Matthew 22:30

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) They neither marry, nor are given in marriage.—In St. Luke’s report (Luke 20:34-35) our Lord emphasises the contrast in this respect between the children of this world and the children of the resurrection. His words teach absolutely the absence from the resurrection life of the definite relations on which marriage rests in this, and they suggest an answer to the yearning questions which rise up in our minds as we ponder on the things behind the veil. Will there, we ask, be no continuance there of the holiest of the ties of earth? Will the husband and the wife, who have loved each other until death parted them, be no more to each other than any others who are counted worthy to obtain that life? Will there be no individual recognition, no continuance of the love founded upon the memories of the past? The answer to all such questionings is found in dwelling on the “power of God.” The old relations may subsist under new conditions. Things that are incompatible here may there be found to co-exist. The saintly wife of two saintly husbands may love both with an angelic, and therefore a pure and unimpaired affection. The contrast between our Lord’s teaching and the sensual paradise of Mahomet, or Swedenborg’s dream of the marriage state perpetuated under its earthly conditions, is so obvious as hardly to call for notice.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:23-33 The doctrines of Christ displeased the infidel Sadducees, as well as the Pharisees and Herodians. He carried the great truths of the resurrection and a future state, further than they had yet been reveled. There is no arguing from the state of things in this world, as to what will take place hereafter. Let truth be set in a clear light, and it appears in full strength. Having thus silenced them, our Lord proceeded to show the truth of the doctrine of the resurrection from the books of Moses. God declared to Moses that he was the God of the patriarchs, who had died long before; this shows that they were then in a state of being, capable of enjoying his favour, and proves that the doctrine of the resurrection is clearly taught in the Old Testament as well as in the New. But this doctrine was kept for a more full revelation, after the resurrection of Christ, who was the first-fruits of them that slept. All errors arise from not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God. In this world death takes away one after another, and so ends all earthly hopes, joys, sorrows, and connexions. How wretched are those who look for nothing better beyond the grave!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Neither marry ... - This was a full answer to the objections of the Sadducees.

But are as the angels of God - That is, in the manner of their conversation; in regard to marriage and the mode of their existence.

Luke adds that they shall be "equal with the angels." That is, they shall be elevated above the circumstances of mortality, and live in a manner and in a kind of conversation similar to that of the angels. It does not imply that they shall be equal in intellect, but only "in the circumstances of their existence," as that is distinguished from the way in which mortals live. He also adds, "Neither do they die any more, but are the children of God; being the children of the resurrection," or being accounted worthy to be raised up to life, and therefore "sons of God raised up to him."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mt 22:15-40. Entangling Questions about Tribute, the Resurrection, and the Great Commandment, with the Replies. ( = Mr 12:13-34; Lu 20:20-40).

For the exposition, see on [1343]Mr 12:13-34.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Mark hath the same, Mark 12:24,25, only he propounds it as a question, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know, not the Scriptures? Luke saith, Luke 20:34,35, And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. The discourse of the Sadducees was bottomed upon this mistake, that there should not only be a resurrection of bodies, but of relations too; and the state of the world to come should be like the state of this world, in, which, for the propagation and continuance of mankind, men and women marry, and are given in marriage. Now, saith our Saviour, your error is bottomed in your ignorance, because ye know not the Scriptures, ( which indeed is the foundation of all men’s errors in matter of faith),

nor the power of God. If you knew the power of God, you would know that God is able to raise the dead. To confirm our faith in the resurrection, the Scripture every where sendeth us to the consideration of the Divine power, Romans 8:11 Philippians 3:21. If you knew the Scriptures, you would know that God will raise the dead, and the state of men in the resurrection shall not be as in this life, where men and women die daily; and in case they did not marry and give in marriage, the generation of men would quickly be extinct. But (saith Luke) they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead. It is manifest by the first words, that the latter words are not to be understood of the general resurrection, (to which all shall come, worthy or unworthy), but of the resurrection unto life; that resurrection which is not the mere effect of Divine providence, necessary in order to the last judgment, but that resurrection to life which is the effect of Christ’s purchase. And this is observable, that the resurrection from the dead will be of so little advantage, nay, of such miserable disadvantage, to wicked men, that the Scripture sometimes speaketh of the resurrection as if it were peculiar to saints, 1 Corinthians 15:22 Philippians 3:11; so in this text. Hence Luke calls them afterward, the children of the resurrection; not that others shall not rise, but the children of God alone shall be the favourites of the resurrection, those who shall rise as children to an eternal inheritance. Concerning the state of persons in the resurrection our Saviour thus describes it: that men and women there shall be

as the angels, not in all things, but in the things mentioned, which are two, one of them mentioned by Matthew, both by Luke:

1. They shall not die any more.

2. They shall not marry, nor be given in marriage.

The first showeth the needlessness of the latter, for one great reason of marriage was to supply the gaps which death maketh in the world; but men shall not die any more, therefore there will be no need of conjugal relations amongst men, more than among angels. The children of this world (saith Luke) marry, and are given in marriage. Marriage was only an institution for this world, and is to continue no longer than this world stands; for the state of men in another world will be such as needs it not, being a state of immortality, so not needing it for propagation; and a state for perfection, and so not needing it for mutual help in the affairs of man’s life, nor a remedy against extravagant lust.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For in the resurrection,.... At the time of the resurrection, and in that state; when the bodies and souls of men shall be reunited,

they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; neither the men marry wives, nor are the women given in marriage to men, which is done by their parents here, generally speaking, they having the right of disposing of children in marriage: but, as Luke says, "they which shall be accounted worthy"; not through their own works of righteousness, but through the grace of God and righteousness of Christ, "to obtain the world", the world to come, a future state of happiness, "and the resurrection of the dead", that which will be unto everlasting life and glory, "neither marry nor are given in marriage"; shall not enter into any such natural and carnal relation: and this agrees with the notion of the other Jews, who say (c); that "In "the world to come", there is neither eating nor drinking, , "nor fructification, nor increase" (of children), no receiving and giving, (no commerce), nor envy, nor hatred, nor contention.

But are as the angels of God in heaven; or, as in Luke, "are equal unto the angels"; and which he explains their immortality: "neither can they die any more"; no more than the angels can: for this must not be extended to everything; not in everything will the saints be like, or equal to the angels; they will not be incorporeal, as the angels are, but then, even their bodies will be spiritual, and in some respects, like spirits; they will not stand in any need of sustenance, by eating and drinking, any more than the angels; nor will there be any such things as marriage, and procreation of children among them, any more than among angels; for they "are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection": they will then appear to be the children of God by adopting grace, through their enjoying the adoption, even the redemption of their bodies; and possessing, in soul and body, the heavenly inheritance they are heirs of: indeed, the souls of the saints before the resurrection, during their separate state, are in some sense like the angels, to which may be applied those words of Maimonides (d),

"In the world to come, there is no body, but the souls of the righteous only, without a body, "as the ministering angels"; and seeing there is no body, there is no eating nor drinking in it, nor any of all the things which the bodies of the children of men stand in need of in this world; nor does anything befall which happens to bodies in this world, as sitting or standing, or sleep or "death", or grief, or laughter, or the like.

And according to the sense of the Jews, they will be like to the angels after the resurrection: so God is by them introduced speaking (e),

"At the appointed time known by me, to quicken the dead, I will return to thee that body which is holy and renewed, as at the first, to be , "as the holy angels".

This was an usual way of speaking with them, to compare saints in a state of immortality, to angels (f). Christ, by making mention of angels, strikes at another notion of the Sadducees, that there were no angels, Acts 23:8.

(c) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 17. 1.((d) Hilch. Teshuba, c. 8. sect. 2.((e) Midrash Hanneelam in Zohar in Gen. fol. 66. 4. (f) Vid. Abot. R. Nathan, c. 1. fol. 1. 3. Caphtor, fol. 18. 2. Philo de Sacrific. Abel & Cain, p. 131.

Geneva Study Bible

For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the {n} angels of God in heaven.

(n) He does not say that they will be without bodies, for then they would not be men any more; but, they will be as angels, for they will neither marry nor be married.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Matthew 22:30. Ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἀναστάσει] not: in the resurrection life, but, as in Matthew 22:28 : at the resurrection (in answer to Fritzsche), which will be signalized not by marrying or giving in marriage, but by ushering in a state of things in which men will be like the angels, therefore a higher form of existence, from which the earthly conditions of life are eliminated, in which human beings will be not indeed disembodied, but endowed with a glorified corporeality, 1 Corinthians 15:44. The cessation of human propagation, not the abolition of the distinction of sex (Tertullian, Origen, Hilary, Athanasius, Basil, Grotius, Volkmar), is essentially implied in the ἀφθαρσία of the spiritual body. Comp. Luke 20:36.

γαμοῦσιν] applies to the bridegroom; γαμίζονται (Apoll. de Synt. p. 277, 13), on the other hand, to daughters who are given in marriage by their parents.

ἀλλʼ ὡς ἄγγελοι, κ.τ.λ.] but they are as the angels of God in heaven. ἐν οὐρανῷ belongs not to εἰσί, but to ἄγγελοι τ. θεοῦ, because the partakers in the resurrection (and the Messianic kingdom) are not understood to be in heaven (Matthew 25:31 ff.; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 2 Peter 3:13; not inconsistent with 1 Thessalonians 4:17). It is obvious from our passage—in which the likeness to the angels has reference to the nature of the future body—that the angels are to be conceived of not as mere spirits, but as possessing a supramundane corporeality. This is necessarily presupposed in the language before us. Comp. 1 Corinthians 15:40; Php 2:10; Hahn, Theol. d. N. T. I. p. 267; Weiss, Bibl. Theol. p. 68; Kahnis, Dogm. I. p. 556. The δόξα of the angels is essentially connected with their corporeality (in opposition to Delitzsch, Psychol. p. 66).

While a similar idea of the future body and the future mode of existence is met with in Rabbinical writers (see Wetstein), it is also conjoined, however, with the gross materialistic view: “Mulier illa, quae duobus nupsit in hoc mundo, priori restituitur in mundo futuro,” Sohar Gen. f. xxiv. 96.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 22:30. ἐν γὰρ τ. ἀναστάσει might be rendered, with Fritzsche, in the resurrection life or state, though in strictness the phrase should be taken as in Matthew 22:28.—ὡς ἄγγελοι, as angels, so far as marriage is concerned, not necessarily implying sexlessness as the Fathers supposed.—ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ refers to the resurrected dead (Weiss), not to angels (Meyer) = they live an angelic life in heaven; by the transforming power of God.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. in the resurrection] i. e. in that world or that phase of existence which begins with the resurrection.

The logical difficulty vanishes; for in this respect the analogy between the present world and the next does not hold good. The danger of the argument from analogy always lies in the fallacy that the things compared are alike at each point.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 22:30. Οὔτε γαμοῦσιν, neither marry) sc. men—οὔτε ἐκγαμίζονται, nor are given in marriage) sc. women; cf. Matthew 22:25.—ὡς ἄγγελοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, as the angels of God) The absurdity which the Sadducees supposed would apply to the righteous rather than the unrighteous, as no one could imagine that the unrighteous would enjoy the blessing of marriage. Our Lord therefore replies only concerning the righteous. The righteous will then be in the same condition as the angels of God,[964] without wedlock, meat and drink, etc. Elsewhere it is said that those who obtain the life to come, will be like God: but, since God has one Son and many sons, in this passage, where there is question concerning begetting, it is said that they will be as angels; and simultaneously the existence of angels also is defended against the Sadducees who ignored it.—εἰαὶ, are) sc. both men and women.

[964] The unrighteous will be in the same condition as the sinful and fallen angels.—V. g.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - For. The Lord proceeds first to show the power of God as displayed in the resurrection. The Sadducees would limit and control this power by conceiving that it could not change the qualities of the body or alter the conditions and relations of the human consciousness. In the resurrection (see on ver. 28). Marry; as men. Are given in marriage; as women. Marriage is an earthly relationship, and can have no place in a spiritual condition. All that is of the earth, all that is carnal and gross, all human passions, all that is connected with sin and corruption, shall pass away. The risen life is no mere reproduction of the present, but a regeneration, new life added to the old, with new powers, acting under new laws, ranged in a new community. On earth men are mortal, and marriage is necessary to perpetuate the race; no such necessity obtains in the other life, where men are immortal. As an old Father says, "Where the law of death is abolished, the cause of birth is abolished likewise." Are as the angels of God in heaven; i.e. as the angels who dwell in heaven. The words, τοῦ Θεοῦ, of God, are omitted by some manuscripts and editors. The Vulgate has, angeli Dei in coelo. Thus Christ, in opposition to the Saddueces' creed, admits the existence of angels. Glorified men are like the angels in these characteristics especially. They are immortal, no longer subject to human wants, passions, failings, or temptations; they serve God perfectly without weariness or distraction; they have no conflict between flesh and spirit, between the old nature and the new; their life is peaceful, harmonious, satisfying. Our Lord says nothing here concerning mutual recognition in the future state; nothing about the continuance of those tender relations which he sanctions and blesses on earth, and in the absence of which we cannot imagine perfect happiness existing. Analogy supplies some answer to such questions, but they are foreign to Christ's statement, and need not be here discussed. Matthew 22:30