Resurrection Riddle

That same day, some of the Sadducees came to Jesus. Now, like the Pharisees, the Sadducees were a Jewish sect and were represented in the Sanhedrin—the Jewish council. The Sadducees acknowledged the divine authority of the Pentateuch—the first five books of the Old Testament—but they did not acknowledge the rest of Scripture. And unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees rejected supernatural doctrines, such as the belief in the existence of angels, the belief in the existence of spirits, and the belief in the resurrection. So, it is interesting that the Sadducees planned to trap Jesus using a question about the resurrection. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses declared that if a man dies and leaves a wife without children, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now, there were seven brothers. The first brother married and died without having children. So, the second brother married the widow, but he also died with no children. The third brother did likewise. This continued down to the seventh brother, who also died leaving no children. Finally, the woman died. So then, in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven brothers were married to her.”

Jesus answered, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. The children of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In fact, they can no longer die, because they are like the angels in heaven. And since they are children of the resurrection, they are children of God.

“But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read about the burning bush in the Book of Moses? For even Moses demonstrates that the dead are raised, in the passage about the burning bush. For God told Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”

When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

See Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Deuteronomy 25:5; Exodus 3:6

Notes: “The Book of Moses”: That is, the books of the Bible that are attributed to Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Together, these are also known as the Pentateuch. The Sadducees acknowledged divine authority only for this portion of Scripture.