Matthew 22:29

Mat 22:29-30. Jesus answered, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures — Which plainly assert a future state; nor the power of God — Who created spirit as well as matter, and can preserve it in existence when the body is dissolved, and can also raise the body from the dust and render it immortal; and who can make the whole man completely happy in the knowledge, love, and enjoyment of himself, without any of the pleasures or objects of this visible and temporal world. For in the resurrection they neither marry, &c. — Our Lord proceeds to observe further, that they entirely mistook the nature of the life to be enjoyed in a future state: that those who attained it being as the angels of God, incorruptible and immortal, marriage and the procreation of an offspring were no longer necessary to continue the species, or maintain the population of the spiritual world.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22:29 The power of God most likely refers to God’s ability to raise the dead.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat_22:29. Jesus answers that, in founding upon Deu_25:5 the denial of the resurrection, which their question implies, they are mistaken, and that in a twofold respect: (1) they do not understand the Scriptures, i.e. they fail to see how that doctrine actually underlies many a scriptural utterance; and (2) they do not sufficiently realize the extent of the power of God, inasmuch as their conceptions of the resurrection are purely material, and because they cannot grasp the thought of a higher corporeality to be evolved from the material body by the divine power. And then comes an illustration of the latter point in Mat_22:30, and of the former in Mat_22:31.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 22:29-33 . Christ’s answer . One at first wonders that He deigned to answer such triflers; but He was willing meekly to instruct even the perverse, and He never forgot that there might be receptive earnest people within hearing. The Sadducees drew from Him one of His great words.

Mat 22:29 . πλανᾶσθε , ye err, passionless unprovocative statement, as if speaking indulgently to ignorant men. μὴ εἰδότες , etc.: doubly ignorant; of the Scriptures and of God’s power, the latter form of ignorance being dealt with first.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 29. Ye do err] Or, Ye are deceived - by your impure passions: not knowing the scriptures, which assert the resurrection: - nor the miraculous power of God (την δυναμιν του Θεου) by which it is to be effected. In Avoda Sara, fol. 18, Sanhedrin, fol. 90, it is said: "These are they which shall have no part in the world to come: Those who say, the Lord did not come from heaven; and those who say, the resurrection cannot be proved out of the law."

Their deception appeared in their supposing, that if there were a resurrection, men and women were to marry and be given in marriage as in this life; which our Lord shows is not the case: for men and women there shall be like the angels of God, immortal, and free from all human passions, and from those propensities which were to continue with them only during this present state of existence. There shall be no death; and consequently no need of marriage to maintain the population of the spiritual world.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(29) Ye do err.—This is, it may be noted, the one occasion in the Gospel history in which our Lord comes into direct collision with the Sadducees. On the whole, while distinctly condemning and refuting their characteristic error, the tone in which He speaks is less stern than that in which He addresses the Pharisees. They were less characterised by hypocrisy, and that, as the pessima corruptio optimi, was that which called down His sternest reproof. The causes of their error were, He told them, two-fold: (1) an imperfect knowledge even of the Scriptures which they recognised; (2) imperfect conceptions of the divine attributes, and therefore an à priori limitation of the divine power. They could not conceive of any human fellowship in the life of the resurrection except such as reproduced the relations and conditions of this earthly life.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29. not knowing] i. e. “because ye do not know” (1) the Scriptures, which affirm the doctrine; nor (2) the power of God, which is able to effect the resurrection, and after the resurrection to create a new order of things in the new world.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,.... The Sadducees expressly denied, that the resurrection could be proved out of the law,

"Says R. Eliezer, with R. Jose (g), I have found the books of the Sadducees to be corrupt; for they say that the resurrection of the dead is not to be proved out of the law: I said unto them, you have corrupted your law, and ye have not caused anything to come up into your hands, for ye say the resurrection of the dead is not to be proved out of the law; lo! he saith, Num 15:31 "That soul shall be utterly cut off, his iniquity shall be upon him; he shall be utterly cut off" in this world; "his iniquity shall be upon him", is not this said with respect to the world to come?.

Hence, in opposition to this notion of the Sadducees, the other Jews say (h), that "Though a man confesses and believes that the dead will be raised, yet that it is not intimated in the law, he is an heretic; since it is a fundamental point, that the resurrection of the dead is of the law.

Hence they set themselves, with all their might and main, to prove this doctrine from thence, of which take the following instances (i),

"Says R. Simai, from whence is the resurrection of the dead to be proved out of the law? From Exo 6:4 as it is said, "I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan: to you" it is not said, but "to them"; from hence then, the resurrection of the dead may be proved out of the law.

The gloss upon it is,

"the sense is, that the holy blessed God, promised to our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give to them the land of Israel; and because he gave it to them, has he not given it to their children? But we learn from hence, that they shall be raised, and that God will hereafter give them the land of Israel.

And which the learned Mr. Mede takes to be the sense of the words of this text, cited by our Lord;, and this the force of his reasoning, by which he proves the resurrection of the dead. Again,

"the Sadducees asked Rabban Gamaliel, from whence does it appear that the holy blessed God will quicken the dead? He said unto them, out of the law, and out of the prophets, and out of the Hagiographa; but they did not receive of him (or regard him): out of the law, as it is written, "Thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and rise up", Deu 31:16 And there are that say from this Scripture, Deu 4:4. "But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God, are alive every one of you this day": as this day all of you stand, so in the world to come, all of you shall stand.

Thus our Lord having to do with the same sort of persons, fetches his proof of the doctrine of the resurrection out of the law, and from a passage which respects the covenant relation God stands in to his people, particularly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and which respects not their souls only, but their bodies also, even their whole persons, body and soul; for God is the God of the whole: and therefore as their souls now live with God, their bodies also will be raised from the dead, that they, with their souls, may enjoy everlasting glory and happiness; which is the grand promise, and great blessing of the covenant of grace,

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; as all the saints are; for though their bodies are dead, their souls are alive, and their bodies will be raised in consequence of their covenant interest in God, to enjoy an immortal life with him: so the Jews are wont to say, that the righteous, even in their death, are called living (k):

"from whence is it proved, (say they,) that the righteous, even in their death, , "are called living?"

from Deu 34:4 as it is written, "and he said unto him, this is the land which I have sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying." Menasseh ben Israel, a learned Jew, of the last century, has produced (l) this same passage of Scripture, Christ here does in proof of the immortality of the soul, and argues from it in much the same manner: having mentioned the words, he adds,

"for God is not the God of the dead, for the dead are not; but of the living, for the living exist; therefore also the patriarchs, in respect of the soul, may rightly be inferred from hence to live.

(g) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 90. 2. (h) Gloss. in ib. col. 1. (i) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 90. 2. (k) T. Hieros. Betacot, fol. 4. 4, Midrash Kohelet, fol. 78. 2. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 158. 3. (l) De Resurrect. Mort, l. i. c. 10. sect. 6.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

Ver. 29. Ye do err, not knowing] Ignorance is a breeder. All sins are seminally in ignorance. St Paul thanks it for all his persecutions, 1Ti 1:13. Aristotle makes it the mother of all the misrule in the world. (Ethic. 3.) All heresies, saith Chemnitius, are known to have proceeded, Vel ex supercilio Samosateni fastu, vel ex Arrii dialectica, vel ex Aetii ολιγομαθεια, from pride, sophistry, or ignorance.

Nor the power of God] Who can as easily raise the dead as he did at first create them. This the Athenians, with all their learning, understood not; and therefore counted all that St Paul could say to it, bibble babble (σλερμολογος), because he preached Jesus, and Anastasis , or the resurrection, which they took to be some strange goddess, Act 17:18-19. They saw not how there could possibly be a regress from a privation to a habit. Neither can any of us see it, unless God by his Spirit of revelation give us to know what is the exceeding greatness of his power, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in raising Christ, and us by him, Eph 1:19-20, where it is easy to observe a six-fold gradation in the original, and all to set forth the power of God, in Christ’s and our resurrection.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

You err. The Sadducees erred in supposing that there would be no resurrection, or if there was, that the future state would be like the present. Unable to conceive any thing else, they thought themselves justified in concluding that the soul would not survive the body. Had they known the Scriptures, they would not have fallen into this error; since therein are found abundant testimonies of a resurrection, as Job xiv and xix, Isaias xxvi, Ezechiel xxxvii, Daniel xii. The power of God also, had they paid sufficient attention to that consideration, would have taught them the same truth. It cannot be difficult for that power, which created and formed all things from nothing, to raise the body again after it has been reduced to ashes: nor impossible to prepare in a future state, rewards and enjoyments superior to and widely different from any thing that is seen in our present stage of existence. (Jansenius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Mark hath the same, Mar 12:24,25, only he propounds it as a question, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know, not the Scriptures? Luke saith, Luk 20:34,35, And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. The discourse of the Sadducees was bottomed upon this mistake, that there should not only be a resurrection of bodies, but of relations too; and the state of the world to come should be like the state of this world, in, which, for the propagation and continuance of mankind, men and women marry, and are given in marriage. Now, saith our Saviour, your error is bottomed in your ignorance, because ye know not the Scriptures, ( which indeed is the foundation of all men’s errors in matter of faith),

nor the power of God. If you knew the power of God, you would know that God is able to raise the dead. To confirm our faith in the resurrection, the Scripture every where sendeth us to the consideration of the Divine power, Rom 8:11; Phi 3:21. If you knew the Scriptures, you would know that God will raise the dead, and the state of men in the resurrection shall not be as in this life, where men and women die daily; and in case they did not marry and give in marriage, the generation of men would quickly be extinct. But (saith Luke) they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead. It is manifest by the first words, that the latter words are not to be understood of the general resurrection, (to which all shall come, worthy or unworthy), but of the resurrection unto life; that resurrection which is not the mere effect of Divine providence, necessary in order to the last judgment, but that resurrection to life which is the effect of Christ’s purchase. And this is observable, that the resurrection from the dead will be of so little advantage, nay, of such miserable disadvantage, to wicked men, that the Scripture sometimes speaketh of the resurrection as if it were peculiar to saints, 1Co 15:22; Phi 3:11; so in this text. Hence Luke calls them afterward, the children of the resurrection; not that others shall not rise, but the children of God alone shall be the favourites of the resurrection, those who shall rise as children to an eternal inheritance. Concerning the state of persons in the resurrection our Saviour thus describes it: that men and women there shall be

as the angels, not in all things, but in the things mentioned, which are two, one of them mentioned by Matthew, both by Luke:

1. They shall not die any more.

2. They shall not marry, nor be given in marriage.

The first showeth the needlessness of the latter, for one great reason of marriage was to supply the gaps which death maketh in the world; but men shall not die any more, therefore there will be no need of conjugal relations amongst men, more than among angels. The children of this world (saith Luke) marry, and are given in marriage. Marriage was only an institution for this world, and is to continue no longer than this world stands; for the state of men in another world will be such as needs it not, being a state of immortality, so not needing it for propagation; and a state for perfection, and so not needing it for mutual help in the affairs of man’s life, nor a remedy against extravagant lust.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

29. Ye do err — To err means to wander. They do not merely make a mistake, but they wander in ignorance of the Scriptures. Not knowing the Scriptures — What they have to say, namely, with regard to man’s relations in eternity. Nor the power of God — By which he is able to carry our resurrection through, despite all the difficulties raised by theology or science. Even at the present day the main objections against the resurrection are at issue with its possibility, through not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye do err. Jesus does not condescend to answer directly to the contemptuous question proposed. He goes to the root of the matter, and shows the great error in which it originated. These disputants are treated with patience and calm argument, because they are not hypocrites like the Pharisees, but have the courage of their opinions, and do not seek to appear other than they are. They erred, said Christ, for two reasons: first, not knowing the Scriptures. Whatever might be the lax opinions which they held respecting the prophets, there was no dispute about the supreme authority of the Pentateuch, and these Scriptures (as Christ proceeded to prove) plainly implied the doctrine of the resurrection. Secondly, they ignored the power of God, to whom nothing is impossible, and who, in the resurrection, would perform a work very different from what they supposed changing the natural into the spiritual, and transforming the characteristics of the life that now is into a different and higher sphere, yet preserving identity.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye err, not knowing the Scriptures - Which plainly assert a resurrection. Nor the power of God - Which is well able to effect it. How many errors flow from the same source?

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

ye do err

Or, ye deceive yourselves, etc. Jesus’ answer gives the three incapacities of the rationalist: self-deception, Rom 1:21; Rom 1:22 ignorance of the spiritual content of Scripture, Act 13:27, disbelief in the intervention of divine power, 2Pe 3:5-9.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ’s answer:

v. 29. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

v. 30. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

In an entirely dispassionate way, but with crushing emphasis, Jesus gives them His answer: Ye are altogether wrong, and that because ye know neither the plain facts of Scripture nor the power of God. According to the first, they should have known that the fact of the resurrection is stated in the Old Testament. According to the second, they should have known that God is able to raise from the dead. Note: Their question itself is a secondary consideration with Christ; the motive for the question concerns Him far more. And so far as their story goes, the difficulty which, they sneeringly imply, exists in case there is a resurrection, is by no means so great. In heaven, Christ tells them, the resurrected believers will be sexless, like the angels, since there is no longer any need for marriage, both the procreation of children and the sexual desires of the body being things of the past.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29. Ye do err. “Not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.”

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

You are mistaken

It is implied that Jesus means that they are mistaken about what they think about the resurrection. AT: "You are mistaken about the resurrection" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the power of God

"what God is able to do"

in the resurrection

"when dead people rise back to life"

they neither marry

"people will not marry"

nor are given in marriage

This can be stated in active form. AT: "nor will people give their children in marriage" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

Jesus

word of God

power

God

resurrection

angel

heaven

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

29. μὴ εἰδότες, i.e. ‘because ye do not know’ (μὴ states the ground or reason of the mistake) (1) the Scriptures, which affirm the doctrine; nor (2) the power of God, which is able to effect the resurrection, and after the resurrection to create a new order of things in the new world.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29. And Jesus answered and said to them, Ye err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.] Mk. has: “Jesus said to them, Do ye not therefore err,” etc. Christ’s answer is twofold. In denying the possibility of a resurrection, and in supposing that imaginary complications arising out of earthly relationships could be used as an argument against it, they betrayed (a) insufficient knowledge of the law, which, if it did not explicitly teach the doctrine of the resurrection, yet did implicitly teach its possibility; (b) want of faith in the power of God to solve all such difficulties as they alleged. Broadly speaking, a belief in a resurrection was a fundamental doctrine of Jewish literature from the second century b.c. See Charles, Eschatology; Volz, Jüd. Eschat. 240 ff.; Schürer, II. ii. 179 ff. But very varied views were held as to its scope. The Sadducees denied it; see Jos. Wars, ii. 165; B. Sanh 90:b. So did the Samaritans, who were accused by the Jews of having falsified the Pentateuch in order to obliterate passages which taught it; Sanh 90:b. Appeal was made on behalf of it to Scripture, e.g. in B. Sanh 90:b. R. Jochanan appeals to Num 18:28, from which it is deduced that Aaron is eternally living: “Here is also the resurrection of the dead signified.” R. Simai appealed to Exo 6:4 “The Sadducees asked R. Gamaliel, Whence is it proved that the Holy One, blessed be He, will raise the dead? He answered, From the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa.” There follow citations of Deu 31:16, Isa 26:19, and Son 7:10. “He has no part in the world to come,” says the Mishnah (Sanh 10:1), “who denies that the resurrection can be proved from the Pentateuch.”

(M)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.