Luke 20:27 Study Bible: Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection.

◄ Luke 20:27 ►

Then some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to question Him.

Then some of the Sadducees
The Sadducees were a Jewish sect during the Second Temple period, known for their aristocratic status and influence in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. They were often in opposition to the Pharisees, another prominent Jewish group. The Sadducees were associated with the priestly class and held significant power in the temple hierarchy. Their beliefs were more conservative, adhering strictly to the written Torah and rejecting oral traditions upheld by the Pharisees.

who say there is no resurrection
The Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead, a belief that set them apart from the Pharisees, who affirmed it. This denial was rooted in their strict interpretation of the Torah, as they did not find explicit references to the resurrection in the first five books of the Bible. This belief also extended to a denial of angels and spirits, as noted in Acts 23:8. Their theological stance was significant because it influenced their worldview and understanding of life after death, which was a central point of contention with Jesus and the early Christian message.

came to question Him
The Sadducees approached Jesus with the intent to challenge His teachings and authority. This encounter is part of a series of confrontations between Jesus and various Jewish leaders during His ministry, particularly in the days leading up to His crucifixion. Their questioning was not a genuine search for truth but rather an attempt to trap Jesus in a theological debate. This reflects the broader context of opposition Jesus faced from religious leaders who felt threatened by His growing influence and His teachings, which often contradicted their own.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Sadducees
A Jewish sect during the time of Jesus known for their denial of the resurrection, angels, and spirits. They were typically from the priestly and aristocratic classes and held significant power in the Sanhedrin.

2. Jesus
The central figure of the New Testament, the Son of God, who is being questioned by the Sadducees in this passage.

3. Jerusalem
The city where this event takes place, a significant location for Jewish religious life and the setting for many of Jesus' teachings and confrontations with religious leaders.

4. Resurrection
A key theological concept in Christianity, referring to the belief in life after death and the eventual resurrection of the dead, which the Sadducees denied.

5. Questioning
The act of the Sadducees approaching Jesus with a question, often with the intent to challenge or trap Him in His teachings.

Teaching Points

Understanding the Sadducees' Beliefs
Recognize the historical and theological context of the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, and how this shaped their interactions with Jesus.

The Importance of the Resurrection
Emphasize the centrality of the resurrection in Christian doctrine, as it affirms the hope of eternal life and the power of God over death.

Engaging with Skeptics
Learn from Jesus' approach to engaging with those who question or challenge core beliefs, using wisdom and scriptural truth.

The Role of Scripture in Doctrine
Highlight the importance of grounding beliefs in Scripture, as Jesus often did when addressing theological disputes.

Faith in the Unseen
Encourage believers to trust in the promises of God, even when they cannot be fully understood or seen, such as the resurrection.

Bible Study Questions

1. How did the beliefs of the Sadducees differ from those of the Pharisees, and why is this significant in understanding their question to Jesus?

2. In what ways does the resurrection serve as a cornerstone of Christian faith, and how can this belief impact our daily lives?

3. How did Jesus' response to the Sadducees demonstrate His understanding of Scripture and His authority over theological matters?

4. What can we learn from Jesus' interaction with the Sadducees about engaging with those who hold different beliefs or challenge our faith?

5. How does the hope of the resurrection influence our perspective on life, death, and eternity, and how can we share this hope with others?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Acts 23:8
This verse highlights the doctrinal differences between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, particularly regarding the resurrection, angels, and spirits.

Matthew 22:23-33
A parallel account of the same event, providing additional context and details about the interaction between Jesus and the Sadducees.

1 Corinthians 15
Paul's extensive teaching on the resurrection, affirming its centrality to Christian faith and countering views like those of the Sadducees.

Sermons

Christ Supreme in Debate	R.M. Edgar	Luke 20:20-40
Christ's Answer to the Sadducees	Archbishop Tillotson.	Luke 20:27-38
Equality of Men with Angels	E. Payson, D. D.	Luke 20:27-38
Equality with Angels	P. Morrison.	Luke 20:27-38
Foundations of Christian Hope	W. Clarkson	Luke 20:27-38
In the Resurrection Saints are as Angels	J. McCosh, D. D.	Luke 20:27-38
Lessons	James Foote, M. A.	Luke 20:27-38
Mercy Weaves the Veil of Secrecy Over the Future	D. Thomas, D. D.	Luke 20:27-38
Resurrection: an Easter-Day Sermon	J. N. Bennie, LL. B.	Luke 20:27-38
Reticence of the Bible in Regard to Heavenly Happiness	Christian Age	Luke 20:27-38
The Living God of Living Men		Luke 20:27-38
The Mortal and the Immortal	H. Bonar, D. D.	Luke 20:27-38
The Sadducees Silenced	J. Thompson, D. D.	Luke 20:27-38
The World to Come	G. Burder.	Luke 20:27-38
The World to Come	Expository Outlines	Luke 20:27-38

People

David, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus, John

Places

Jerusalem

Topics

Dead, Deny, Denying, Forward, Question, Questioned, Resurrection, Rising, Sadducees

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Luke 20:27

     7540   Judaism
     8766   heresies
     8800   prejudice
     9314   resurrection, of the dead

Luke 20:27-33

7388 kinsman-redeemer

Luke 20:27-36

5661 brothers

Luke 20:27-38

     5681   family, nature of
     6183   ignorance, of God
     7555   Sadducees

Library

Whose Image and Superscription?
'Whose image and superscription hath it?'--Luke xx. 24. It is no unusual thing for antagonists to join forces in order to crush a third person obnoxious to both. So in this incident we have an unnatural alliance of the two parties in Jewish politics who were at daggers drawn. The representatives of the narrow conservative Judaism, which loathed a foreign yoke, in the person of the Pharisees and Scribes, and the Herodians, the partisans of a foreigner and a usurper, lay their heads together to propose …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Tenants who Wanted to be Owners
'Then began He to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. 10. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. 11. And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. 12. And again he sent a third: and they wounded him …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The God of the Living.
He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.--ST LUKE xx. 38. It is a recurring cause of perplexity in our Lord's teaching, that he is too simple for us; that while we are questioning with ourselves about the design of Solomon's earring upon some gold-plated door of the temple, he is speaking about the foundations of Mount Zion, yea, of the earth itself, upon which it stands. If the reader of the Gospel supposes that our Lord was here using a verbal argument with the Sadducees, …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

The Resurrection of the Sleeping Saints.
"And the dead in Christ shall rise first." This is the second blessed event which shall occur at the Redeemer's return--the sleeping saints will be awakened and raised. This brings us to a branch of our subject upon which there is much ignorance and confusion in Christendom generally. The idea which popularly obtains is that of a general resurrection at the end of time. So deeply rooted is this belief and so widely is it held that to declare there will be two resurrections--one of saints and another …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

The Morality of the Gospel.
Is stating the morality of the Gospel as an argument of its truth, I am willing to admit two points; first, that the teaching of morality was not the primary design of the mission; secondly, that morality, neither in the Gospel, nor in any other book, can be a subject, properly speaking, of discovery. If I were to describe in a very few words the scope of Christianity as a revelation, [49] I should say that it was to influence the conduct of human life, by establishing the proof of a future state …
William Paley—Evidences of Christianity

In Reply to the Questions as to his Authority, Jesus Gives the Third Great Group of Parables.
(in the Court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, a.d. 30.) Subdivision A. Introduction ^A Matt. XXI. 23-27; ^B Mark XI. 27-33; ^C Luke XX. 1-8. ^c 1 And it came to pass, on one of the days, ^b they [Jesus and the disciples] come again to Jerusalem: ^a 23 And when he was come into the temple, ^b and as he was walking in the temple [The large outer court of the temple, known as the court of the Gentiles, was thronged during the feasts, and was no doubt the part selected by Jesus and his apostles when …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

In Reply to the Questions as to his Authority, Jesus Gives the Third Great Group of Parables.
(in the Court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, a.d. 30.) Subdivision C. Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen. ^A Matt. XXI. 33-46; ^B Mark XII. 1-12; ^C Luke XX. 9-19. ^b 1 And he began to speak unto them ^c the people [not the rulers] ^b in parables. { ^c this parable:} ^a 33 Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder [this party represents God], who planted a vineyard [this represents the Hebrew nationality], and set a hedge about it, and digged a ^b pit for the ^a winepress in it …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Cix. Jewish Rulers Seek to Ensnare Jesus.
(Court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, a.d. 30.) Subdivision A. Pharisees and Herodians Ask About Tribute. ^A Matt. XXII. 15-22; ^B Mark XII. 13-17; ^C Luke XX. 20-26. ^a 15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might ensnare him in his talk. ^c 20 And they watched him, and sent forth { ^b send unto him} ^a their disciples, ^b certain of the Pharisees and of { ^a with} ^b the Herodians, that they might catch him in talk. [Perceiving that Jesus, when on his guard, was too wise for them, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Jesus' Last Public Discourse. Denunciation of Scribes and Pharisees.
(in the Court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, a.d. 30.) ^A Matt. XXIII. 1-39; ^B Mark XII. 38-40; ^C Luke XX. 45-47. ^a 1 Then spake Jesus ^b 38 And in his teaching ^c in the hearing of all the people he said unto ^a the multitudes, and to his disciples [he spoke in the most public manner], 2 saying, ^c 46 Beware of the scribes, ^a The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat: 3 all things whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Third Day in Passion-Week - the Events of that Day - the Question of Christ's Authority - the Question of Tribute to Cæsar - The
THE record of this third day is so crowded, the actors introduced on the scene are so many, the occurrences so varied, and the transitions so rapid, that it is even more than usually difficult to arrange all in chronological order. Nor need we wonder at this, when we remember that this was, so to speak, Christ's last working-day - the last, of His public Mission to Israel, so far as its active part was concerned; the last day in the Temple; the last, of teaching and warning to Pharisees and Sadducees; …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Third Day in Passion-Week - the Last Controversies and Discourses - the Sadducees and the Resurrection - the Scribe and the Great Commandment - Question
THE last day in the Temple was not to pass without other temptations' than that of the Priests when they questioned His authority, or of the Pharisees when they cunningly sought to entangle Him in His speech. Indeed, Christ had on this occasion taken a different position; He had claimed supreme authority, and thus challenged the leaders of Israel. For this reason, and because at the last we expect assaults from all His enemies, we are prepared for the controversies of that day. We remember that, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Fac-Similes
OF ANCIENT NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS, TO ILLUSTRATE CHAPTER XXVI., PAGE 380. Most of the following specimens of ancient manuscripts are taken from Scrivener's Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament. No. (1) is from Tischendorf s Novum Testamentum Graece ex Sinaitico Codice; Nos. (2) and (11) from Smith's Dictionary of the Bible; and No. (5) from Horne's Introduction, Vol. IV. No. (1). PLATE I. SINAI CODEX, Century IV. Heb. 12:27-29. Notice the occasional use of very small letters. In …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

The Third Day in Pasion-Week - the Last Series of Parables: to the Pharisees and to the People - on the Way to Jerusalem: the Parable
(ST. Matt. xix. 30, xx. 16; St. Matt. xxi. 28-32; St. Mark xii. 1-12; St. Luke xx. 9-19; St. Matt. xxii. 1-14.) ALTHOUGH it may not be possible to mark their exact succession, it will be convenient here to group together the last series of Parables. Most, if not all of them, were spoken on that third day in Passion week: the first four to a more general audience; the last three (to be treated in another chapter) to the disciples, when, on the evening of that third day, on the Mount of Olives, [5286] …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Wherefore I Cannot Indeed Say, of Females who have Fallen Away from a Better...
14. Wherefore I cannot indeed say, of females who have fallen away from a better purpose, in case they shall have married, that they are adulteries, not marriages; but I plainly would not hesitate to say, that departures and fallings away from a holier chastity, which is vowed unto the Lord, are worse than adulteries. For if, what may no way be doubted, it pertains unto an offense against Christ, when a member of Him keepeth not faith to her husband; how much graver offense is it against Him, when …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Widowhood.

Difficulties and Objections
"Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not My way equal? are not your ways unequal?" (Ezek. 18:25). A convenient point has been reached when we may now examine, more definitely, some of the difficulties encountered and the objections which might be advanced against what we have written in previous pages. The author deemed it better to reserve these for a separate consideration rather than deal with them as he went along, requiring as that would have done the …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God

Synopsis. --Account to be Made of the Law of Atrophy through Disuse. --The virgin Birth and the Corporeal Resurrection of Jesus
VII SYNOPSIS.--Account to be made of the law of atrophy through disuse.--The virgin birth and the corporeal resurrection of Jesus, the two miracles now insisted on as the irreducible minimum, affected by this law.--The vital truths of the incarnation and immortality independent of these miracles.--These truths now placed on higher ground in a truer conception of the supernatural.--The true supernatural is the spiritual, not the miraculous.--Scepticism bred from the contrary view.--The miracle narratives, …
James Morris Whiton—Miracles and Supernatural Religion

Of the Practice of Piety in Holy Feasting.
Holy feasting is a solemn thanksgiving, appointed by authority, to be rendered to God on some special day, for some extraordinary blessings or deliverances received. Such among the Jews was the feast of the Passover (Exod. xii. 15), to remember to praise God for their deliverance out of Egypt's bondage; or the feast of Purim (Esth. ix. 19, 21), to give thanks for their deliverance from Haman's conspiracy. Such amongst us is the fifth of November, to praise God for the deliverance of the king and …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Jesus Attends the First Passover of his Ministry.
(Jerusalem, April 9, a.d. 27.) Subdivision A. Jesus Cleanses the Temple. ^D John II. 13-25. ^d 13 And the passover of the Jews was at hand [We get our information as to the length of our Lord's ministry from John's Gospel. He groups his narrative around six Jewish festivals: 1, He here mentions the first passover; 2, another feast, which we take to have been also a passover (v. 1); 3, another passover (vi. 4); 4, the feast of tabernacles (vii. 2); 5, dedication (x. 22); 6, passover (xi. 55). This …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Cix. Jewish Rulers Seek to Ensnare Jesus.
(Court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, a.d. 30.) Subdivision B. Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection. ^A Matt. XXII. 23-33; ^B Mark XII. 18-27; ^C Luke XX. 27-39. ^a 23 On that day there came { ^b come} unto him ^c certain of the the Sadducees, they that { ^b who} say there is no resurrection [As to the Sadducees, see p. 71. We may regard their attitude toward Christ as expressed by their leader Caiaphas, see p. 528]; and they asked him, saying, 19 Teacher, Moses wrote unto us [See Deut. xxv. 5, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The King on his Throne.
"Crown Him with many crowns, The King upon His Throne." When the time came for our Blessed Lord to return into Heaven again, He ascended in the presence of His Apostles, whilst in the act of blessing them; "and a cloud received Him out of their sight" (Acts i. 9). And, we are told, they "returned to Jerusalem with great joy" (S. Luke xxiv. 52), not sorrowing as before at His being taken from them. And when we consider what His Ascension implied, we can see that they had good reason for their joy. …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?

The Barren Fig-Tree;
OR, THE DOOM AND DOWNFALL OF THE FRUITLESS PROFESSOR: SHOWING, THAT THE DAY OF GRACE MAY BE PAST WITH HIM LONG BEFORE HIS LIFE IS ENDED; THE SIGNS ALSO BY WHICH SUCH MISERABLE MORTALS MAY BE KNOWN. BY JOHN BUNYAN 'Who being dead, yet speaketh.'--Hebrews 11:4 London: Printed for J. Robinson, at the Golden Lion, in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1688. This Title has a broad Black Border. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This solemn, searching, awful treatise, was published by Bunyan in 1682; but does not appear …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

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