Mark 12:23 kjv
In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
Mark 12:23 nkjv
Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife."
Mark 12:23 niv
At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"
Mark 12:23 esv
In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife."
Mark 12:23 nlt
So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her."
Mark 12 23 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Mk 12:18 | Then Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him... | Sadducees denied resurrection |
| Mk 12:24 | Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?" | Sadducees misunderstood Scripture and God's power |
| Mk 12:25 | "For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven." | Nature of resurrected state, no marriage |
| Mk 12:26 | “But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham...’" | Proof of resurrection from Mosaic law |
| Mk 12:27 | "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.” | God is God of the living, confirming resurrection |
| Matt 22:23 | The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him... | Parallel account, Sadducee denial |
| Matt 22:29-30 | Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage..." | Parallel teaching, focus on knowing God and Scripture |
| Luke 20:27-28 | Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies..." | Parallel account, identical scenario |
| Luke 20:34-36 | Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection." | Emphasis on transformation and eternal state |
| Deut 25:5-10 | "If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her..." | Levirate law, basis for Sadducees' scenario |
| Acts 23:8 | For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. | Clear statement of Sadducee belief |
| Isa 26:19 | Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead. | OT prophecy of bodily resurrection |
| Dan 12:2 | And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. | OT prophecy of resurrection to two destinies |
| John 5:28-29 | Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. | Jesus teaches universal resurrection |
| 1 Cor 15:35 | But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?" | Acknowledging questions about resurrected body |
| 1 Cor 15:42-44 | So also is the resurrection of the dead: The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption...it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. | Nature of the resurrected spiritual body |
| 1 Cor 15:50 | Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. | Necessity of transformation for eternal state |
| Heb 11:35 | Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. | Faith in resurrection in OT saints |
| Rev 20:12-13 | And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened...And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. | General resurrection and judgment |
| Phil 3:20-21 | For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body... | Transformation to glorious, heavenly body |
| Rom 8:11 | But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. | Spirit's role in resurrection life |
| 1 Thes 4:16-17 | For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them... | Resurrection of believers at Christ's return |
| Lk 20:38 | "For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.” | Affirmation that God sustains life even in death |
Mark 12 verses
Mark 12 23 Meaning
Mark 12:23 presents the Sadducees' hypothetical scenario concerning a woman married to seven brothers in accordance with Levirate law, dying successively without progeny, and then dying herself. Their question probes whose wife she would be in the resurrection, aiming to expose what they perceive as an absurdity or contradiction if resurrection were true, thereby challenging Jesus and refuting the concept of resurrection itself, which they denied.
Mark 12 23 Context
This verse is part of Jesus' teaching in the Temple during Passion Week, shortly before His crucifixion. Following challenges from the Pharisees and Herodians regarding taxes, Jesus is now confronted by the Sadducees (Mark 12:18-27). The Sadducees were an aristocratic Jewish sect who largely comprised the priestly class and denied the resurrection of the dead, angels, and spirits (Acts 23:8). Their worldview was more focused on earthly prosperity and Mosaic law interpreted literally, dismissing extra-biblical traditions and concepts like resurrection, which they did not find explicitly in the Pentateuch, their primary authoritative Scripture.
They present Jesus with a hyperbolic and complex hypothetical case, derived from the Levirate marriage law (Deut 25:5-10), which obligated a man to marry his deceased, childless brother’s widow to produce an heir for the deceased. By escalating the scenario to seven brothers and the same woman, they intend to demonstrate what they see as the logical absurdity of resurrection. Their aim is not to understand, but to trap Jesus in a theological conundrum that would discredit His teaching on the resurrection, and by extension, His divine authority, exposing it as inconsistent with a literal interpretation of the Torah.
Mark 12 23 Word analysis
in the resurrection (ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει, en tē anastásei):
- ἀναστάσει (anastásei): Greek for "standing up again," "a rising again," or "resurrection from the dead." It literally means "a raising up" or "a standing up."
- Significance: This term specifically points to a belief the Sadducees vehemently denied. Their question is precisely about this event and its implications, aiming to show its impossibility through a worldly lens.
when they rise (ὅταν ἀναστῶσιν, hotan anastōsin):
- Refers to the point in time at which the resurrection occurs. The Sadducees are pressing on the specific condition and order of the resurrected state.
therefore (οὖν, oun):
- A consequential particle, indicating "so then," "accordingly," or "for this reason."
- Significance: It links the stated premise (the hypothetical story of the seven brothers and the woman) directly to the question about the resurrected state, presenting the question as a logical outcome of their premise if resurrection were true.
of the dead (ἐκ νεκρῶν, ek nekrōn):
- Refers to coming "out of" or "from among" the deceased.
- Significance: Reinforces the subject as the literal raising of dead individuals back to life, the very doctrine the Sadducees opposed.
whose wife shall she be of them? (τίνος αὐτῶν ἔσται γυνή; tinos autōn estai gynē?):
- τίνος (tinos): "whose" or "of whom," highlighting the challenge of possession or claim in the afterlife.
- ἔσται (estai): "shall she be," indicating a future state.
- γυνή (gynē): "wife" or "woman."
- Significance: This is the core of their alleged problem. They imagine marital bonds continuing exactly as they are on earth, suggesting an absurd dilemma of seven husbands for one wife in the afterlife. It reveals their literalistic, earth-bound view of the afterlife and a profound misunderstanding of its nature. The Sadducees frame it as a matter of property rights or societal status that would lead to disorder.
for (γάρ, gar):
- An explanatory particle, meaning "for," "because," "indeed."
- Significance: Introduces the justification or explanation for their question, presenting the full, exaggerated Levirate scenario as their "proof" of the resurrection's absurdity.
the seven (οἱ ἑπτά, hoi heptá):
- Literally "the seven," referring to the full number of brothers.
- Significance: The number seven here serves as an intensifier, indicating completeness or exaggeration to amplify the perceived problem. It is designed to be a complete and irresolvable human dilemma under their carnal interpretation of existence beyond death. It emphasizes the supposed impossibility of a "neat" solution to their hypothetical scenario if resurrection were real.
Mark 12 23 Bonus section
The Sadducees' focus on this hypothetical problem reflects their materialistic worldview. They failed to grasp that resurrection implied a qualitatively different existence, transformed by God's power. Their rigid adherence to the letter of the Torah, without comprehending its deeper theological implications or God's omnipotence, left them unprepared for the spiritual realities Jesus taught. This exchange also highlights the importance of discerning the purpose of human institutions like marriage within God's broader redemptive plan. While sacred on earth, such institutions are ultimately temporary preparations for an eternal, perfected state that no longer requires earthly means of perpetuation. The question of "whose wife shall she be" reveals a preoccupation with earthly status and a profound underestimation of the transformative power of resurrection.
Mark 12 23 Commentary
Mark 12:23 encapsulates the Sadducees' strategic attempt to discredit Jesus and the concept of resurrection by presenting a seemingly intractable domestic problem based on Mosaic Law. Their fundamental error, which Jesus immediately identifies in the subsequent verses, stems from two core deficiencies: their ignorance of the Scriptures' true teaching beyond a superficial or purely literal interpretation of the Pentateuch, and their lack of understanding regarding the immense power of God. They imagine the resurrected state as merely an extension of earthly existence, complete with its societal structures and procreative needs, thus misinterpreting both God's design for the new creation and the transformed nature of resurrected bodies. Marriage, in their limited view, exists solely for perpetuating earthly lineage. Jesus’ answer demonstrates that the life to come transcends these temporary, earthly institutions.