Commentary - Matthew 22:23-33

Bird's-eye view

Here we have a clash of worldviews. The Sadducees were the theological liberals of their day, materialists who denied the supernatural, the resurrection, angels, and spirits. They were the establishment men, content with the way things were. They come to Jesus with what they believe is a clever intellectual trap, a reductio ad absurdum designed to make the doctrine of the resurrection look foolish. Their question is not an honest inquiry; it is a polemical jab. Jesus, in His response, does not merely sidestep their trap. He dismantles their entire worldview from the foundation up. He diagnoses their core problem as a twofold ignorance: they know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. He then proceeds to school them on both counts, first by explaining the nature of the resurrected state, and second by proving the resurrection from the very books of Moses that the Sadducees claimed to hold. The result is that the professional mockers are silenced, and the common people are astonished at the clarity and authority of His teaching.

Outline

The Sadducean Error

The Sadducees were a party of theological minimalists. By accepting only the Pentateuch as authoritative, and even then interpreting it through a rationalistic and materialistic lens, they effectively gutted the faith of Israel. Their denial of the resurrection was central to their system. For them, there was no final judgment, no life to come, and therefore no ultimate accountability beyond this life. This made them natural allies of the ruling powers and comfortable with the status quo. Their error is a perennial one. Every generation has its Sadducees, those who want a religion that makes no uncomfortable supernatural demands, a faith that can be reconciled with the spirit of the age. They use the language of Scripture, as they do here with the law of Levirate marriage, but they do so in order to undermine the teaching of Scripture. This is a classic liberal tactic, using the Bible against the Bible.

The Trap is Set (vv. 23-28)

(23) On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and asked Him a question, Matthew makes it plain who these men are and what they believe, or rather, what they disbelieve. Their defining characteristic is a denial. They are men of negation. They approach Jesus not as seekers but as debaters, armed with a question they have no doubt used to stump the Pharisees many times. Their confidence is high.

(24) saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘IF A MAN DIES HAVING NO CHILDREN, HIS BROTHER AS NEXT OF KIN SHALL MARRY HIS WIFE AND RAISE UP A SEED FOR HIS BROTHER.’ They begin by appealing to Scripture, specifically the law of Levirate marriage from Deuteronomy 25. This law was given to preserve a man's name and inheritance in Israel. It was a provision for this life, rooted in the realities of land, lineage, and legacy under the Old Covenant. The Sadducees are wrenching this law out of its covenantal context and attempting to use it as a universal principle that must apply even in the age to come.

(25-27) Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no seed, he left his wife to his brother; so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. And last of all, the woman died. Here is their carefully constructed hypothetical. It is an extreme case, designed to stretch the premise to its breaking point. Seven brothers, one after another, marry the same woman, and all die childless. The scenario is just plausible enough to be entertained, but its purpose is purely rhetorical. They are piling on the details to make the subsequent problem seem insurmountable.

(28) In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.” And here is the punchline. They believe they have created a logical paradox. If the resurrection is real, and if marriage is real, then you have an impossible situation of one woman being married to seven men. Since polyandry was unthinkable, they conclude that the resurrection itself must be unthinkable. Their argument is this: the law of Moses creates a situation that makes the resurrection a chaotic absurdity, therefore the resurrection cannot be true. They have presented their case, and now they wait for Jesus to be ensnared.

The Twofold Ignorance (vv. 29-33)

(29) But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. Jesus does not mince words. He goes straight to the root of their error. It is not a minor exegetical mistake; it is a catastrophic failure on two fundamental fronts. First, they do not understand the Scriptures. They can quote a verse, but they do not grasp its meaning, context, or purpose. Second, they do not understand the power of God. Their imagination is constrained by their materialism. They can only conceive of the age to come as a simple continuation of this age, with all the same structures and limitations. They have a small God, and consequently, a small-minded theology.

(30) For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Here Jesus addresses their ignorance of God's power. The resurrection life is a transformation, not just a resuscitation. The institution of marriage, as we know it, is for this age. Its purposes, procreation and the typological representation of Christ and the Church, are fulfilled in the age to come. To say we will be "like angels" is not to say we become sexless or cease to be male and female. Rather, it means our mode of existence changes. Relationships will not be erased, but glorified. The shadow of marriage gives way to the substance, which is the eternal marriage feast of the Lamb. The Sadducees' entire problem dissolves because their premise was wrong. They assumed the resurrection life would be just like this one, only longer. Jesus says it will be qualitatively different, and infinitely better.

(31) But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, Now Jesus turns to their second failure, their ignorance of the Scriptures. He takes them back to the Torah, to their own ground. The phrase "have you not read" is a sharp rebuke. He is telling these supposed teachers of the law that the answer to their question has been in their Bibles all along. And it was spoken "to you by God." Scripture is not a collection of ancient religious texts; it is the living voice of God speaking to His people in every generation.

(32) saying, ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” This is a masterstroke of biblical interpretation. Jesus quotes from the burning bush account in Exodus 3. When God spoke to Moses, the patriarchs had been dead for centuries. Yet God does not say, "I was the God of Abraham." He says, "I AM." The verb is in the present tense. God's covenant relationship with His people is an ongoing, living reality that death cannot sever. If Abraham is not, then God is the God of a nothing, a memory. But He is the God of the living. Therefore, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive. They exist as persons in fellowship with God. And if their souls live, the resurrection of their bodies is the necessary and promised conclusion. Jesus proves the resurrection from the Pentateuch, devastating the Sadducees' entire case on their own terms.

(33) And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. The Sadducees are silenced, but the people are amazed. They recognized that they were not just witnessing a clever debater winning points. They were hearing truth taught with a divine authority that cut through confusion and brought light. Jesus did not just answer a question; He defended the hope of eternal life and revealed the glory of the God who is the God of the living.

Application

The error of the Sadducees is alive and well. We are surrounded by a naturalistic worldview that denies the power of God and by a shallow biblicism that quotes Scripture without understanding it. We must guard against both. We must not have a failure of imagination when it comes to the power of God. Our God created the universe out of nothing; the resurrection of the body is a small thing for Him. Our hope is not for a ghostly, ethereal existence, but for a solid, tangible, glorified life in a new heavens and a new earth. Our relationships, our identities, our very bodies will be redeemed and perfected.

And we must be people of the Book. Not just people who can cite verses, but people who understand the grand story of Scripture, who see how it all points to Christ. Jesus demonstrated that the hope of the resurrection is woven into the fabric of the Old Testament from the very beginning. Our faith is not built on a few proof texts, but on the entire counsel of God. Let us therefore know the Scriptures, and know the power of God, and live in the joyful and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.