QUESTIONS and ANSWERS – Viewpoint

Question: In Matthew 22:29, what did Jesus mean when He answered the Sadducees, “You err, not knowing the scriptures, or the power of God?” (The context here, is the Sadducees questioning Jesus in regard to marriage in the Resurrection. See verses 23-32.)

Answer: Our Lord’s answer to the first part of this verse may have referred in part to Gen. 3:16, but especially after the flood when God said to Noah in Gen. 9:1, ”Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.” The purpose of procreation was to bear offspring and fill the earth with people. Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that this was the method used by which heavenly beings came into existence.

After the time to fill the earth has passed, according to God’s purpose, His plan will be for a new earth that will be populated by those who died and will then be resurrected. The Apostle Paul speaks at length in 1 Cor. 15 about the resurrection and a kingdom under the kingship of the Lord Christ Jesus. When all the billions who have died, are raised from the dead, there will be no more need to replenish or fill the earth. During this kingdom, mankind will “learn righteousness” and the wonderful promise of Rev. 21:4-5 will be a reality: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’”

The Sadducees should also have known Job’s words, found in Job 19:25-27: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

The Sadducees were a Jewish sect who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. This being so, the question “in the resurrection, whose wife will she be?” was solely for trying to trick Jesus. However, the Lord knew their deceptive hearts, and turned the tables on them, showing them up for what they were – hypocrites. Not only did they not believe in the resurrection, apparently they did not believe that God had the power to resurrect the dead.

Jesus answer not only stopped them cold in their tracks, but even they were astonished at His wisdom.

E. Weeks