Matthew 22:28

28 In the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

Matthew 22:28 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 22:28

Therefore in the resurrection
As asserted by the Pharisees and by Christ, supposing that there will be such a thing, though not granting it; for these men denied it, wherefore the Ethiopic version reads it hypothetically, "if therefore the dead will be raised"; upon such a supposition, whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her,
or were married to her. By putting this question, they thought to have got some advantage against Christ, and in favour of their notion; they hoped, either that he would give into their way of thinking, and relinquish the doctrine of the resurrection upon this, and join with them against the Pharisees, and so there would be no need of an answer to the question; or they judged, that if he returned an answer, it would be either that he did not know whose wife she should be, and then they would traduce him among the common people, as weak and ignorant; or should he say, that she would be the wife of one of them only, naming which of them, or of them all, or of none of them, they fancied that such absurd consequences would follow on each of these, as would expose the doctrine of the resurrection to ridicule and contempt; but they missed their aim, and were sadly disappointed by Christ's answer and reasonings which follow.

Matthew 22:28 In-Context

26 in like manner the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

27 And after them all, the woman died.

28 In the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

29 But Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven.