Marriage and Relationships in the Resurrection
Jesus addresses the question of marriage in the resurrection in response to a test case posed by the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection altogether. They present a scenario drawn from levirate marriage law: a woman successively married to seven brothers, each dying childless, leaving the question "whose wife will she be" in the resurrection [1, 2]. Christ's answer cuts through the premise of the question itself: "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" [5]. The resurrected state involves a fundamental transformation of human social relations, not merely their continuation under new conditions.
The Cessation of Marital Relations
The Lord's statement indicates that the institution of marriage, as practiced in earthly life, does not persist beyond death. John Gill explains that in the resurrection state, "neither the men marry wives, nor are the women given in marriage to men, which is done by their parents here" [6]. This cessation is not presented as a loss but as a transformation appropriate to the resurrection life. Augustine emphasizes that Jesus corrects the Sadducees' error by pointing to their ignorance of "the Scriptures nor the power of God," and clarifies that the resurrected "shall be equal to the angels in immortality and happiness, not in flesh" [5]. The comparison to angels does not imply that humans become angels, but that they share in the angelic mode of existence characterized by immortality and direct fellowship with God.
Aquinas addresses the underlying reason for this change: "the resurrection will not be necessary to man on account of his primary perfection, which consists in the integrity of those things that belong to his nature," but rather "the necessity of the resurrection regards the attainment of his ultimate perfection" [8]. Marriage serves purposes tied to mortal existence—procreation, companionship in a world marked by death, and the prevention of fornication [4]. These purposes become obsolete in a state where death no longer reigns and where human beings enjoy unmediated communion with God.
The Original Institution and Its Temporal Scope
Marriage was "instituted in Paradise when man was in innocence," with its "original charter" confirmed by Christ as the basis for all earthly regulations [3]. The divine design included purposes such as "the happiness of man," "increasing the human population," and "raising up godly seed" [4]. Yet these purposes are inherently tied to the present age. The rabbinic tradition recognized contexts where procreation was suspended even within earthly life: when Noah entered the ark, "it was prohibited to him to engage in procreation," with men and women separated, a restriction lifted only after the flood [9]. This precedent suggests that marital functions are contextual, not absolute.
The marriage bond, while honored as a "covenant relationship" in this life [4], does not constitute an eternal metaphysical union that survives bodily death. Tertullian frames the Sadducees' question as a "case of law touching a certain woman, who, in accordance with the legal prescription, had been married to seven brothers" [7], highlighting that the question itself assumes the continuation of legal and social structures that belong to the present order. Christ's answer dissolves that assumption.
Implications for the Nature of Resurrection Life
Augustine addresses a related concern: whether bodily distinctions, including sex, persist in the resurrection. Though Jesus had opportunity to say "she about whom you make inquiries shall herself be a man, and not a woman," He said nothing of the kind, instead emphasizing equality with angels in immortality and happiness [5]. This suggests that bodily identity remains, but the social and procreative functions tied to sexual differentiation do not.
Charles Hodge notes that marriage in the present age involves "a community of life between husband and wife," with "capacities, feelings, and virtues which are not otherwise or elsewhere called into exercise" [10]. Yet this communal life, however profound, serves the purposes of the present age. The resurrection inaugurates a mode of existence where human relationships are not abolished but reconfigured around the direct vision of God. The question "whose wife will she be?" presumes that resurrection life replicates earthly social structures; Christ's answer reveals that it transcends them entirely.
Sources
- Mark “In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife.” -- Mark 12:23”
- Luke “Luke 20:33 (LEB) — Therefore in the resurrection, the woman—whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.””
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Marriage — Was instituted in Paradise when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:18-24). Here we have its original charter, which was confirmed by our Lord, as the basis on which all regulations are to be framed (Matt. 19:4, 5). It is evident that monogamy was the original law of marriage (Matt. 19:5; 1 Cor. 6:16). This law was violated in after times, when corrupt usages began to be introduced (Gen. 4:19; 6:2). We meet with the prevalence of polygamy and concubinage in the patriarchal age (Gen. 16:1-4; 22:21-24; 28:8, 9; 29:23-30, etc.). Polygamy was acknowledged in the Mosa”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Marriage — Divinely instituted -- Ge 2:24. A covenant relationship -- Mal 2:4. Designed for The happiness of man. -- Ge 2:18. Increasing the human population. -- Ge 1:28; 9:1. Raising up godly seed. -- Mal 2:15. Preventing fornication. -- 1Co 7:2. The expectation of the promised seed of the woman an incentive to, in the early age -- Ge 3:15; 4:1. Lawful in all -- 1Co 7:2,28; 1Ti 5:14. Honourable for all -- Heb 13:4. Should be only in the Lord -- 1Co 7:39. Expressed by Joining together. -- Mt 19:6. Making affinity. -- 1Ki 3:1. Taking to wife. -- Ex 2:1. Giving daughte”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 17.--WHETHER THE BODIES OF WOMEN SHALL RETAIN THEIR OWN SEX IN THE RESURRECTION. (part 2): enjoined, says, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God."(3) And though it was a fit opportunity for His saying, She about whom you make inquiries shall herself be a man, and not a woman, He said nothing of the kind; but "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."(4) They shall be equal to the angels in immortality and happiness, not in flesh, nor in resurre”
- Matthew (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Matthew 22:27: For in the resurrection,.... At the time of the resurrection, and in that state; when the bodies and souls of men shall be reunited, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; neither the men marry wives, nor are the women given in marriage to men, which is done by their parents here, generally speaking, they having the right of disposing of children in marriage: but, as Luke says, "they which shall be accounted worthy"; not through their own works of righteousness, but through the grace of God and righteousness of Christ, "to obtain the world", the world to c”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP. XXXVIII.--CHRIST'S REFUTATIONS OF THE PHARISEES. RENDERING DUES TO CAESAR AND TO GOD. NEXT OF THE SADDUCEES, RESPECTING MARRIAGE IN THE RESURRECTION. THESE PROVE HIM NOT TO BE MARCION'S BUT THE (part 2): conduct which would be unfit even to an ordinary man! The Sadducees, who said there was no resurrection, in a discussion on that subject, had proposed to the Lord a case of law touching a certain woman, who, in accordance with the legal prescription, had been married to seven brothers who had died one after the other. The question therefore was, to which husband ”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Supplement (Supplementum), Of the Quality of Those Who Rise Again, Art. 4: Article: Whether all will rise again to animal life so as to exercise the functions of nutrition and generation? I answer that, The resurrection will not be necessary to man on account of his primary perfection, which consists in the integrity of those things that belong to his nature, since man can attain to this in his present state of life by the action of natural causes; but the necessity of the resurrection regards the attainment of his ultimate perfection, which consists in his reaching ”
- Midrash Rabbah (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit Rabbah 34:7: “You and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives” – Rabbi Yudan ben Rabbi Simon and Rabbi Yoḥanan in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzḥak: When Noah entered the ark, it was prohibited to him to engage in procreation. That is what is written: “You shall come to the ark: You and your sons” (Genesis 6:18) – by yourselves; “and your wife and your sons' wives” (Genesis 6:18) – by themselves. 10 Men and women separately. When he emerged, He permitted it for him. That is what is written: “Go out of the ark: You and your wife, [and your sons and your sons’ w”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 49: to its full development in the present state of existence; that there are capacities, feelings, and virtues which are not otherwise or elsewhere called into exercise. All this may be true, but it is not the whole truth. (4.) There is, in a certain sense, a community of life between husband and wife. We are accustomed to say, and to say truly, that the life of parents is communicated to their children. Each nation and every historical family has a form of life by which it is distinguished. As, therefore, the 385 life of a father and the li”