Matthew 22:23 – 33

“Who's Wife Will She Be?”

23 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,

24 saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.

25 Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.

26 Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.

27 Last of all the woman died also.

28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.”

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.

31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying,

32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

33 And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

The Sadducees claimed to believe there is no eternal life, there are no spiritual beings such as angels, and once a person dies, they are dead, living no more.

The day the Sadducees approached Jesus about the relationship of marriage after the resurrection was later on the same day the Herodians had failed to entrap Jesus about the legality of paying taxes.

The Sadducees either did not understand Jesus teaching about the resurrection or knowingly misrepresented His teachings, Jesus never taught men and women would resume their earthly relationships after they came from the grave. Of course this question refers to the righteous, because unbelievers and the wicked will not be in heaven but will be in the “Lake of Fire.”

The Sadducees did correctly repeat the law of Moses from (Deuteronomy 26:5) and also was correctly applied by Judah (Genesis 38:8 – 9) during the time of the Patriarchal Dispensation.

In verses 25 – 28 the Sadducees describe an actual or supposed case which, they thought, would cause the teaching of Jesus on the resurrection to be proven false.

But their supposed problem was based on a theory human beings are able to recognize each other in heaven the same way they lived on earth. This theory leads to wishes based on our fleshly desires and denies the teaching of

(1 Corinthians 15:42 - 54[42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”])

(Philippians 3:21[who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.]), and

(1 John 3:2[Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.])

When Jesus tells the Sadducees “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures,” He is of course referring to the Old Testament because the New Testament did not exist at the time He was on earth.

In the beginning the earth was in need of being populated, so God gave man a woman for a helper, and marriage was instituted for the purpose of populating the earth. In heaven there will be no need for marriage because there is no need for populating heaven.

The reason for this hypothisis is they wanted to disprove Jesus teaching on the resurrection. Jesus told them they did not understand the power of God. If they understood the power of God they would have understood nothing is “too hard for the Lord” (Genesis 18:14). God gives the ability for an 100 year old man, and a 90 year old woman, who had been unable to conceive, to have a child.

Let's pay close attention to verse 30, this verse does not say we, as righteous humans, become angels when we die,or go to heaven.

When we die, we do not go to heaven, we go to Paradise, the waiting place for the saved.

Jesus tells the thief on the cross. “Today you will be in Paradise.” (Luke 32:43)
Lazarus the beggar, taken to “Abraham's bosom.(Luke 16:22)

Many people refer to their deceased “loved ones as angels in heaven”

Jesus does not say we will become angels

We will be like angels in heaven
sexless, not having a gender.
not being married
no spouse.

Jesus is going to refer to a scripture the Sadducees should know, but Jesus says they do not. It is to prove there is a life they deny exists.

He is referring to Exodus 3:6 which he quotes in verse 32. These men, even though there bodies had been in the graves for many years, live on. The Sadducees agreed, God was the God of these men, but they denied they still lived. Even though the bodies were dead, they lived on, their spirits live outside of their dead fleshly corpses. The bodies will be resurrected and reunited with the soul.

Jesus teaching silenced the Sadducees and amazed the multitudes.