02/2004            

No, this is not a statement about false prophets. The text about which you are inquiring is this:

Matt.5

This simply says that the least person in the kingdom, whoever that person is, is a person who has relaxed (not broken as you recalled), no more than one of the commandments of the law and the prophets and has taught men so (to relax them).  It follows, by implication, that a person  who has relaxed two commandments is less than the person who has relaxed only one commandment.  We are assuming that all have taught men so. 

But the person who has relaxed only one commandment is least in the kingdom; it follows, also by implication, that a yet lesser person -- one who has relaxed two or more commandments -- is not even in the kingdom, being less than the least one in the kingdom.  Or, to use a more personal simile, if you are the least child in your family, then anyone less than you cannot be in your family.

Now remember that the word Jesus used is relaxed.  He did not say broken.  Also, look again at verse 20 from above:

[20] For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The scribes and Pharisees, then, are the ones who cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, and therefore they are the ones who are less (in this context) than the least in the kingdom, so that anyone's righteousness must exceed theirs to be included in the kingdom. It also follows that the scribes and Pharisees are those who relax more than one of the commandments in the law -- for they are not in the kingdom of heaven.

Next, let us see why Jesus utilized the word relax  (rather than breaks) in the above.  To do this, we need to point to two things.  The first will be the next two verses following verse 20 above.  Let's paste verses 20-22 here for your inspection:

Matt.5
[20] For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
[21] You have heard that it was said to the men of old, `You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.'
[22] But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire.

Do you see?  Jesus has not relaxed the law that says, You shall not kill.  No, no!  He has done the very opposite.  He has stiffened it immensely by providing the same penalty -- the same judgment -- for one who is only angry with his brother, as the law provided for a killer!  If you read the subsequent verses, you will discover that he has provided six more examples of stiffening the Law, in verses 27f, 31f, 33f, 38f, and 43f.  

The second thing is to turn now and see why he has attacked the scribes and Pharisees in this way.  So now let us refer to this utterance:

Mark.7
[5] And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?"
[6] And he said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
[7] in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'
[8] You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.
[9] And he said to them, You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition!
[10] For Moses said, `Honor your father and your mother'; and, `He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die';
[11] but you say, `If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God) --
[12] then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother,
[13] thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.

So, the scribes and Pharisees were, by their tradition, relaxing the commandment of God, so much so as to make it void and, as Jesus said, . . . many such things you do.  Furthermore, they were teaching men so, as indicated by the phrase, which you hand on.  It then becomes very clear why he said, above,

[20] For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

To conclude, this utterance of the Lord does not say that false prophets will enter the kingdom.  It does not say anything whatsoever about false prophets as such.  It does tell us that one's standing with respect to the kingdom, whether in it or out of it or, if in it, whether the least or the greatest, is wholly dependent on having righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.  This in turn depends on keeping the law as stiffened by Jesus rather than relaxing it after the practice of the scribes and Pharisees.

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