Is there marriage in heaven; explain Jesus response.

[AnticipateHisComing]

The Sadducees asked Jesus about marriage at the resurrection. Jesus responded by scolding them saying they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

I take this to mean that the teachers of scripture should have known the answer to their question. So I ask do you agree and if so where in the Old Testament would we find an answer to the marriage question?

My only possible answer in the O.T. is that it describes marriage as resulting in one flesh. If marriage was meant to be eternal, I think scripture would have said that they would be one spirit.

The other puzzle to me is that Jesus said they did not know the power of God. I think that is an attack on their disbelief in the resurrection, that God is not powerful enough to raise people from the dead. Any other thoughts?

Mat 22:23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

 

[Gregory Thompson]

well when we're born again it is said in Galatians that we are no longer male or female .. so perhaps that's literal in the supernatural reality that has not yet become the dominant world reality.

 

[pdudgeon]

the presumption of the Sadducees was two-fold.
1. they presumed that what was practiced on earth in regards to both marriage and inheritance would be the same in heaven.
Jesus said that they were wrong.

the practice that Moses gave was for the purpose of continuing the oldest son's inheritance rights.

Whenever the father died, the oldest son would come into the greatest portion of all the living children.
but if the oldest son had no children and then died, his widow was supposed to marry the next oldest son
so that the first born of their children would then inherit the greatest portion of his grandfather's estate,
in the place of the eldest son who had died.
That is what 'raising up a son for the dead brother' was for.

At the same time, the inheritance of any other children born of such a marriage would be changed accordingly, as their remaining
uncles would inherit the remains of the grandfather's estate before they would.

2. the reason that marriage would not be the case in heaven is two-fold.
First because there is no giving of marriage in heaven for the procreation of children.
In that way we would be like the angels, that our attention and devotion would be for God alone.
this also mirrors the practice of the Catholic Church for it's religious, who are to remain unmarried and chaste on earth.

Secondly that we are all children of God with one allegiance to Him, and our family relationship in heaven is as brothers and
sisters of Jesus.

So while we will recognize our loved ones in heaven, the relationships and constraints of Earth will not be in play as they are here.
In other words it was not a question of 'whose wife will she be?"
In heaven the practical relationship would be as equals--brother and sister;
not husband and wife, father and mother, first born, last born,etc.

And last....As Christ is the only begotten son of the Father, the inheritance is His.

 

[BobRyan]

The Sadducees asked Jesus about marriage at the resurrection. Jesus responded by scolding them saying they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

I take this to mean that the teachers of scripture should have known the answer to their question. So I ask do you agree and if so where in the Old Testament would we find an answer to the marriage question?

My only possible answer in the O.T. is that it describes marriage as resulting in one flesh. If marriage was meant to be eternal, I think scripture would have said that they would be one spirit.

The other puzzle to me is that Jesus said they did not know the power of God. I think that is an attack on their disbelief in the resurrection, that God is not powerful enough to raise people from the dead. Any other thoughts?

Marriage does not exist in heaven for the saints according to that Matt 22 text - but rather we will be "like the Angels" in that regard - not having any family relationships in heaven. Angels do not marry - they form no family bonds, no children... they are not created with that purpose and have not function in that regard.

 

[AnticipateHisComing]

My question in the OP was to explain why Jesus scolded the Sadducees for not knowing scriptures or the power of God, not explain what it means that there is no marriage in heaven.

 

[pdudgeon]

considering that God had been silent for many years because His people were not listening, it is not surprising that the Sadducees did not know their scriptures,
did not recognize the resurrection of the dead, and thus had no conception of either an afterlife or of God's power.

Everything that the Sadducees needed to know was in the OT.
Had they known their scriptures they would have been able to recognize Jesus from the signs that were there
and from the prophesies that were fulfilled.

But because the Jewish people had been deaf to God for hundreds of years prior to Jesus' coming,
most of them weren't expecting God to show up in the person of Jesus.

They had stopped listening, had stopped looking, and had stopped expecting.

So as a result what they saw was a mortal man who claimed to be God. And for them that was blasphemy.

The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but the Sadducees did not.

 

[pehkay]

My question in the OP was to explain why Jesus scolded the Sadducees for not knowing scriptures or the power of God, not explain what it means that there is no marriage in heaven.

The Sadducees were another sect among Judaism. They did not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels, nor in spirits. While the Pharisees were supposed to be orthodox, the Sadducees were ancient modernists.

In order to help the Sadducees know the depth of truth implied in the words of the Scriptures, the Lord said,

“But concerning the dead, that they are raised, did you not read in the book of Moses, at the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are greatly deceived” (vv. 26-27).​

Since God is the God of the living and is called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, therefore these three who had died, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, will be resurrected. This is the way the Lord Jesus expounded the Scriptures—not only by the letter, but by the life and power implied within them.

In His word to the Sadducees in verse 26, the Lord Jesus was actually referring to Himself, for He, as the Angel of Jehovah, was the One who spoke to Moses in Exodus 3. Here the Lord seems to be saying, “I was the One speaking to Moses. I, your God, was the Angel who spoke to him from within the bush. Furthermore, Jehovah is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If they will not be resurrected, how could God be called their God? He would never be known as the God of the dead—He is the God of the living. Therefore, this title indicates resurrection.”

This is the genuine, honest, living, trustworthy exposition of the Bible. By giving the Sadducees such an answer, the Lord muzzled them.

 

[BobRyan]

My question in the OP was to explain why Jesus scolded the Sadducees for not knowing scriptures or the power of God, not explain what it means that there is no marriage in heaven.

Some of the teachings of Jesus are not allowed in GT - that particular debate in Matt 22 where Jesus proves the resurrection to the Sadducees - is an example of one of the teachings of Jesus not allowed on the GT forum.

You are welcome to affirm the truth of the future resurrection - but you may not used Christ's argument in that debate in Matt 22 unless you go to some non-Christian area of the board.

(At least that is how it has played out so far on this board)