Section 20:27–40
Sadducees asked Jesus a trick question about the resurrection
The Jewish leaders continued to challenge Jesus’ authority and the things that he was teaching. In this section some Sadducees asked Jesus a question to try to show that his teaching was wrong. Like the Pharisees, the Sadducees were another group of Jewish leaders with certain religious beliefs. Many of the Sadducees were priests. They did not believe that God would cause anyone who had died to live again.
Jesus taught that God does cause people who have died to live again. The Sadducees tried to use this belief to trick Jesus in 20:27–40. They told a story to ridicule these beliefs that Jesus taught. The story was not true, but they used it to ask a question. They thought that if a person believed that people who died could live again, there was no sensible answer to the question.
The Sadducees based their story on the custom that is described in Deuteronomy 25:5–6. This scripture teaches that if an Israelite woman did not have any children by her husband before he died, her husband’s brother should marry her. Their first child would have the name of his dead brother and would be the heir of the dead brother. In that way, the dead man’s family and family name could continue through future generations. Since the Scripture taught this custom, the Sadducees believed that they could prove from Scripture that Jesus was wrong.
Examples of headings for this section are:
The Question about Rising from Death (Good News Translation)
-or-
Do the dead rise again?
-or-
The Sadducees challenged Jesus on people rising from death
Parallel passages for this section are found in Matthew 22:23–33 and Mark 12:18–27.
Paragraph 20:27–33
20:27a
Then: In Greek, 20:27a begins with the common conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Then. Luke used this conjunction to introduce a new event. Matthew 22:23 indicates that this event happened on the same day as the events in the preceding section. The Greek text of Luke and Mark do not indicate how much time passed between these two events.
If it is natural in your language to begin a story with a time word or phrase, use an expression that is not too specific. For example:
Later
-or-
After that
In some languages, a time word or phrase is not necessary. Introduce this event in a natural way in your language.
some of the Sadducees: The Sadducees were a group of Jewish religious leaders who had certain beliefs. The Sadducees taught that the first five books of the Old Testament were more important than the other books. They did not believe that God would cause people to live again after they died. They also did not believe that angels or spirits existed (Acts 23:8).
Here are some ways to translate Sadducees:
• Transliterate the word Sadducees according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to a group of people. For example:
Sadusi members
-or-
Saduce adherents
• Transliterate the word Sadducees and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:
people belonging to the Sadusi religious group
-or-
members of the Jewish group called the Saduceo
The word Sadducees occurs only here in Luke. It also occurs in Mark 12:18, Matthew 3:7, and six other times in Matthew. If you have translated those books, refer to how you translated Sadducees there. You should translate Sadducees in a similar way as you translated “Pharisees” in 17:20a–b.
20:27b–c
who say there is no resurrection: The clause who say there is no resurrection tells a belief of the group called the Sadducees. The Sadducees believed that God does not cause people to live again after they die. They also taught this belief to other people.
In this context the verb say refers to what the Sadducees generally believed and taught. It does not imply that the Sadducees said this to Jesus when they came to ask Jesus their question.
Some ways to translate this clause are:
The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
…who believed people would not rise from the dead. (New Century Version)
-or-
…who say that people will never come back to life. (God’s Word)
In some languages it may be helpful to indicate that Jesus did believe in the resurrection. For example:
Sadducees, who did not believe, ⌊as Jesus did,⌋ that there would be a resurrection.
resurrection: The term resurrection refers to people living again after they die. This term does not imply that a person will live again as a different person or as an animal. It implies that when God causes people to live again, they will have the same identities that they had before they died. The term also does not indicate that people will literally “rise” up into the air or from their beds or graves. It indicates that they will live again. In some languages there may be other idioms to refer to this. For example:
when people come back to life again
Check your translation of this term carefully to make sure that it does not communicate a wrong meaning.
came to question Him: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as came to question Him means that the Sadducees came to Jesus to ask him a question. Notice that the actual question is in 20:33. The verses from 20:28–32 describe an imaginary situation that the Sadducees told as an introduction or basis for their question.
to question Him: The question that the Sadducees asked was not sincere. They asked it to trick Jesus and to ridicule the idea that people can live again after they die. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate some of this implied information. For example:
⌊to trick/discredit him⌋ with a ⌊difficult⌋ question
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