Read Matthew 22:23–33
Questions from the Scripture text: Who come to Jesus in v23? What do they believe? To what law do they refer (v24)? What hypothetical situation do they describe (v25-27)? Wha question do they ask in v28? What does Jesus say about them (v29)? What does He say is the cause of this? What does not happen in the resurrection? What are they like instead? Where does He say to learn about the resurrection (v31)? What had God said about whom (v32)? How does this prove the resurrection? Who hear Jesus saying these things (v33)? What effect does this have upon them?
Why are the Sadducees deceived? Matthew 22:23–33 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Sadducees are deceived because of their own ignorance of God and His Word.
It is wonderful to have Jesus as our God and Savior for every part of our salvation, including improving our theology.
The reason that we are deceived about various theological things is because we do not know the Scriptures or the power of God (v29). Jesus teaches us more correctly.
The Sadducees not only disbelieved the resurrection (v23) but also disbelieved the existence of angels (v30b) and even of the eternal soul. They think that they are going to expose the ridiculousness of Jesus’s belief in the resurrection, but they only expose themselves as those who don’t understand the glory of man, that he exists for God, like the angels; and, that man is even superior to the angels in being created for covenant and fellowship with God.
They do not know the power of God. But they also don’t know the Scriptures. They pay attention to particular texts, but they miss the main themes, those main and repeated statements that give shape to the whole. Jesus turns to one of these in v32a. It's not just a verb-tense “gotcha,” in which God is still their God, so they must still be alive. It is a great-theme truth: the overwhelming reality that God has elected and loved a people from all eternity, whom He redeems to be blessed in Himself unto all eternity.
When we understand this at the heart of the Scriptures as a whole, we begin to be prepared to understand properly any specific Scripture!
Jesus hereby humiliates a second set of “expert” opponents, striking awe in the multitudes (v33).
But, as we read it, our awe must be even greater. For this Jesus is Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Who has come to redeem His elected people into their eternal blessedness!
What are some areas of your theology that have been improved by connecting them to the great theme of all Scripture?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for giving us Christ as our Prophet, Who teaches us the Scriptures, so that we may know truly the power of God. Make us to know them as those Scriptures that speak of Him, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP49A “Hear This, All Earth’s Nations” or TPH471 “The Sands of Time Are Sinking”
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