What does Matthew 22:28 reveal about the Sadducees' beliefs on resurrection? Setting the scene Jesus is teaching in the temple courts during His final week (Matthew 21–23). After the Pharisees and Herodians fail to trap Him, the Sadducees step up with a question designed to expose what they consider the absurdity of resurrection life. Who were the Sadducees? • Priestly, aristocratic faction centered in Jerusalem • Accepted only the Pentateuch as authoritative Scripture • Denied resurrection, angels, and spirits (Acts 23:8) • Often opposed the Pharisees, who affirmed all these truths Matthew 22:28—what they asked and why “‘In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For all of them were married to her.’” • They invent a scenario drawn from the levirate-marriage provision in Deuteronomy 25:5–6 • Seven brothers marry the same woman in succession; all die childless • Their question pushes the story to the resurrection they reject, hoping it will look ridiculous What the question reveals about their beliefs • Resurrection treated as hypothetical—“if it existed, it would cause unsolvable earthly complications” • Assumption that life after death merely extends present social structures (marriage, inheritance) • Attempt to undermine Jesus’ teaching and the popular Pharisaic doctrine of bodily resurrection • Underlying skepticism: they expect Jesus to concede the dilemma, proving resurrection untenable Supporting scriptural evidence • Mark 12:18 and Luke 20:27 note explicitly, “The Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him”. • Acts 23:8 confirms their broader disbelief in supernatural realities. • Jesus refutes them with Exodus 3:6, grounding resurrection hope in God’s self-revelation—“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:32). Key takeaways for today • Matthew 22:28 exposes the Sadducees’ denial of resurrection by the very way they phrase their question—treating it as hypothetical and untenable. • Their reliance on only part of God’s Word led to doctrinal error; embracing the whole counsel of Scripture guards against the same mistake. • Jesus’ response affirms bodily resurrection as a literal, unshakable truth anchored in God’s covenant faithfulness. |
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