Different Kinds of Righteousness
"The Jews followed the law, and so far as anybody could see, they kept it strictly. Then they trusted to their own works, and did not submit to the righteousness of God. But the Gentiles, and the publicans and harlots, had no good works to trust in, and therefore they willingly accepted the righteousness, which is of God by faith. Thus the publicans and harlots receive the blessing of God more readily than the Pharisees." Ellet J. Waggoner