Luke 20:31

KJV

And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died.

KJV (with Strong's)

And {G2532} the third {G5154} took {G2983} her {G846}; and {G1161} in like manner {G5615} the seven {G2033} also {G2532}: and they left {G2641} no {G3756} children {G5043}, and {G2532} died {G599}.

Complete Jewish Bible

and third took her, and likewise all seven, but they all died without leaving children.

Berean Standard Bible

and the third married the widow, and in the same way all seven died, leaving no children.

American Standard Version

and the third took her; and likewise the seven also left no children, and died.

Commentary

### SUMMARY
Luke 20:31 continues the Sadducees' elaborate hypothetical scenario presented to Jesus, designed to challenge the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. It describes the third brother, and subsequently all seven brothers, marrying the same woman in succession, each dying without producing an heir. This verse underscores the extreme and repetitive nature of their contrived case, setting the stage for their climactic question about the woman's marital status in the resurrection and providing the context for Jesus' profound theological correction.

### CONTEXT
* **Literary Context:** This verse is an integral part of a significant theological confrontation between Jesus and the Sadducees, recorded in [Luke 20:27-40](/luke/20-27-40 "Luke 20:27-40 - The Sadducees Question the Resurrection"). Occurring during Jesus' final week in Jerusalem, just before His crucifixion, this exchange follows other challenges from religious leaders, such as the chief priests and scribes questioning His authority ([Luke 20:1-8](/luke/20-1-8 "Luke 20:1-8 - Jesus' Authority Challenged")) and the Pharisees and Herodians attempting to trap Him on the issue of paying taxes to Caesar ([Luke 20:20-26](/luke/20-20-26 "Luke 20:20-26 - Paying Taxes to Caesar")). The Sadducees' question, centered on a convoluted levirate marriage scenario, serves as their attempt to expose what they perceived as an absurdity in the resurrection belief, a doctrine they vehemently denied. Luke's placement of this incident highlights Jesus' supreme wisdom and authority in theological matters, even against the most learned opponents.

* **Historical & Cultural Context:** The Sadducees were a prominent Jewish sect, primarily from the priestly aristocracy, who held distinct theological views. Unlike the Pharisees, they rejected the oral law, angels, spirits, and, most notably, the resurrection of the dead, adhering strictly to the written Torah (the Pentateuch) as their primary scriptural authority. Their challenge in [Luke 20](/luke/20 "Luke 20 - Jesus' Authority Challenged") is rooted in the Mosaic law of levirate marriage, found in [Deuteronomy 25:5-6](/deuteronomy/25-5-6 "Deuteronomy 25:5-6 - The Law of Levirate Marriage"). This law mandated that if a man died childless, his brother should marry the widow to "raise up seed" for the deceased, ensuring the family line and inheritance continued. The Sadducees' hypothetical scenario, involving seven brothers, pushes this law to its extreme to create a seemingly insoluble dilemma, reflecting their earthly, materialistic understanding of existence and their inability to conceive of a transformed reality in the age to come.

* **Key Themes:** Luke 20:31, as part of the broader Sadducean challenge, contributes significantly to several key themes. Foremost among these is the **nature of the resurrection and the afterlife**, contrasting the Sadducees' limited, earthly perspective with Jesus' revelation of a transformed, heavenly reality where earthly institutions like marriage (designed for procreation in this age) are transcended ([Luke 20:34-36](/luke/20-34-36 "Luke 20:34-36 - Jesus' Teaching on Resurrection")). Another crucial theme is **divine wisdom versus human logic**, as the Sadducees' intricate human reasoning is utterly dismantled by Jesus' simple yet profound theological insight. The passage also touches upon **God's power and faithfulness** to raise the dead, a concept that the Sadducees, by denying the resurrection, fundamentally misunderstood. Jesus' response, particularly His reference to God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ([Luke 20:37-38](/luke/20-37-38 "Luke 20:37-38 - God of the Living")), underscores the living reality of the patriarchs and, by extension, the resurrection.

### EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS

#### Key Word Analysis
* **took (Greek, _lambánō'_):** G2983. This verb signifies "to take," "to get hold of," or "to receive." In this context, it specifically refers to the act of taking a woman as a wife, indicating the legal and social act of marriage. The repetition of this action by each brother underscores the Sadducees' adherence to the levirate law in their hypothetical scenario.
* **in like manner (Greek, _hōsaútōs'_):** G5615. This adverb means "as thus," or "in the same way." Its inclusion highlights the repetitive and consistent nature of the tragic events in the Sadducees' story. Each subsequent brother followed the exact same pattern as the one before him, marrying the widow and then dying childless, emphasizing the extreme and exhaustive nature of the hypothetical case.
* **left (Greek, _kataleípō'_):** G2641. From _katá_ (down) and _leípō_ (to leave), meaning "to leave down" or "to leave behind." In conjunction with "no children" (G3756 _ou_ and G5043 _téknon_), this phrase signifies that none of the brothers produced offspring with the woman. This condition of childlessness was the precise trigger for the levirate marriage law, making it a critical detail in the Sadducees' argument and the foundation of their perceived dilemma regarding the afterlife.

#### Verse Breakdown
* **"And the third took her;":** This clause continues the narrative from the preceding verses, specifying that the third brother in the sequence also married the widow. It establishes the ongoing pattern of the levirate marriage being applied due to the successive deaths of the brothers.
* **"and in like manner the seven also:":** This phrase generalizes the pattern, indicating that not only the third, but all seven brothers followed the same procedure. The phrase "in like manner" emphasizes the identical circumstances and outcome for each brother, building the cumulative effect of the Sadducees' elaborate scenario.
* **"and they left no children,":** This is a crucial detail, as the absence of children was the very condition that necessitated the levirate marriage according to Mosaic law. It highlights the core problem the Sadducees were trying to exploit: if the purpose of levirate marriage was to raise an heir, and no heirs were produced despite seven attempts, what would be the woman's status in the resurrection?
* **"and died.":** This final clause reiterates the tragic outcome for each brother, completing the cycle of marriage and death without issue. It underscores the mortality of the brothers and sets the stage for the Sadducees' question about the resurrection, as death is the gateway to the state they deny.

#### Literary Devices
The passage employs several literary devices to construct the Sadducees' challenge. **Repetition** is evident in the phrase "in like manner the seven also," emphasizing the successive marriages and deaths, creating a sense of escalating absurdity intended to highlight the perceived impracticality of resurrection. The entire scenario is a **Hypothetical Scenario**, meticulously crafted by the Sadducees to expose what they believed was a logical flaw in the resurrection doctrine. This hypothetical functions as a **Reductio ad Absurdum**, where they push a premise (resurrection) to an extreme, illogical conclusion (a woman having seven husbands in heaven) to discredit it. There is also an element of **Irony** in their attempt to trap Jesus using a law from the very Pentateuch they claimed to uphold exclusively, for Jesus would use the same Pentateuch to refute their fundamental theological error about the living nature of God and the reality of resurrection.

### THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Luke 20:31, as part of the Sadducees' challenge, serves as a theological setup, highlighting the profound disparity between human, earthly understanding of life and relationships, and God's eternal, transformed reality. The Sadducees, bound by a materialist worldview, could not conceive of an existence where procreation and earthly lineage were no longer the primary purpose of marriage. Their question implicitly limits God's power and the nature of the resurrected state to the confines of present human experience. Jesus' subsequent response ([Luke 20:34-36](/luke/20-34-36 "Jesus' Teaching on Resurrection")) shatters this limited perspective, revealing that in the resurrection, believers will be "like angels" and "children of God, being children of the resurrection," implying a new mode of existence where earthly institutions are transcended and relationships are transformed into a deeper, spiritual communion.

* [Matthew 22:23-33](/matthew/22-23-33 "The Sadducees' Question to Jesus")
* [Mark 12:18-27](/mark/12-18-27 "The Sadducees and the Resurrection")
* [1 Corinthians 15:35-58](/1_corinthians/15-35-58 "The Nature of the Resurrection Body")

### REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
This passage, including Luke 20:31, offers a powerful reminder that our understanding of God's kingdom and the future eternal state must not be confined by our present earthly experiences or human logic. The Sadducees' error lay in their inability to conceive of a reality beyond the physical and temporal, attempting to impose earthly limitations on divine power and wisdom. For us, this means cultivating a faith that trusts in God's transformative power, recognizing that the future glory will transcend our current imaginations. It challenges us to release our grip on earthly paradigms and embrace the radical newness of God's coming kingdom, where relationships, purpose, and even our very bodies will be transformed. Our focus should shift from the mechanics of earthly existence to the spiritual realities of being "children of God" in a resurrected state, living in direct communion with Him. This passage encourages us to live with an eternal perspective, valuing spiritual truths over temporal concerns, and trusting that God's plan for eternity is far grander and more glorious than anything we can currently comprehend.

#### Questions for Reflection
* **In what ways do I tend to limit God's power or future plans to my current understanding or earthly experiences?**
* **How does the Sadducees' error challenge my own assumptions about the afterlife or the nature of resurrected life?**
* **What does it mean for me to live as a "child of the resurrection" in my daily life, even now?**
* **How can I cultivate a greater trust in God's wisdom regarding the future, even when it transcends my comprehension?**

### FAQ

**What was the purpose of the Sadducees' elaborate hypothetical scenario involving seven brothers?**

Answer: The Sadducees constructed this elaborate hypothetical scenario, detailed in [Luke 20:27-33](/luke/20-27-33 "Luke 20:27-33 - The Sadducees' Question"), with the specific purpose of discrediting the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. As a sect that denied the resurrection, angels, and spirits, they believed that if resurrection were true, it would lead to absurd and impractical social dilemmas, particularly concerning marital relationships. By presenting a woman who had been married to seven brothers in succession under the levirate marriage law ([Deuteronomy 25:5-6](/deuteronomy/25-5-6 "Deuteronomy 25:5-6 - The Law of Levirate Marriage")), they sought to trap Jesus with a question about whose wife she would be in the resurrection, thereby exposing what they saw as the illogical nature of the resurrection belief itself. Their intent was not to genuinely understand the afterlife, but to undermine Jesus' authority and the belief in resurrection held by the Pharisees and Jesus.

### CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The Sadducees' challenge, culminating in Luke 20:31's description of repeated death and childlessness, highlights humanity's ultimate vulnerability to death and the limitations of a purely earthly existence. Their inability to conceive of a transformed reality beyond the grave underscores the profound need for a divine intervention that transcends the cycles of birth, marriage, and death. Jesus' response, which follows this verse, points directly to the ultimate fulfillment found in Christ. He is the one who conquered death, not merely by explaining a future resurrection, but by embodying it through His own resurrection ([Luke 24:1-12](/luke/24-1-12 "Luke 24:1-12 - The Resurrection of Jesus")). In Christ, the earthly limitations and dilemmas, like the Sadducees' hypothetical, are rendered obsolete. He inaugurates a new creation where believers are no longer bound by the procreative necessity of marriage, but are "children of God, being children of the resurrection" ([Luke 20:36](/luke/20-36 "Luke 20:36 - Children of the Resurrection")). Christ's victory over death and His promise of resurrection transform our understanding of life, relationships, and eternity, offering a reality far grander than any earthly institution. He is the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" ([1 Corinthians 15:20](/1_corinthians/15-20 "1 Corinthians 15:20 - Christ, the Firstfruits")), guaranteeing that just as He was raised, so too will all who are in Him experience a resurrected life, not bound by the former things, but transformed into His glorious likeness ([Philippians 3:20-21](/philippians/3-20-21 "Philippians 3:20-21 - Our Citizenship in Heaven")).

Note: Commentary is generated by AI with a directive for Biblical fidelity. Always rely on the Holy Spirit for discernment. The Scripture text and cross-references are from verified, non-AI sources.