Mark 12:23 Meaning and Explanation
“In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →They spring the question: in the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had her?
What Does Mark 12:23 Mean?
Here is the point of the trap: if the dead rise, the levirate chain seems to produce an impossible tangle -- seven brothers with a claim upon one wife. The Sadducees assume that resurrection, if real, must simply restart this world's arrangements and inherit its dilemmas.
Their question fails not because it is too bold but because it is too small. They measure the world to come by the necessities of the world that is, as if God could do no more than replay what death keeps interrupting. It is a caution for all our imagining: the life God prepares is answered not by our scenarios but by his power -- which is exactly what Jesus names next.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mark 12:23
What does Mark 12:23 mean?
They spring the question: in the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had her?