And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.
Mark 12:21 belongs to a hypothetical case in which seven brothers in turn marry the same widow and each dies leaving no children, with the second and the third doing the same as the first. The case is taken from the law of Moses requiring a brother to marry his dead brother's widow in order to raise up children for him. Those who pose the case deny the resurrection and reject any future rewards and punishments.
They assume that resurrection would restore the same bodily particles and earthly desires, so that marriage and other earthly relationships would resume, and they use that idea to make bodily resurrection appear absurd. They bring the case to entangle Christ in His words, confuse other minds, and by heaping ridicule on that part of the law bring all the institutions given through Moses into contempt. Their question is built on a false foundation and shows ignorance of the true teachings of Scripture and of the power of God.
Jesus answers their challenge plainly and wisely, bringing light to the listening crowd and sowing seeds of truth. The passage stands among Christ's illustrations and warnings against rejecting the Son of God; those warnings speak to people in every age, and the doom they foreshadow will be the fate of sinners who refuse Christ unless they repent.
Mark 12:21 belongs to a hypothetical case in which seven brothers in turn marry the same widow and each dies leaving no children, with the second and the third doing the same as the first. The case is taken from the law of Moses requiring a brother to marry his dead brother's widow in order to raise up children for him. Those who pose the case deny the resurrection and reject any future rewards and punishments.
They assume that resurrection would restore the same bodily particles and earthly desires, so that marriage and other earthly relationships would resume, and they use that idea to make bodily resurrection appear absurd. They bring the case to entangle Christ in His words, confuse other minds, and by heaping ridicule on that part of the law bring all the institutions given through Moses into contempt. Their question is built on a false foundation and shows ignorance of the true teachings of Scripture and of the power of God.
Jesus answers their challenge plainly and wisely, bringing light to the listening crowd and sowing seeds of truth. The passage stands among Christ's illustrations and warnings against rejecting the Son of God; those warnings speak to people in every age, and the doom they foreshadow will be the fate of sinners who refuse Christ unless they repent.