18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
There is no marriage in the Resurrection. God created them Male and Female, so the two could become one flesh joined together. In the new creation the Sadducees believes the two will remain one flesh. They assume that as brothers die off, multiples become one flesh. Christ tells us on the Last Day, people will be given new bodies and made like angels in heaven.
So what does it mean: "For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven." Two things to make clear, the angels are in heaven not the raised dead bodies. Second it says like angels not become angels. This also does not mean that the raised dead will have wings. I will not even go so far as to say it means that we will no longer have gender issues (or genitals), but I can not prove that.
The simple point is that marriage will not take place. All those who are born of the one Spirit and raised through the one Christ are brothers and sisters. The father, mother, wife, child, cousin, husband, concubine, etc are all family. We are all children of Abraham. Even as Jesus says, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." This means he is the God of the Living and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living brothers.
Remember that Christ died for the forgiveness of our misconceptions. Christ died for our transgressions and sins. He died for our errors. He died to save us from our misconceptions. He died so that we may not look at those who die in Christ as dead, but alive in the one who has risen from the dead. He lives. He is the Living God, and God is of the living. This is the important thing not marriage after death.
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