Verse 34. The children of this world] Men and women in their present state of mortality and probation; procreation being necessary to restore the waste made by death, and to keep up the population of the earth.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

34. said unto themIn Mt22:29, the reply begins with this important statement:”Yedo err, not knowing the Scriptures,” regarding the future state,”nor the power of God,” before which a thousand suchdifficulties vanish (also Mr12:24).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And Jesus answering, said unto them,…. After he had observed that their error arose from ignorance of the Scriptures, and the power of God:

the children of this world marry, and are given in marriage that is, such who live in this world, in the present mortal and imperfect state, being mortal men, and die, and leave their estates and possessions: these marry, and have wives given them in marriage; and it is very right, and fit, that so it should be, in order to keep up a succession of men, and that they may have heirs to enjoy their substance when they are gone.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

1) “And Jesus answering said unto them,” (kai eipen autois ho lesous) “And Jesus replying said to them,” directly to teach them a. lesson that would expose their hypocrisy, since they denied the existence of a resurrection anyway, Mat 22:29; Act 23:8.

2) “The children of this world marry,” (hoi huioi tou aionious toutou gamousin) “The heir-sons of this age marry,” in the present world order or arrangement, for purpose of companionship and reproduction, Gen 1:28. “Forbidding to marry,” or living together without marriage is a mark of anarchy against God, 1Ti 4:3; Joh 4:16-18.

3) “And are given In marriage:” (kai gamiskontai) “And they are given in marriage,” by their parents, Gen 24:51; Gen 29:19; Gen 29:23-24; Gen 29:28.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

OUR ANGELIC ASSOCIATIONS

Luk 20:34-36.

And Jesus said unto them. The sons of this world marry, and are given in marriage:

But they that are accounted worthy to attain to that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:

For neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection (Luk 20:34-36, A.S.V.).

IT is a custom with many to speak of angels with a suggestive smile, as if the term compassed a matter of mythology. With the on-sweep of modern doubt it is a question whether the average man believes any more in an angel than he does in a mermaid. The painter commonly represents the onea woman with wings descending from the heavens, and the other a woman with scales and fins, ascending out of the sea. And those who regard the Bible as no more a revelation from God than is the riot of any mans imagination, make the whole subject of angels either the cause of a smile or the occasion of skeptical sarcasm.

On the other hand, to believers angels are real beings and their existence is no more to be questioned than that of men and women; and the subject of our future relationship with them ought to be a matter of earnest study. If men who are going to Europe for a short visit of a few months will take years in teaching themselves foreign tongues that they may the more easily make acquaintance as they pass from country to country, and may hold intelligent converse with those whom they are certain to touch, what evidence of infidelity even on the part of Gods people that they take no time to reflect upon a fellowship that is to be at once beautiful and eternal.

I confess to you frankly that when I came to study this theme I was amazed at the many references to angels to be found in the Word of God, and while the limits of a single discourse will not suffice to make mention of them all, there are three or four to which I invite your attention.

WE SHALL DWELL WITH ANGELS.

We shall see and be like Jesus,By and by, by and by;Who a crown of life will give us,By and by, by and by;And the angels who fulfill All the mandates of His will Shall attend and love us still,By and by, by and by.

This will not be an incongruous association. Men and angels are fitted to dwell together, and when our redemption of body and soul is complete, that fitness will be apparent. In appearance they are akin, in abilities they are alike, and in residence they are to know the same.

In appearance, I say, they are akin. Wherever an angel appears in the Bible and anything at all is said of his likeness, it is that of a man. When, at Sodom, two angels came to Lot at the even time, Lot knew not that they were angels, but regarded them as men; and so did the Sodomites, because they had the appearance of men. When Zechariah, in his night visions, says,

I saw in the night, and, behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were horses, red, sorrel, and white.

Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these are (Zec 1:8-9),

such was his appearance that Zechariah regarded him as a man. Daniel tells us that while he was speaking and praying, confessing his sins, and the sins of his people Israel,

the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me (Dan 9:21).

And yet, in the Scriptures, Gabriel is one of the arch-angels.

In many instances angels are assigned a beauty and splendor surpassing men, and yet it never destroys the similarity. After the angel appeared to the wife of Manoah she said to her husband, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God. Daniel also writes,

I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with pure gold of Up has; his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.

While John also says,

And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire (Rev 10:1, A. S. V.);

and yet again,

After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory (Rev 18:1, A.S.V.).

But their appearance to man is made all the more striking when one reads from the pen of inspiration regarding Stephen in the time of trial, All the council looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as if it had been the face of an angel.

In abilities, as in appearance, akin to men. They are servants of Jehovah, messengers of His will. It is an interesting thing to read what some of them have accomplished, evidently at the command of God. In 2Ki 19:35, we have the record, The angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. In Matthews Gospel we remember how the angel struck fear into the hearts of the Roman guards because His appearance was as lightning, and his raiment white as snow; and for fear of him the watchers did quake, and became as dead men (Mat 28:3-4). In the Book of Acts we recall how at the touch of the angels fingers the barred gates swung on their hinges and Peter went out as a free man. And when at the time of His trial, Christ reminded His enemies that if He desired it He could bring twelve legions of angels and whelm all possible opposition. You remember the Psalmist (Psa 104:1-4):

Bless the Lord O my soul. O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty:

Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds His chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

Who maketh His angels spirits; His ministers a flaming fire.

Our residence is to be one with theirs. They visit us now; but when Gods Shining House is complete and His people are gathered Home, everyone, He will dwell in the midst of saints and angels.

The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place (Psa 68:17).

Paul, penning his Epistle to the Hebrews, says,

We are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

To the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, which art written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect (Heb 12:22-23).

Newman Hall, speaking of his father, says, I well remember my sainted father, now in paradise, relating an anecdote of a British soldier with whom he was personally acquainted. This man, for good behavior and long service, had been promoted from the ranks by the duke, who was then commander-in-chief. He, however, felt himself in uncomfortable circumstances, for he thought he was scorned by his fellow-officers on account of his humble origin. Let us hope that this was a mere fancy. But nevertheless, he felt so uncomfortable in his new position that he respectfully requested to be restored to his former condition. The commander-in-chief, guessing what the cause was, ordered a grand parade of the garrison, and as he passed along the front, addressed this man, saying, Captain, let me have the pleasure of your arm. And so he walked with him up and down. After this all kinds of polite attentions poured in upon him from his fellow-officers. The Prince has said, Thou shalt be with me. And so, to compare with such trivial occurrences amongst poor fellow-mortals, the great and glorious acts of the King of kings, Jesus said to the dying thief, in order to remove from his mind all fear that he would not be welcomed with honor and joy by the inhabitants of paradise, Thou shalt be with Me.

When Jesus thus invites me in,How will the heavenly host begin To own their new relation!Come in! Come in! the blissful sound From every voice will echo round,Till all the crystal walls resound With joy for my salvation.

WE SHALL TALK TOGETHER.

Whether men are to learn the tongue of Heaven, or angels are already familiar with all human tongues, we may not say. Doubtless both things are true. Of the latter there seems to be no question. And so with angels

We have a common speech. And the angel of the Lord addressed himself to Hagar, saying, Return to Sarah and resist not her hands. I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. The angel that talked with Lot in Sodom evidently employed a tongue with which he was familiar. The angel that rebuked Balaam spoke in a speech that was at once clear and strong. The man that Daniel met, who called upon Gabriel to make Gods Prophet to understand the vision, used the very language with which Daniel was familiar, for the record of it remains.

Personally we doubt not that Heaven has the only perfect language in all the Universe; and at the same time we have no doubt whatever that every angel in Heaven is a perfect linguist and can speak any tongue of earth.

Our conversation with them will be accentuated by common interests. There is nothing in which they engage but we are interested in the same, for they are the servants of our God; and apparently there is no experience into which we come but they are deeply concerned. When poor Hagar was an outcast, it touched an angels heart. When Abrahams wife was barren, the angel was moved to sympathy and speech by her bereavement. When Sarah lied, the angel kindly rebuked her. When Abraham was staggered by the greatness of Gods promise, the angel encouraged him to believe. When Gideon was going forth to war an angel appeared and said, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. One can almost indefinitely multiply the instances.

When the sinner repents there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. Augustus C. Thompson says, They make such an occasion a time of jubilee. To them it is the birthday of an immortal spirit the day which ushers a bondman of Satan into the Kingdom of God, constituting him heir to a crown of glory and an everlasting inheritance. In the circumstances attending that event, and the results that follow, how exhaustless the themes of discourse, as they shall recount to each one of the multitude, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, more than he ever knew before. And from aught we know, from that moment they may take up their ministry to such, for is it not true that they are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto them that shall be heirs of salvation? And do they not continue that ministry so long as life shall last? And does it not grow more tender as men and women walk down the dark valley?

I have seen angels by the sick ones pillow.Theirs was the soft tone and the soundless tread;When smitten hearts were drooping like the willow,They stood between the living and the dead.

There have been angels in the gloomy prison;In crowded halls; by the lone widows hearth;And when they passed, the fallen have uprisenThe giddy pausedthe mourners hope had birth.

No wonder Thompson cried, Oh everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order, grant that as Thy holy angels always do Thy service in Heaven, so, by Thy appointment, they may succor and defend us on earth!

WE SHALL WALK TOGETHER.

Our services shall be mutual. When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the sepulcher, they were troubled on the question of who should roll away the stone. The angel, descending from Heaven, and anticipating their need, had rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. J. Baldwin Brown reminds us of the fact that Heaven is not to be a place of indolence. He says, Hearts weary of the woe and worry of life look longingly to Heaven with a sentiment not much higher than that which moved a world-sick poet to cry for a desert, Where he might all forget the human race. Anywhere, away from man. Heaven! the world where earth with all its storm and strife may be forgotten; alone with the quiet angels, within the tranquil sphere of the serene activity of God. Nothing like this will be Heaven. It is the sphere in which the elect spirits who have won the prizes in lifes battles, who have come forth from the chaos of strife trained, inured, yet pure, shall play out their parts on a grander scale, in a wider theater, under the eye of a more absolute and exigent King. All that society aims at on earth and misses, the grand order of human relations, the majestic procession of human activities, of which, maimed and crippled as they are on earth, the wisest and noblest have not ceased to dream, shall there be realized, with Christ the King visible in the center of it, and the angels attendant.

Our objects shall be in common. The old Westminster catechism has, What is the true end of man? and answers, To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That certainly is the chief end of angels also. The Psalmist says,

Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word.

Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure.

Bless the Lord all His works in all places of His dominion; bless the Lord, O my soul (Psa 103:20-22).

Again we read (Psa 148:2):

Praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts.

And later (Psa 148:11-13):

Kings of the earth, and all people: princes, and all judges of the earth:

Both young men, and maidens: old men, and children:

Let them praise the Name of the Lord.

No wonder Nathan Strong wrote:

Swell the anthem, raise the song;Praises to our God belong;Saints and angels, join to sing Praises to the Heavenly King.

It is no great wonder then that the angels stand ready to welcome believing men into the eternal habitation, since they recognize in them the associates to be known and loved in all the ages on ages that make up an eternity. There are a good many people who talk about visions and dreams and hallucinations of the dying believers. I am compelled to believe that many of them are neither dreams nor hallucinations, and that the visions are real, and that over the prostrate form of many a saint an angel stands, or possibly, a cohort of the same, come to conduct the Christian to his glorious and eternal home. You remember how Elijah went up in a chariot of fire such as he had seen the angel drive on that day when they came to his defense and overwhelmed his enemies. You remember how it happened with Lazarus when that beggar died yes, Lazarus, without fortune, without friends, without home, without clothing, without food, exposed in the open-air, and covered with sores Lazarus, whom a moment before the meanest servant of the rich man held in contempt, blessing his stars that he was not so forlorn and wretched; he whom a moment before none but dogs cared for, is now carried by angels into Abrahams bosom. A vast convoy of mighty, holy, shining ones bear that despised beggars soul high up in the Paradise of God. What then, says Thompson, if in the closing scene you feel as solitary and friendless as he who was laid at the gate of Dives? Think of the waiting crowd into whose friendly presence and kindly ministrations you are entering. Gently will they bear you in their arms to the Fathers House. When a New England pastor lay dying he said, Now, angels, do your office. Dr. Bateman, breathing his last, exclaimed, What glory! the angels are waiting for me! Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! And He, after all, is the Angel of angels, for when He takes us by the hand we shall be in the Fathers House.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

(34) The children of this world marry.The three reports of the question are all but absolutely identical. In the form of the answer there are slight variations. The contrast between the children of this world or age, those, i.e., who belong to it (see Note on Luk. 16:8), and those of that world or age, is peculiar to St. Luke. In both cases the word rests primarily on the idea of time rather than place. It may be noted that no other writer in the New Testament uses the form of words, that world, the age or period that is there, not here, for the life of the eternal kingdom. The more common phrase is the world to come (Mat. 12:32; Mat. 19:30).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this world marry, and are given in marriage, but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage, for neither can they die any more. For they are equal to the angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” ’

Jesus’ reply, indicating a detailed knowledge of the afterlife which demonstrated His heavenly origin, declared that the question was based on the failure of the questioners to appreciate the truth about the afterlife. For in the afterlife there is no such thing as marriage and reproduction. Those raised from the dead at the resurrection become similar to the angels, with spiritual bodies (1Co 15:44), and become ‘sons of God’ (an Old Testament title used of angels – Gen 6:2; Gen 6:4; Job 1:6 to Job 2:7; Job 38:7) indicating their then enjoying a wholly spiritual nature and body, similar to that of God and the angels. They cannot die any more, and thus reproduction is unnecessary. They are ‘sons of the resurrection’, that is products of the results of God’s resurrection power resulting in eternal life.

‘Those who are accounted worthy to attain to that world, and the resurrection from the dead.’ Jesus’ emphasises here that not all will experience resurrection to life, and enjoy the life of the age to come. Only those who will be considered fit and suitable because God counts them as worthy (e.g. Gen 15:6) will attain to that world. (Thus not all of the seven brothers, for example, would necessarily experience it). And they will thus have become immortal, and will never again experience death, will not marry or have children, but will enjoy a similar life of immortality to that of angels enjoying their ecstasy, not in sex, but in enjoying the presence of God.

(Thus those who teach a millennial kingdom on earth have the problem of having a mixture of spiritual beings who cannot bear children, mixing with physical beings who can have children. This is not the impression given by taking all that is said in the Old Testament in its overly-literal meaning e.g. Isa 65:17-25).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The answer of the Lord:

v. 34. And Jesus, answering, said unto them, The children of this world marry and are given in marriage;

v. 35. but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage;

v. 36. neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels; are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

v. 37. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

v. 38. For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him.

First of all, Jesus corrects an entirely false idea which the question of the Sadducees showed them to be holding or to be inferring from the belief of others. So long as people are in this present physical world, they are subject to the laws of the propagation of the human race, they are under the blessing which God gave to our first parents, Gen 1:27-28. And the necessity of marriage is emphasized by the sinfulness of human nature, 1Co 7:2. For that reason they marry and are given in marriage. But those that in the judgment of God will be accounted worthy of the life to come, those that will be taken up into the bliss of heaven, those that will obtain the real resurrection, that unto life, they will no longer be subject to such conditions. For in that life they will be immortal, and will no longer be dependent upon propagation and increase. There will be no marriage in heaven, because all persons will there, like the angels, be sexless. Since they are children of the resurrection, since they have become partakers of the resurrection, they are children of God. All old things that pertained to the life of the flesh will then have passed away, and all things will be new. The believers will indeed have their true bodies, but transfused with the spiritual, heavenly existence. That is one argument. And the second concerns the actual Scriptural proof for the resurrection. Jesus here very wisely refers only to the Pentateuch, to the five books of Moses, choosing His proof-text from one of these books, in order to conform to the idea of the Sadducees. That the dead actually do rise again, Moses indicates very plainly in the story of the burning bush, Exo 3:6. For the text there calls God the Lord of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. In popular belief the patriarchs may have been adjudged dead, but they could not have been, since God is called their Lord. And He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him. Before Him they are living, and so He accounts them. The souls of the righteous men of all times are alive and in the presence of God in eternal happiness. This is true of all believers of all times. And this view and exposition of God is infallible. Therefore we have the confidence that God will raise all those that are His, also according to the body, out of the grave, to a new, blessed, eternal life.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

34, 35. ] Peculiar to Luke, and important. For this present state of men, marriage is an ordained and natural thing; but in , which is by the context the state of the first resurrection (nothing being said of the rest of the dead, though the bare fact might be predicated of them also), they who are found worthy to obtain that state of life and the resurrection from the dead, are no longer under the ordinance of marriage: for neither can they any more die; i.e. they will have no need of a succession and renewal, which is the main purpose of marriage.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 20:34 . In giving Christ’s answer Lk. omits the charge of ignorance against the questioners found in Mt. and Mk. = in parallels, here only in N.T.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 20:34-40

34Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38Now He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him.” 39Some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” 40For they did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything.

Luk 20:34 “the sons of this age” “Sons of” is a Semitic idiom of description. See Special Topic: This Age and the Age to Come at Luk 9:2.

“the resurrection from the dead” This was a tenet of Pharisaic theology based on Job 14:7-15; Job 19:25-27; Dan 12:1-2. However, they viewed it as just a continuation of the present life. Jesus clearly implies that the new age is different from the social structures of this age. Marriage was a crucial structure of Eden before the Fall of Genesis 3. God’s command to be fruitful and multiply was a recurrent theme (cf. Gen 1:28; Gen 9:1; Gen 9:7).

Luk 20:35 “those who are considered worthy to attain to that age” Jesus is answering the Sadducees and does so within Jewish (Pharisaic) theology. The phrase “considered worthy” is used in the Septuagint in 2Ma 13:12; 3Ma 3:21; 3Ma 4:11; 4Ma 18:3 and also in Greek literature for those “deemed worthy.” This is not Jesus affirming a works-righteousness, but an attempt to address these religious leaders. The NT teaches that one is only “worthy” in Christ (cf. Act 13:46).

“neither marry nor are given in marriage” The social structures connected to procreation, so common of this world (age), will not continue into the spiritual, eternal realm. Sex will not be needed for societal stability or offspring. The family unit will not survive death, but intimate family fellowship in God’s extended family will!

Luk 20:36 “they are like the angels” Notice that the context is emphasizing, not sexlessness, but the state of immortality (cf. Luk 20:36 a). I tentatively believe some angels once had a capacity for cohabitation, or at least some did, based on Gen 6:1-4; Jud 1:6; and the Book of I Enoch. See Special Topic below.

SPECIAL TOPIC: “the sons of God” in Genesis 6

“are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” As the angels (sons of God, cf. LXX of Gen 6:2; Job 1:6) are seen as sharing God’s realm, so too, now are a select number of worthy humans (resurrected believers). This is somewhat ironic or sarcastic since the Sadducees denied the elaborate angelology of the Pharisees (as does Jesus, but He does affirm their existence).

The Bible also speaks of a resurrection of the unworthy (cf. Dan 12:2; Act 5:29; Act 24:15). One group is raised to judgment and one group to eternal bliss in fellowship with God.

Luk 20:37 “where he calls the Lord” This is a quote from Exo 3:6, which is the very significant passage on the Covenant name for God, YHWH. It is from the verb “to be.” See SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY at Luk 1:68.

Luk 20:38 “He is not the God of the dead but of the living” The patriarchs of Luk 20:37 are long since dead, but they still are present with God, which shows the continuing covenant relationship of YHWH and this chosen family even after death.

“all live to Him” All life on this planet derives its existence from God. He is the origin of life and the sustainer of life (cf. Rom 14:8).

Physical life is connected to Elohim (cf. Genesis 1) in the OT, but spiritual life is connected to YHWH, the covenant God of Israel (i.e., the Patriarchs). The only life that moves from this age to the next is that of those who know God’s mercy through faith, only those who have a personal relationship with the redeemer God through Christ. In the OT it was the faithful remnant. In the NT it is those who receive God’s Messiah by faith. These are the “worthy ones” who become “the sons of God” of the new age of righteousness by resurrection.

See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE REMNANT, THREE SENSES at Luk 13:23.

Luk 20:39 “Some of the scribes answered and said” These must have been Pharisees because they rejoiced in Jesus’ routing of the Sadducees’ theological argument.

Luk 20:40 This verse refers to the Pharisees of Luk 20:19-26 and the Sadducees of Luk 20:27-39. It is a strong double negative. Nobody dared ask Jesus any more theological questions (cf. Luk 20:41-44).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

children = sons. A Hebraism. App-108.

world = age. App-129. This age as distinguished from the age (or dispensation) that is to come, the age to which resurrection is the door of entrance.

are given, &c. Greek. ekgamiskomai. Occurs only here and Luk 20:35.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

34, 35. ] Peculiar to Luke, and important. For this present state of men, marriage is an ordained and natural thing; but in , which is by the context the state of the first resurrection (nothing being said of the rest of the dead, though the bare fact might be predicated of them also), they who are found worthy to obtain that state of life and the resurrection from the dead, are no longer under the ordinance of marriage: for neither can they any more die; i.e. they will have no need of a succession and renewal, which is the main purpose of marriage.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 20:34. , the children of this world) who are subject to the law of mortality; not even all the pious being excepted, [who are not now as yet such as they shall be.-V. g.] The antithesis is, the children of God (-), in Luk 20:36.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

The children: Luk 16:8

marry: Luk 17:27, 1Co 7:2-16, Eph 5:31, Heb 13:4

Reciprocal: Mat 22:30 – in the

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Luk 20:34-35. Peculiar to Luke, who however omits the solemn opening rebuke: Ye do err, etc. (Matt., Mark).

The torn of this world; here used in the physical sense, i.e., those actually living in the present order of things.

Marry, and are given in marriage. There is no reference to the moral character of the persons thus described; this world simply meaning the period preceding the resurrection at the return of the Messiah. The verse cannot be used to prove the superior holiness of celibacy.

Accounted worthy, i.e., at the coming of the Lord. Here the moral character is spoken of.

To obtain that world, the state of life after the coming of the Messiah, which is introduced by the resurrection from the dead. This means the first resurrection of the righteous (chap. Luk 14:14), and the statement probably includes those believers who are living at the Second Advent.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Vers. 34-40. The Answer.

This answer is preceded in Matthew and Mark by a severe rebuke, whereby Jesus makes His questioners aware of the gross spiritual ignorance involved in such a question as theirs.

The answer of Jesus has also a sarcastic character. Those accumulated verbs, , , especially with the frequentative or , throw a shade of contempt over that whole worldly train, above which the Sadducean mind is incapable of rising. Although from a moral point of view the , the world to come, has already begun with the coming of Christ, from a physical point of view, the present world is prolonged till the resurrection of the body, which is to coincide with the restitution of all things. The resurrection from the dead is very evidently, in this place, not the resurrection of the dead in general. What is referred to is a special privilege granted only to the faithful (which shall be accounted worthy; comp. Luk 14:14, the resurrection of the just, and Php 3:11).

The first for, Luk 20:36, indicates a causal relation between the cessation of marriage, Luk 20:35, and that of death, Luk 20:36. The object of marriage is to preserve the human species, to which otherwise death would soon put an end; and this constitution must last till the number of the elect whom God will gather in is completed. While the for makes the cessation of death to be the cause of the cessation of marriage, the particle , neither, brings out the analogy which exists between those two facts. The reading is less supported.

Jesus does not say (Luk 20:36) that glorified men are angels,angels and men are of two different natures, the one cannot be transformed into the other,but that they are equal with the angels, and that in two respects: no death, and no marriage. Jesus therefore ascribes a body to the angels, exempt from the difference of sex. This positive teaching about the existence and nature of angels is purposely addressed by Jesus to the Sadducees, because, according to Act 23:8, this party denied the existence of those beings.

Jesus calls the raised ones children of God, and explains the title by that of children of the resurrection. Men on the earth are sons of one another; each of the raised ones is directly a child of God, because his body is an immediate work of divine omnipotence. It thus resembles that of the angels, whose body also proceeds directly from the power of the Creator,a fact which explains the name sons of God, by which they are designated in the O. T. The Mosaic command could not therefore form an objection to the doctrine of the resurrection rightly understood. Jesus now takes the offensive, and proves by that very Moses whom they had been opposing to Him (, even, before Moses), the indisputable truth of the doctrine (Luk 20:37-38). The scribes of the pharisaic party had probably often tried to discover such a proof; but it was necessary to dig deeply in the mine to extract from it this diamond.

In the phrase , denotes the place where the account of the bush is found. The choice of the word , to give to understand, shows that Jesus distinguishes perfectly between an express declaration which does not exist, and an indication such as that which He proceeds to cite. He means simply, that if Moses had not had the idea of immortality, he would not have expressed himself as he does. When Moses put into the mouth of God the designation: God of Abraham, etc., many generations had passed since the three patriarchs lived here below; and yet God still calls Himself their God. God cannot be the God of a being who does not exist. Therefore, in Him they live. Mark the absence of the article before the words and : a God of dead, of living beings. In Plato, it is their participation in the idea which guarantees existence; in the kingdom of God, it is their relation to God Himself. The dative , to Him, implies a contrast to to us, to whom the dead are as though they were not. Their existence and activity are entirely concentrated in their relation to God. All; not only the three patriarchs. The for bears on the word living. For they live, really dead though they are to us.

This prompt and sublime answer filled with admiration the scribes who had so often sought this decisive word in Moses without finding it; they cannot restrain themselves from testifying their joyful surprise. Aware from this time forth that every snare laid for Him will be the occasion for a glorious manifestation of His wisdom, they give up this sort of attack (Luk 20:40).

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

20:34 And Jesus answering said unto them, The {g} children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:

(g) “The children of this world” refers here to those who live in this world, and not those that are wholly given to the world (and therefore contrary to the children of light), as above in Lu 16:8 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Jesus contrasted the present age with the kingdom age. People resurrected to live in the kingdom, sons or products of the resurrection (Luk 20:36), will not marry (as men do) nor be given in marriage (as women are). They will be immortal, as the angels.

Like the angels they will also be "sons of God," a common designation for the angels in the Old Testament (cf. Job 1:6; Job 2:1; et al.). This title stresses the God-like characteristic of the angels and the resurrected saints that is in view, namely, their immortality. Even though believers are already sons of God we will become sons of God in a fuller sense through resurrection. Similarly Jesus was always God’s Son in the administrative structure of the Trinity, but He became the Son of God in a fuller sense by resurrection (Psa 2:7; Act 13:33).

God considers these people worthy to attain to the resurrection of believers because of their faith, not because of any personal merit of their own (cf. Act 5:41).

There will be people living in the kingdom who have not yet died and experienced resurrection. Jesus was not speaking about them, only about "sons of the resurrection," namely, those who had died and experienced resurrection (cf. Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2; 1Co 15:50-57; 1Th 4:13-17).

This explanation was important for Hellenistic readers. The Greeks believed that especially worthy mortals became gods, but this is not what Jesus taught. Rather He said that worthy mortals who are already sons of God will become immortal and incapable of reproducing following their resurrection.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)