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God's on the outside looking in," says Copeland. "He doesn't have any legal entree into the earth. The thing don't belong to Him.
-- Kenneth Copeland, The Image of God in You III
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News: Marriage and Resurrection
Posted on Thursday, November 17 @ 08:31:56 PST by John |
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by Max King
In Matthew 22:30, Jesus spoke one of his most puzzling declarations. “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. The question naturally arises: If the resurrection occurred in 70 A.D., then why does marriage continue today? The question is based on Christ’s reply to the query posed to him by the Sadducees in connection to the levirate marriage custom sanctioned by the Law of Moses (Matt. 22:23-33, Luke 20:27-40, and Deut. 25:5-10). This marital practice applied when an Israelite man died without fathering a child. His next of kin was instructed to marry his widow. The firstborn son of that union was considered to be the son of the deceased brother. The net result would be that the deceased’s name would continue living on in the family register, and thus in Israel.
With this custom in view, the Sadducees likely drew from the Book of Tobit as they formulated their hypothetical scenario concerning seven brothers. The first married a woman, but he died childless. The next brother fulfilled the levirate requirement in marrying the widow. Yet he died childless too. This happened seven times with no child resulting from any of the unions. Finally the woman died. The Sadducees quizzed Jesus, “In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.” The Sadducees felt that a problem of this magnitude supported their denial of resurrection. Yet, their case was constructed on fallacious concepts concerning both the resurrection and the coming age.
In his reply, Christ began by countering their assumptions. He told them, “You are wrong [literally, deceived], because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). For Jesus, the Sadducees’ question demonstrated their ignorance of the manner in which God would fulfill Israel’s promised resurrection in the “age to come” wherein the “sons of God” would be “sons of the resurrection.” The generally accepted concept concerning the coming age was that it would be a continuation of the earthly, physical features and “fleshly ordinances” (Hebrews 9:10) that characterized the Old Covenant age.
In the Old Testament, one’s connection to the biological seed of Abraham determined one’s status in the covenant. The lineage continued through an unbroken chain of genealogy. Consequently, “marrying and giving in marriage” within the “seed line” of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was of paramount importance because it was considered to determine a person’s inheritance in the land and all of the related blessings—“the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises” (Romans 9:4). Hence, Israelite marriage had a distinctive meaning and purpose directly related to God’s purposes that set it apart from marriage among the Gentile nations.
Nevertheless according to the prophets, one’s physical lineage would not be the primary basis for the continuity of Israel’s seed and name in the coming age of Israel’s promised New Heaven and Earth[i] (see Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22). Consequently, the Sadducees knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God concerning the nature of the Abrahamic seed promise and the manner of its fulfillment in the Messiah.
In his letters, Paul discusses the manner (and therefore the age) in which Abraham’s “seed of faith” is fulfilled in Christ. Romans 4 and Galatians 3 helps us see the significance of Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees.
Click here to read the entire article
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Re: Marriage and Resurrection (Score: 1)
 by Erick on Thursday, November 17 @ 16:47:50 PST
(User Info | Send a Message) | Wow! Praise the Lord! I was just on Presence site the other day looking to find an article on this passage for some seminary on-line debate forum (I was referring a guy to different resources) but I kept getting a script error message and was completely frustrated. But the Lord just dropped it in my lap today through John :^) ...so I posted the link. Thanks PP.
- Erick
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- by Virgil on Thursday, November 17 @ 20:16:30 PST
Re: Marriage and Resurrection (Score: 1)
by MichaelB on Friday, November 18 @ 11:38:55 PST
(User Info | Send a Message) | I always used this when explaining those passages. I got most of it from preteristcosmos. I think it is really good also Erick - if you are looking for more.
First of all Matthew 22 is speaking about people who have died PHYSICALLY.
The bible does not teach that the institution of marriage was to end at the Parousia (such is a common misunderstanding of Luke 20:27-38). When we closely examine this passage and its parallels in the gospels (Matt 22:23-33 and Mk 12:18-27), we find that Christ and the Sadducees were disputing over whether or not there is any resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees, an influential sect of first-century Judaism, did not believe in any afterlife/resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:8). They approached Jesus to propose a dilemma concerning marriage in the Law of Moses that they believed disproved the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead (Lk 20:27; Matt 22:23; Mk 12:18).
Using Deuteronomy 25:5-10 as a background for their dispute, the Sadducees came to Jesus and argued a complex case of marriage that they believed disproved the doctrine of the resurrection. Specifically, the Sadducees showed that if a wife had married seven brothers in her lifetime (in keeping with the mandatory Levirate oath of Deuteronomy 25:5-10), then, when they had all died and were later raised from the dead, no one could know who was married to whom. ("Last of all the woman died. Therefore, in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? For seven had her as wife.") In proposing this slightly exaggerated--but otherwise possible--scenario of their day, the Sadducees demonstrated that there was no ruling legal authority to sort out the matter; that is, Moses did not make any legislation to sort out marriage for the saints when they should be resurrected from the dead. Based on the realization that Moses did not make provision for the marriages of them that should be raised from the dead (i.e, who should be married to whom), the Sadducees conclude that they have absolute proof that there is no resurrection of the dead. Their logic is simple and straightforward: if Moses did not provide any way to sort out marriage for these dead ones when they should be raised, then there must not be any resurrection of the dead at all.
Our Lord, knowing that Moses indeed did not legislate what happens to the marriages of these eight people when they should rise again, exposes the false conclusions reached by the Sadducees. Far from proving that there is no resurrection of the dead, Moses' failure to legislate concerning this scenario proved instead that there is no marriage whatsoever for the dead, even once they are raised. That is, the law of human marriage does not apply whatsoever beyond physical death (see Rom 7:1-3 and 1 Cor 7:39 where Paul states the same). Therefore, the Sadducees' entire legal case against resurrection of the dead was an error based on faulty presuppositions.
To summarize: while the Sadducees taught that there is no resurrection, Jesus held the opposte view. In response to the legal dilemma posed by the Sadducees, Jesus demonstrated that the departed saints indeed live again, yet they are forever freed from the law of marriage. The law of human marriage is fully abrogated via physical death (cf. Rom 7:1-3; 1 Cor 7:39). The fact that Moses did not have a regulation concerning marriage for these eight people beyond their deaths proved that the law of marriage does not apply beyond life on earth (Rom 7:1-3; 1 Cor 7:39), not that there is no resurrection of the dead.
Secondly (let's just assume that he is speaking of ALIVE people). What laws regarding marriage were in place at the time that JESUS said that.
THE LEVIRATE MARRIAGE LAW (giving of ones wife to a relative when you die physically) which was a Mosaic law. Therefore - either we are in the AGE TO COME (Resurrection age) or those laws should apply still. |
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- by Erick on Friday, November 18 @ 12:51:27 PST
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