The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 359

and a ooo.rsenoss In the question which is to show the po\\"er of God ae displayed in elmply rd\lolting. the resurrection. The Sad<lnceea would Ver. 26.-Unto the ■evetttll; z,,,, ,,.,;,, limit and control this power by conceiving ,,m1.,: unto the se~en-to 'tlie end of the that it could not change the qualities of the seven. bocly or alter thfl conditions and relations of Ver; 27.-The woman died also. This the human consciousness. In the re1Jt1r?ec- l1tst worcl is omitted by Alford, Tischendurf, tion (eee on ver. 28). Many; as men. Are and· Westcott and Hort, and seemingly given in marriage; as women. Marria"'e with good reason. Then, according to these is an earthly relationship, and can ha~e Sa.dducees, o.rose the difficulty which they no place in a spiritual condition. All deemed insurmountable. that is of the earth, all that is carnal aud Ver. 28.-In the resurrection; i.e. in the gross, all human passions, all that is con- life beyond the gra. ve, to which the resur- nected with sin and corruption, sl.Jall pass rection is supposed to lead. Whose wife away. Tile risen life is no mere reproduc- sha..ll she be of the ileven l Of which of tion of the present, but a regeneration, a the seven shall she be wife ( -yv11fi, without new life a.ddeJ to the old, with new powers, the o.rticle, predicate)? 'fhe evil question acting under new laws, ranged in e. new· stands in its· naked ab11urdity. Had the C'Ommunity. On earth men are mortal, and woman e. son by either of the husbands, marriage is necessary to perpetuate the the difficulty would have been less pro- race; no such necessity obtains in the other riouliced. In their coarse materialism, these life, where men are immortal. As an old persons co.rry their conceptions of the pre- Father says, "Where the law of death is sent visible world. into the future spiritual abolished, tl.Je cause of bit-th is abolished world ; they confuse the condltiona and likewise." A.re aa the angels of God in relations of one with those of the other, heaven; i.e. as the angels who dwell in and would argue that if such insoluble heaven. The worJs, 'roil 0eou, of God, are oomplications arise iu the new • life, the omilttd •by some m,muscripts and editors. resurrection m:u:et be an unfounded figment. The Vnlgate has, angeli Dei in ccelo. Thus. Had her. All' were lo.wfully me.tried to Ghrist, in opposition to the Sadducees' her, and therefore ·all had equal rights. creed, admits the existence of angels. When a woman was twice married, the rab- Glorified meb. are liku the angels in these binical. gloss declared that in the other characteristics especially. They are im- world she would belong to her first hus- mortal, no longer subject to human wants, band; but this opinion was not generally passions, fe.iliugs1 or temptatious; they serve received, and the present suppoaititious case· God perfectly without weariness or cwtrac- had never been contemplated a.ad fell under tion ; they he.ve no conflict between tle8h rid allowed 'rule. , ·' • and spirit, between the old natnre and the • Ver: 29,::._Ye do err. JesUB does not con- new ; their life is peaceful, harmonious, descend to auswer directly to the contemp- satisfying. Onr Lord says nothing here tuous question proposed. He goes to the coucerningmutuahecognition in the future root of the matter, ·and shows the great state; nuthiug ·a.bout the continuance of error in which it originated; These dis- those tender relatious which he sanctions putu.nts Ii.re treated with patience and oalm and blesses on· earth, and in the absence argument, becau8e they are ndt hypocrites of which we cannot imagine perfect he.p- like the Pharisees, but have the conrage of pioe~s existing. Analogy supplies some their opinions, e.nd do not seek to e.ppee.r e.uswer to such questions, but they a.re other than they are. They erred, so.id foreign to Christ's stutemeut, and need not. Christ, for two reasons : first, not knowing be ht>re discussed. the Scriptures. Who.tever might be the Ver. 31.-As tonohing (1r,pl) the resur- lax opinions which thoy held respecting the rection of the dead. Christ, in the sel'oud p1·ophets, there was no dispute· about the place, shows how these dispntsnts were supreme authority of the Pentateuch, a.ad ignoro.n t of Seri pture. 'l'hey may have these Scriptures (ae Christ pl'oceeded to known the letter, they certsinly knew no- prove) plainly implied the doctrine of the thing of the spirit of the Word of God, its resurrection. Secondly,· they ignored the depth and fuluess. The key to tl,e intor- power of God, to whom nothing is impos- preta.Lion of the Scripture is faith. It is not sible, and who, in the resurrection, would enongh to be acquainted with the lit,·ral perform a work very different from what signification; this i~ ulways insdequate, and they supposed--ohanging the natural into denotes not the chief matter intended. 'l'o the spiritual, and transforming the charac- know the Scripture, in t be seuse of Christ. teristics of the life that now is into a is to have a. clear npprehcnt1ion of its spintua.l different aud higher sphere, yet preserving aspeot, to foul and owu the moral and ruysti- identity. oul bearing of focts o.nd statements, and to- Ver. 30.-i'or. The Lord proceo<ls first reoognize that hL"reiu lies tho roa.l ~igui.fi•  S'J4 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [olI. xxn. 1-46.