What is the meaning of Matthew 22:28? In the resurrection, • Jesus speaks of a real, future event when the dead are raised (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29). • This hope anchors the believer’s confidence (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). • By beginning here, the Lord corrects the Sadducees, who denied any resurrection at all (Matthew 22:23). then, • “Then” points to a definite moment after death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). • Earthly categories give way to God’s ordered, eternal reality; timing belongs to Him (Acts 17:31). whose wife will she be • The question assumes marriage must continue unchanged beyond the grave, yet Jesus will soon say, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage” (Matthew 22:30; cf. Mark 12:25; Luke 20:35-36). • Marriage is a temporary, earthly covenant reflecting Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32). Its purpose is fulfilled when believers are united with Him forever (Revelation 19:7). of the seven? • The scenario rests on the levirate marriage law (Deuteronomy 25:5-6), where a brother raised offspring for a deceased sibling. • The Sadducees pile on improbability to ridicule belief in resurrection (Luke 20:33), yet their logic collapses under Jesus’ authority. For all of them were married to her. • They acknowledge each marriage ended with each husband’s death (Romans 7:2). • Their statement unwittingly underscores the limitation of earthly institutions; death dissolves the bond (Job 7:9-10). • Jesus will reveal that resurrection life is governed not by temporary unions but by everlasting fellowship with the living God (Matthew 22:31-32). summary Matthew 22:28 is part of a challenge designed to trap Jesus, but it becomes a doorway for Him to affirm the certainty of bodily resurrection and to clarify that earthly marriage does not extend into the age to come. Human relationships, precious now, will be transcended by perfect, eternal communion with God and with one another in Christ. |
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