Luke 20:27-40
20:27 a Sadducees ... who say there is no resurrection from the dead: See profile for The Sadducees at end of chapter.20:28 b Moses gave us a law: A dead man’s brother would marry the widow to produce children who would maintain the dead man’s name and property (Deut 25:5-6 c; see also Gen 38:8-10 d; Ruth 4:1-12 e).
Summary for Luke 20:29-33: 20:29-33 f Well, suppose there were seven brothers: A similar story of a woman married to seven husbands appears in the Old Testament Apocrypha (Tobit 3:7-17; 6:10–8:18 g).
20:33 h whose wife will she be in the resurrection? The Sadducees used this hypothetical situation in an attempt to show that the idea of resurrection was absurd. This was probably a stock polemic that the Sadducees used in debating the Pharisees.
20:35 i will neither marry nor be given in marriage: Jesus emphasized that marriage is an institution for this life, not for the resurrection.
20:36 j In this respect they will be like angels: Angels are not married, and they are immortal. The Bible never teaches that people become angels (cp. Heb 1:5–2:18 k), but that we will be like them.
20:37 l Having refuted the Sadducees’ argument about marriage, Jesus turned to the larger question concerning the resurrection.
• even Moses proved this: Jesus used the books of Moses (Genesis—Deuteronomy)—the only Scripture the Sadducees recognized as authoritative—to prove the resurrection.
• the God of Abraham ... Jacob: God identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob long after these patriarchs had died. Since he was still their God, they must have had a continuing existence after death.
20:39 m Well said, Teacher! Most teachers of religious law were Pharisees, so they agreed with Jesus on the resurrection and were pleased that he refuted the Sadducees.
20:40 n Jesus’ wise answers confounded his opponents, thwarting their attempts to trap him.
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