Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,
The verse introduces the Sadducees as a party who deny that there is any resurrection of the dead. Their denial reaches beyond the resurrection itself to the future life altogether, including its rewards and its punishments. The resurrection is a central point of dispute between them and the Pharisees. Their disputes over the resurrection confuse thinking about the state of the dead, making death seem dark and mysterious.
They come to question Jesus after the Pharisees have been silenced. They come to challenge Him, to discredit Him, and to trap Him artfully with questions. In this they act together with the Pharisees and the Herodians. They argue against bodily resurrection by assuming the dead would return with the same material particles and earthly desires, with marriage and ordinary life continuing as before, and they use that literal picture to make the belief appear absurd. They argue that if the future immortal person must be made of the same matter as the mortal body, resurrected life would simply continue earthly fleshly life with its frailties and passions.
His plain, intelligent answers in response bring light to the people gathered and sow seeds of truth. The encounter belongs to His teaching on the consequences of rejecting the Son of God, and the warnings He gives foreshadow the doom of all who reject Christ, a judgment that applies to sinners in every age unless they repent.
The verse introduces the Sadducees as a party who deny that there is any resurrection of the dead. Their denial reaches beyond the resurrection itself to the future life altogether, including its rewards and its punishments. The resurrection is a central point of dispute between them and the Pharisees. Their disputes over the resurrection confuse thinking about the state of the dead, making death seem dark and mysterious.
They come to question Jesus after the Pharisees have been silenced. They come to challenge Him, to discredit Him, and to trap Him artfully with questions. In this they act together with the Pharisees and the Herodians. They argue against bodily resurrection by assuming the dead would return with the same material particles and earthly desires, with marriage and ordinary life continuing as before, and they use that literal picture to make the belief appear absurd. They argue that if the future immortal person must be made of the same matter as the mortal body, resurrected life would simply continue earthly fleshly life with its frailties and passions.
His plain, intelligent answers in response bring light to the people gathered and sow seeds of truth. The encounter belongs to His teaching on the consequences of rejecting the Son of God, and the warnings He gives foreshadow the doom of all who reject Christ, a judgment that applies to sinners in every age unless they repent.