Matthew 3:15
3:15 So Jesus replied 1 to him, “Let it happen now, 2 for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John 3 yielded 4 to him.
Matthew 5:20
5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law 5 and the Pharisees, 6 you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 6:1
Pure-hearted Giving
6:1 “Be 7 careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. 8 Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.
1 tn Grk “but Jesus, answering, said.” This construction with passive participle and finite verb is pleonastic (redundant) and has been simplified in the translation to “replied to him.”
2 tn Grk “Permit now.”
3 tn Grk “he”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Or “permitted him.”
5 tn Or “that of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
6 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
7 tc ‡ Several mss (א L Z Θ Ë1 33 892 1241 1424 al) have δέ (de, “but, now”) at the beginning of this verse; the reading without δέ is supported by B D W 0250 Ë13 Ï lat. A decision is difficult, but apparently the conjunction was added by later scribes to indicate a transition in the thought-flow of the Sermon on the Mount. NA27 has δέ in brackets, indicating reservations about its authenticity.
8 tn Grk “before people in order to be seen by them.”