Theophylact Bulgarian. Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 22:23. On that day the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him:
Matthew 22:24. Teacher! Moses said: If anyone dies without children, let his brother take his wife for him and restore his brother's seed;
Matthew 22:25. we had seven brothers; the first, having married, died and, having no children, left his wife to his brother;
Matthew 22:26. like the second and the third, even up to the seventh.
Matthew 22:27. And the wife died after all;
Matthew 22:28. so, in the resurrection, of the seven, which wife will she be? for all had it.
After the Pharisees with the Herodians were silenced, the Lord is still tempted by the Sadducees. The teaching of this sect was as follows: the Sadducees believed neither in the resurrection, nor in spirits, nor in angels, being opponents of the Pharisees. They invented an event this time that didn't really happen. Indeed, let us suppose that two brothers, having married one after the other to such and such a woman, die. Is it possible that the third, taught by the experience of his predecessors, would not have come to his senses and would not refuse marriage? The Sadducees invent this, hoping to put Christ in difficulty and refute the doctrine of the resurrection, and they represent Moses as a supporter of their invention. They said that there were exactly 'seven' brothers, in order to to ridicule the mystery of the resurrection more offensively. Now, they say, which of them will own the wife? One could, of course, answer them like this: foolish Sadducees! of course, to the first husband, if the marriage remained in force during the resurrection, since other husbands are not real lawful spouses, but only substitutes.
Matthew 22:29. Jesus answered and said to them: you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God,
Matthew 22:30. for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but abide like the angels of God in heaven.
Matthew 22:31. And about the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you:
Matthew 22:32. Am I the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Matthew 22:32. And when the people heard it, they marveled at His teaching .
The Savior shows both that the resurrection will be, and that it will not be as grossly carnal as they imagined, but sublime and spiritual. What are you, - he says, - deluded, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God? If you understood the meaning of Scripture, you would understand that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And if you knew the power of God, then it would be clear to you that God can arrange a way of life for people after the resurrection, similar to the angelic life, the Sadducees tried on the basis of Moses to overthrow the dogma of the resurrection; The Savior, on the basis of Moses, also admonishes them. It is said: 'I am God Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ”; the meaning of these words is this: God is not the God of non-existent, no, He is the God of the living, continuing their existence. He did not say, 'I was,' but he says, 'I am'; although the forefathers died, they continue to live in the hope of resurrection. You ask: how else is it said that He owns the living and the dead? Know that in the above words, the dead are those who are dead, who have to come to life. And here, objecting to the teachings of the Sadducees that the soul does not have immortality and is completely destroyed, the Lord says that God is not the God of the dead, that is, as it seems to you, completely disappeared, but the God of the living, that is, those who have an immortal soul and once resurrected, although now they are dead in body.
