Quotes & Notes on:     Luke 20:38    John Wesley,  Notes On the New Testament (1755):  He is not a God of the dead, or, there is no God of the dead -That is, the term God implies such a relation, as cannot possibly subsist between him and the dead; who in the Sadducees' sense are extinguished spirits; who could neither worship him, nor receive good from him. So that all live to him-All who have him for their God, live to and enjoy him. This sentence is not an argument for what went before; but the proposition which was to be proved. And the consequence is apparently just. For as all the faithful are the children of Abraham, and the Divine promise of being a God to him and his seed is entailed upon them, it implies their continued existence and happiness in a future state as much as Abraham's. And as the body is an essential part of man, it implies both his resurrection and theirs; and so overthrows the entire scheme of the Sadducean doctrine. Reginald Fuller's Preaching the Lectionary (1984):    Resurrection is not a prolongation of our present earthly life but an entriely new mode of existence, in which marriage and giving in marriage are unknown. The Pentateuch, far from rendering the resurrection an absurdity, has an understanding of God that is fully consisitent with such a hope... The Bible goes on talking about God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob even after their death -- therefore they must still be alive. The essential point... is that the Christian future hope depends, not upon wishful thinking, but upon the very nature of the God we believe in.  God has revealed himself in biblical expreience as essentially the God of the living.  In biblical history, in both the Old and New Testaments, he enteres into a personal relationship with human beings, and that relationship -- God being the kind of God that he is, in fact being God and nothing else -- cannot be destroyed, even by death. p. 525   William Baird, Interpreter's Commentary, 1971:  Luke proceeds to give a fuller description of the realm of God.  His source is Mark 12:18-27 and his changes are primarily stylistic.  He presents Jesus as more tolerant of the opposition, omitting the 2 Markan statements that the Sadducees are "wrong."  Luke stresses the idea that the life of the resurrection is totally different from the realm of Caesar.  Similarly those who share it have a new nature.  They become sons of God through being sons of the resurrection.  Perhaps Luke conceives of this new being as present in the life of faith;  not only do the faithful worship a living God but they also all live to him through their response now to Jesus.  Luke ends the story with an editorial note which again shows that no one dared to ask him any question.  p. 699   J. McNicol, The New Bible Commentary, 1954:  To be posted.   I.H. Marshall, The New Bible Commentary, 1970:  To be posted.   David Guzik, Study Guide: To be posted.   Chuck Smith, Study Guide: To be posted.   Catechism of the Catholic Church: No comment on this verse.   J. Norval Geldenhuys, Bible Expositor, 1960: To be posted.   Abingdon Bible Commentary (1929): To be posted.   D.D. Whedon, Commentary on Luke, 1866: To be posted.   Joseph Parker, People's Bible, 1901: To be posted.   Anchor Bible: To be posted.   The Fourfold Gospel: No comment on this verse. Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: * a God. Ps 16:5-11; 22:23-26; 145:1,2; Heb 11:16 * for all. Joh 6:57; 11:25; 14:19; Ro 6:10,11,22; 14:7-9; 2Co 6:16; 13:4 Col 3:3,4; Re 7:15-17; 22:1   Robertson's Word Pictures: No comment on this verse.   William Burkitt's Notes: No comment on this verse.   Family Bible Notes: All live unto him; though dead as to us, they live to and with God; so that his covenant with them to be their God remains.   1599 Geneva Bible Notes: That is, before him: a saying to take note of, for the godly do not die, though they die here on earth.   People's New Testament Commentary: No comment on this verse.   Albert Barnes' Commentary:  No comment on this verse.   Jamieson-Faussett Brown:  To God, no human being is dead, or ever will be; but all sustain an abiding conscious relation to Him. But the "all" here meant "those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world." These sustain a gracious covenant relation to God, which cannot be dissolved. In this sense our Lord affirms that for Moses to call the Lord the "God" of His patriarchal servants if at that moment they had no existence, would be unworthy of Him. He "would be ashamed to be called their God, if He had not prepared for them a city" (Heb 11:16). How precious are these glimpses of the resurrection state!   Spurgeon Devotional Commentary: No comment on this verse.   Adam Clarke's Commentary: To be posted.   Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary: There is a remarkable passage in Josephus's account of the Maccabees, chap. xvi., which proves that the best informed Jews believed that the souls of righteous men were in the presence of God in a state of happiness. "They who lose their lives for the sake of God, LIVE unto GOD, as do Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs." And one not less remarkable in Shemoth Rabba, fol. 159. "Rabbi Abbin saith, The Lord said unto Moses, Find me out ten righteous persons among the people, and I will not destroy thy people. Then said Moses, Behold, here am I, Aaron, Eleazar, Ithamar, Phineas, Caleb, and Joshua; but God said, Here are but seven, where are the other three? When Moses knew not what to do, he said, O Eternal God, do those live that are dead! Yes, saith God. Then said Moses, If those that are dead do live, remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." So the resurrection of the dead, and the immortality and immateriality of the soul, were not strange or unknown doctrines among the Jews.

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