ‘produced by your own effort’?
3. Bonhoeffer insists this received righteousness must still be done, not merely believed. Where is there a gap right now between what you believe and what you actually do?