Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Matthew 22:32

Against the repeated θεός, θεὸς the most ancient testimony is conclusive; between ὁ θεὸς and θεὸς the great MSS. are divided, θεὸς (אD), ὁ θεὸς (BLΔ). Tischendorf omits the article, Lachmann and Tregelles retain it.

32. Jesus appeals to the Pentateuch when arguing with the Sadducees, with whom the books of Moses had the greatest authority.

Stated in a logical form the argument is: God is a God of the living only, but He is the God of Abraham, therefore Abraham is living. The same deduction from the words was made by the later Rabbinical writers.

The principle on which the proposition ‘God is the God of the living’ rests, lies deeper. It depends upon the close relation between the life of God and the life of His children. The best illustration of the truth is the parable of the Vine (John 15:1-8). The connection between the living God and the patriarchs, whose God He is, is as close as that between the vine and its branches. If the vine lives its branches live. If God is living and immortal the patriarchs are living and immortal. If the branches die they cease to belong to the vine; if the patriarchs were dead they would have ceased to have any relation to God, or God to them. Cp. John 14:19, ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε, and Romans 5:10, σωθησόμεθα ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ. Hence in a deep sense God is termed ὁ ζῶν, ‘the living One,’ in whom all live.

So far there has been proof of immortality.
The communion of saints in and with God carries with it immortality.
The resurrection of the body is not expressly proved. But as Maldonatus observes ad loc. those only denied the resurrection of the body who denied immortality; therefore one argument proved both. In Jewish thought to raise the dead implied reunion of soul and body. This appears from Hebrews 11:19 λογισάμενος ὂτι καὶ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγείρειν δυνατὸς ὁ θεός, ὅθεν αὐτὸν καὶ ἐν παραβολῇ ἐκομίσατο. Bengel adds the thought that God is God not of Abraham’s spirit only, but also of his body on which the seal of the promise was set, … ‘ergo ii qui Deum habent vivere debent et qua parte vivere intermiserant reviviscere in perpetuum.’

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Matthew 22:32

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