In Matthew 5:16, Jesus tells his disciples to “let [their] light shine before others, so that [others] may see [their] good works and give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven.”
These good works come from a place of positional righteousness before God – a righteousness that is not intrinsic to ourselves but rather one that is imputed (credited) to us by Jesus.
In verses 17-20, these good works will be contrasted with the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. They were known as the guardians of the law, and yet they missed what the law pointed toward.
As Jesus addresses this righteousness according to the law, he fills out the true meaning of the law. As the Messiah, he has not come to upend the trajectory of God’s redemptive work but rather to fulfill it, to deepen the understanding of what the types and shadows of the Scriptures meant, and to bring clarity to what was previously veiled.
