Although the Sadducees did not acknowledge all the books of the Jewish Bible, they did accept the authority of the “Books of Moses” (Genesis through Deuteronomy). Therefore Jesus appeals to Exodus 3.6 as the basis for his response to their question. The verse does not deal specifically with the matter of the resurrection, but it does address the issue of life after death and so carries the same weight. Jesus’ argument is as follows: When God spoke to Moses, he identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But since he is the God of the living and not of the dead, this signifies that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must still have been alive at the time that God spoke to Moses.

There are languages which do not normally use the direct discourse I am. Indirect discourse may have to be used, as in “God said he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

The God of will be unsatisfactory in a number of languages, since it may imply ownership of God. One may then wish to translate “the God worshiped by….” The fact that this verse leaves certain basic assumptions unexpressed makes it difficult to restructure satisfactorily. But one solution is as follows: “ ‘I am the God whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worship.’ God is not worshiped by dead people, but by people who are alive.” In this way the reader will understand the logic of the argument: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worship God. But since only living people worship God, this means that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive at the time that God spoke to Moses. Or it is possible to reverse the clause order: “Only living people worship God, and the Scriptures say, ‘I am the God whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worship.’ ”

For some readers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may need further identification such as “our ancestors (or, fathers) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

In the text the expression the God of is repeated for each of the three ancestors. However, it is often more natural to use it only once, as in the examples above.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .