Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Mark 12:18

Σαδδουκαῖοι. Mk mentions them nowhere else; nor does Lk., except in Acts. Jn nowhere mentions them. In Mt. they are six times coupled with the Pharisees. We may regard them as the priestly aristocracy. They were much less numerous than the Pharisees and much less popular. Josephus (Ant. XVIII. i. 4) says that Sadducees who became magistrates professed the views of the Pharisees, otherwise the people would not have tolerated them, for a belief in a resurrection had become popular (2Ma 6:26; 2Ma 7:9; 2Ma 7:14; 2Ma 12:43; 2Ma 14:46). Their denial of a resurrection grew out of their attitude towards the oral tradition, which the Pharisees held to be binding, while the Sadducees said that it was not. Both agreed that the doctrine could not be proved from Scripture, for against what is said on one side (Job 19:26; Psalms 16:9-11; Psalms 17:15; Isaiah 26:19) must be set what is said on the other (Psalms 6:5; Psalms 88:11; Psalms 115:17; Ecclesiastes 9:4-10; Isaiah 38:18-19). To the Sadducees this meant that resurrection was an open question, and they refused to believe it (Acts 23:8; Joseph. Ant. XVIII. i. 4, B.J. II. viii. 4). Excepting Luke 2:34, ἀνάστασις in N.T. is always resurrection from the dead, a meaning which is very rare and late in LXX. (2Ma 7:14). It is doubtful whether οἵτινες, “who are of such a class as to,” refers to the Sadducees as a whole, or to those who came to question our Lord. All Sadducees said that resurrection was not an article of faith, but some may have believed that it was true. Lk. confines the denial to those who came; τινες τῶν Σαδ. οἱ λέγοντες, not τῶν λεγόντων. In all three the denial is given as a matter of opinion, μὴ εἶναι, as in Acts 23:8. The Corinthian sceptics declared as a fact that there is no such thing as a resurrection of dead people, ὅτι� (1 Corinthians 15:12). These Sadducees knew that Christ had discomfited their opponents the Pharisees, and they hoped to succeed where their adversaries had failed.

ἐπηρώτων. Conversational imperf. (Mark 5:9; Mark 7:17; Mark 8:23; Mark 8:27; Mark 8:29, etc.). Mt. and Lk. have the aor.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Mark 12:18

Old Testament

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