Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

Understanding Biblical Symbolism


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BIBLE VERSES

MATTHEW 5:20

"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."

This verse describes the transition from outer conformity to inner transformation.

It is the movement from the lower mind’s moralism to the higher mind’s spiritual integrity.

“The scribes and Pharisees” symbolize the literalist consciousness, the part of the soul that clings to rules, appearances, and external correctness.

They represent the personality trying to be “good” by imitation, discipline, or fear, rather than by inner change.

This level of righteousness is horizontal as it manages behavior but does not transform the being itself.

“Except your righteousness shall exceed…” means the soul must rise above the plane of external religion and enter the vertical dimension of spiritual life.

This is the righteousness of the Higher Self, the inner Christ‑principle, which expresses truth from within rather than conforming from without.

In mysticism, this “exceeding” is the moment when:
- the heart becomes aligned with the Divine
- the soul acts from love rather than obligation
- the inner law replaces the outer code
- the personality yields to the Higher Life

“Ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

The “kingdom” is not a place but a state of consciousness. It is  the awakened and illumined condition in which the soul perceives and participates in the Divine Life.

Entry into this state is impossible while the soul remains bound to the lower mind’s religious literalism.

The kingdom opens only when the inner nature is transformed, when righteousness becomes organic, arising from the soul’s union with Spirit.

Thus the verse teaches that:
- external morality cannot regenerate the soul
- spiritual life begins only when the Divine law is written within
- the kingdom is entered through inner transmutation, not outer compliance

The Esoteric Message…..
The kingdom opens when righteousness becomes an inner state, not an external performance; the soul must rise above the letter (literal) and into the Living Spirit.

 

See Also

BIBLE VERSES

MATTHEW 5:17

MATTHEW 5:20

MATTHEW 17:11