But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus points out the Sadducees' fundamental error: their misunderstanding of both Scripture and God's power. They misread the Bible to deny the resurrection, and their limited view of God's capabilities prevents them from imagining a transformed existence beyond earthly relationships.
But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, confront Jesus with a tricky hypothetical marriage scenario based on the Law of Moses to trap him. They're essentially saying, "If there's a resurrection, how would this complicated marriage situation even work?" Jesus turns their question back on them, revealing their fundamental misunderstanding of both Scripture and God's power.
How could a group devoted to the Law miss something as fundamental as the resurrection? Jesus points to a crucial misunderstanding of the very Scriptures they claimed to uphold.
The Sadducees, who famously denied the resurrection, based their disbelief on a limited understanding of the Old Testament. They focused only on the literal, earthly implications of laws like the one concerning levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5). This law, requiring a brother to marry a deceased childless widow to raise offspring, was their proof text against resurrection. They argued: if there's a resurrection, whose wife would the woman be, having been married to seven brothers?
But Jesus reveals their error: they didn't know the Scriptures. They missed the deeper truths woven into the text, particularly God's relationship with His people. By focusing on the 'how' of earthly arrangements, they ignored the profound 'who' – God's eternal covenant and His power to sustain life beyond death.
Believing in God is one thing; truly grasping His power is another. Jesus highlights that the Sadducees' denial stemmed not just from ignorance of Scripture, but from a stunted view of God's capabilities.
Beyond their flawed interpretation of Scripture, Jesus identifies the Sadducees' second major error: they did not know 'the power of God.' They were trying to fit the resurrection into their current, earthly framework, imagining that future resurrected bodies would function exactly like present ones – including marriage and procreation.
Jesus counters this by pointing to the nature of resurrected life: 'in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven' (Matthew 22:30). This wasn't just a regulation change; it signaled a completely different mode of existence, one only possible through God's immense power. Their error was in assuming God's power was limited by human experience and logic. They couldn't conceive of a reality where biological needs and societal structures like marriage were unnecessary because life itself was sustained directly by God's power, making them immortal and fundamentally different.
Ask a follow-up
Understand the original words
graphē · Greek Noun
The collection of divinely inspired writings that reveal God's character, will, and plan for redemption. In the New Testament, it refers to the Hebrew Old Testament, which Jesus affirmed as authoritative and reliable.
dynamis · Greek Noun
The dynamic, life-giving capability and authority of God manifested in creation, miracles, and the transformation of humanity. It refers specifically here to God's capacity to bring about the afterlife in a way that transcends current physical limitations.
The Sadducees' rigid adherence to a literal interpretation of the Law, combined with their denial of God's power to enact a future resurrection, led them to construct a seemingly unanswerable question based on Old Testament marriage laws. Jesus' response directly addresses both their lack of scriptural understanding and their limited view of God's omnipotence.
c. 200 BC - AD 41— this verse
Sadducees Deny Resurrection
The Sadducees, a Jewish sect often from the priestly and aristocratic class, emerge with a strong rejection of the resurrection, the afterlife, and angelic beings, focusing only on the written Law of Moses.
c. 4 BC - AD 30/33
Jesus' Public Ministry
During his ministry, Jesus frequently taught about the Kingdom of God, debated with Jewish leaders, and performed miracles, challenging the religious establishment.
AD 30/33
Jesus' Final Week in Jerusalem
Jesus enters Jerusalem, teaches in the Temple, and engages in debates with various Jewish factions, including the Sadducees who challenge him on the resurrection.
This passage recounts the same encounter with the Sadducees and Jesus' argument for the resurrection using the same passage from Exodus, reinforcing the idea that ignorance of Scripture and God's power leads to error.
1 Corinthians 15:12-28Paul directly defends the resurrection of the dead, explaining its theological necessity and the nature of resurrected bodies, which contrasts with the Sadducees' materialistic misunderstanding.
Romans 8:11This verse speaks of the life-giving power of God's Spirit dwelling in believers, highlighting the 'power of God' that Jesus points to as proof of His ability to bring about resurrection.
Hebrews 11:1This passage defines faith as the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen, which is essential for believing in the resurrection despite the lack of physical evidence, addressing the 'not knowing the Scriptures' aspect by showing how faith bridges the gap.
John 5:24Jesus declares that belief in Him results in eternal life and passing from death to life, demonstrating the immediate spiritual resurrection that is empowered by God and rooted in His Word.
calvinMatthew 22:23-33: "The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,"
- The same day came to him the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, and interrogated him, 24. Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, not having a child, [64] his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed to his brother. 25. Now there were amongst us seven brothers, and the first, having married a wife, died, and, having no seed, left his wife to his brother…
ellicottMatthew 22:29: "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God."
(29) Ye do err. —This is, it may be noted, the one occasion in the Gospel history in which our Lord comes into direct collision with the Sadducees. On the whole, while distinctly condemning and refuting their characteristic error, the tone in which He speaks is less stern than that in which He addresses the Pharisees. They were less characterised by hypocrisy, and that, as the pessim…
Jesus points out the Sadducees' fundamental error: their misunderstanding of both Scripture and God's power. They misread the Bible to deny the resurrection, and their limited view of God's capabilities prevents them from imagining a transformed existence beyond earthly relationships.
The Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, confront Jesus with a tricky hypothetical marriage scenario based on the Law of Moses to trap him. They're essentially saying, "If there's a resurrection, how would this complicated marriage situation even work?" Jesus turns their question back on them, revealing their fundamental misunderstanding of both Scripture and God's power.
The Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, confront Jesus with a tricky hypothetical marriage scenario based on the Law of Moses to trap him. They're essentially saying, "If there's a resurrection, how would this complicated marriage situation even work?" Jesus turns their question back on them, revealing their fundamental misunderstanding of both Scripture and God's power.
"But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God." — Jesus points out the Sadducees' fundamental error: their misunderstanding of both Scripture and God's power. They misread the Bible to deny the resurrection, and their limited view of God's capabil…
Get the original Greek and Hebrew, verse-by-verse context, and related passages inside the app.
Last reviewed October 2026