Bible Study series: Matthew 22:23-33. “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God,” That was a serious charge against the Sadducees.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 22:23-33
23 On that day, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up to him and asked him, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If someone dies without having children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up a descendant for his brother’ [Deut. 25:5] 25 There were seven among us. The first married and died, and since he had no descendant, he left his wife to his brother. 26 Likewise also the second and third until the seventh. 27 Last of all, the wife died. 28 At the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For all of them were married to her.”
29 In reply, Jesus said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God, 30 for at the resurrection neither do they marry nor are given in marriage, but instead they are like angels in heaven. 31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, who said,
32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? [Exod. 3:6, 15, 16]
He is not the God of the dead, but instead of the living.” 33 And on hearing this, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. (Matt. 22:23-33)
Comments:
Some religions, like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, believe in reincarnation. However, this passage contradicts it. We, the redeemed, will be like angels when we die.
Ten Big Differences between Christianity and Other Religions
23-28:
Sadducees:
Please see this post and scroll down in alphabetical order:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
Here’s a passage about the Levirate marriage. Deut. 25:5-6 reads:
5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. (Deut. 25:5-6, NIV)
This requirement is known as the Levirate marriage (from the word “brother”). It was a legal provision for a brother to marry his brother’s widow, in order to keep his brother’s name alive. The problem is that this could incur heavy financial responsibility, so some brothers broke the family law (see Gen. 38:8-10).
The number seven speaks of completion, as if this was the ultimate unsolvable case. It was their attempt to show how ridiculous the idea of the resurrection was.
It may seem odd that these Sadducees speak of the resurrection when they don’t believe in it. But they were simply testing Jesus on his own grounds. Implied: “Since you believe in the resurrection of the dead (and we don’t), let’s assume for the sake of argument that such a thing does happen. People really are raised from the dead. Whose wife will she be when it happens? All seven took her as wife!” The clearest resurrection text is Dan. 12:2, but Jesus is about to teach it by using the Torah, which is their home turf.
29-33:
In effect, Jesus is challenging liberal theologians.
Jesus declaring that the Sadducees denied the power of God (cf. 2 Tim. 3:5) may refer to the traditional Jewish view that “God expresses his power most visibly in the resurrection of the dead” (Keener, p. 529).
God is powerful and able to make people alive after they die.
“at the resurrection”: This does not refer to his personal resurrection, which will happen in a few days. His resurrection on the third day will lead the way for everyone’s resurrection on the last day. On the last day, which is ushered in by the Second Coming, our bodies will be transformed into new bodies, just like his.
Here is a multi-part study of angels in the area of systematic theology, but first a list of the basics.
Angels: Their Duties and Missions
Angels: Their Names and Ranks and Heavenly Existence
Angels: Their Origins, Abilities, and Nature
Next, Jesus gives some very interesting revelations of what the afterlife is like. We will be like the angels at the final resurrection (we won’t be angels). Heb. 2:7 says that God made humankind a little lower than angels or lower than angels for a little while (either translation works). So down here on earth, in our current earth suits, we are lower than angels. But in our deathless new earth suits we will be unable to die, for mortality will be shucked off and God will put on us immortality. We will be like angels. It’s going to be amazing!
Ten Biblical Truths about Your New Body
Why will we be unable to die and be like angels? Because we are the children of God and the children of the resurrection. This shows directly that our immortality depends on God’s transforming power.
We will not get married or be married off (given in marriage) because we won’t need to propagate the human species. We will have new resurrection bodies. But this does not mean that we won’t know our spouses and other family members. We will not be floating on clouds and playing harps. God will refurbish the heavens and the earth, and he is infinitely creative, so we will have lots to do. Our relationships in this life will be enhanced and better than we could ever dream of or experienced. They will be more intimate.
Blomberg once again calls it right:
Whatever we may think of Jesus’ interpretation, it obviously impressed his original listeners (v. 33, much as in 7:28–29), who were used to such logic (cf. especially b. Sanh. 90b [Babylonian Talmud] on precisely this issue in which the resurrection is derived from Num 18:28, which speaks of giving the heave offering to “Aaron” in the promised land long after his death). The objection that Jesus’ argument proves only the immortality of the soul and not the resurrection of the body ignores the fact that immortality was not an option Jews considered. Either all the body was resurrected or nothing survived. Contemporary objections to Jesus’ logic here perhaps reveal an unnecessary rigidity in our modern historical / grammatical hermeneutics rather than any fallacy with Jesus’ interpretation. (comment on 22:29-33)
In v. 31, Jesus shifts gears and addresses the Sadducean unbelief about the resurrection. He beautifully reads the text in Exod. 3. Both God and Moses said that the Lord is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (3:6, 15, 16). By itself, some could accuse this interpretation of overreading the passage. God was simply identifying who he was in relation to the Israelites. He was the God of their ancestors. However, Jesus reminds us that God is omniscient. Everyone is alive to God. So when Moses spoke those words, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive before God. And so is everyone else who walked the planet, whether in sheol or hades or paradise or some sort of holding tank before Jesus’s resurrection. This theology goes way beyond ancestry.
After citing many references to Jewish writings, Keener says that there was a widespread belief that “the Patriarchs are not really dead” (p. 529). All of these living humans, even after their death, leads to the further belief, not spoken of here but elsewhere (1 Cor. 15:35-58), that everyone will be reunited with their transformed bodies and undergo judgment to decide their ultimate fate, whether heaven or hell.
See my posts about heaven and hell:
This pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or unit or section ends suitably. The crowds, listening in, were astounded. What happened to the Sadducees? Why were they not said to like the teaching? To judge from their silence, apparently the Sadducees were humiliated.
Jesus was in control. He “owned” every major religious-political sect or group and everyone else who opposed him. This is the power of the Spirit flowing through him and his receiving wisdom from God.
GrowApp for Matt. 22:23-33
1. Study 1 Cor. 15:50-57. What will the resurrection of the dead look like?
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1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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