In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
In this verse the Sadducees bring to a close their trap question to Christ about the woman who had been wife to seven brothers, asking whose wife she will be when they rise in the resurrection. Those who ask say there is no resurrection and deny future rewards and punishments, their doctrines differing widely from those of the Pharisees. They are skeptical and atheistical in belief, magnifying sophistries and speculative ideas of their own production.
The question rests on a false foundation from ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God and of the true teachings of the Word of God. It assumes that those raised will have the same bodies and earthly propensities, will resume their former relationships, and will continue marriage as before. Its purpose is to perplex Christ and entangle Him in His words and to confuse other minds. By heaping ridicule upon the law of Moses about a brother taking his dead brother's wife to raise up seed, it seeks to bring all the Mosaic institutions into contempt and to make bodily resurrection appear absurd. Though meant to entangle Christ, such questions from the Sadducees were answered by Him plainly and intelligently, bringing precious light to the people.
In this verse the Sadducees bring to a close their trap question to Christ about the woman who had been wife to seven brothers, asking whose wife she will be when they rise in the resurrection. Those who ask say there is no resurrection and deny future rewards and punishments, their doctrines differing widely from those of the Pharisees. They are skeptical and atheistical in belief, magnifying sophistries and speculative ideas of their own production.
The question rests on a false foundation from ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God and of the true teachings of the Word of God. It assumes that those raised will have the same bodies and earthly propensities, will resume their former relationships, and will continue marriage as before. Its purpose is to perplex Christ and entangle Him in His words and to confuse other minds. By heaping ridicule upon the law of Moses about a brother taking his dead brother's wife to raise up seed, it seeks to bring all the Mosaic institutions into contempt and to make bodily resurrection appear absurd. Though meant to entangle Christ, such questions from the Sadducees were answered by Him plainly and intelligently, bringing precious light to the people.