Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:19, 20

Matthew 5:19, 20 is often explained by New Calvinists in the following way:

Verse 19 indicates that we should revere God’s law, but since the pharisees were really, really good at keeping the law [an assumed interpretive criteria], we shouldn’t “try” to keep the law because that’s what they tried to do, and our righteousness must surpass theirs.

But we can see from the text alone that this interpretation is not true. Verses 19 and 20 are connected by a conjunction (“for”) which shows a relationship between the two verses. The subject of verse 19 does not lend such an interpretation to verse 20. Moreover, other biblical texts affirm the idea that verse 19 describes the Pharisees. That’s why Jesus launched into the whole “You have heard that it was said…but I tell you…” starting in the following sentence (verse 21). Those are specific examples of how the Pharisees taught things that contradicted the law. Not only that, Jesus said specifically in Matthew 15:1-9 that His contention with the Pharisees was the fact that they twisted the Scriptures according to their traditions:

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

The Pharisees were not proficient at keeping God’s law outwardly. In fact, they didn’t do so at all, but rather propagated teaching “as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Therefore, the Pharisees were guilty of neglecting the true law and teaching others to do the same (Matthew 5:19). They were not the poster-children for some campaign to demonstrate the futility of law-keeping, especially in regard to believers. In fact, Christ said their lax attitude towards the law was indicative of those who will not enter the kingdom. For this reason the Pharisees were not the greatest in the kingdom as the masses suppose, but the least – if they were even in the kingdom at all. Therefore, when Christ told the crowd that their righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, He was plainly speaking of righteous behavior demanded of kingdom citizens who claim to be saved. Christ’s true contention against the Pharisees is evident when you consider that some translations interpret Matthew 15:6 this way: “…you have made void the law of God.” It is also interesting that Christ uses the quote from Isaiah to contrast true worship with teaching the rules of men rather than the commandments of God. Playing games with the law of God – flirts with worshipping in vain.

Most historians agree that the Pharisees believed that they were saved by virtue of being children of Abraham and circumcision alone (Luke 3:8; Galatians 6:15). The idea that the Pharisees were the embodiment of works-righteousness is patently false. According to Christ (Matthew 23:23-28), they were not only lawless on the outside; they were also lawless on the inside. Outwardly, they put on a show to appear righteous to others (so they probably didn’t even obey outwardly when in private) but on the inside they were greedy and self-serving. Christ used the illustrations of a cup and a tomb to indict the Pharisees for their lawlessness on the inside. In other words, their minds/thoughts were saturated with things like lust, covetousness and revenge while being concerned with outward appearances to impress others (bad motives).

The actual Greek word used in Matthew 23:28 is anomia. Christ said the Pharisees were also antinomians (lawless) on the inside. One of the primary reasons God judged the earth via the flood was the rampant lawlessness of the mind (Genesis 6:5). The fact that God calls for an inward obedience to Godly thinking is clear. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

The Pharisees were really more like the New Calvinists of today who relax God’s law and teach others to do the same, especially in regard to New Covenant theology.

- Paul Dohse, Sr., The Truth About New Calvinism: It’s History, Doctrine and Character