Luke 20:30
What is Luke 20:30 about? Read the meaning and summary with full commentary explained, historical context, verse insights, word analysis, and cross-references.
Luke chapter 20 - Conflict, Authority, And The Corner Stone
Luke 20 documents the intense verbal conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities as they attempt to discredit His ministry in the Temple. It articulates the rejection of God’s messengers through the Parable of the Wicked Tenants and establishes the clear distinction between earthly and divine obligations. This chapter proves Jesus' intellectual and spiritual superiority, leaving His opponents silenced and the people astonished.
Luke 20:30
ESV: And the second
KJV: And the second took her to wife, and he died childless.
NIV: The second
NKJV: And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.
NLT: So the second brother married the widow, but he also died.
Meaning
Luke 20:30 continues the Sadducees' hypothetical scenario concerning a woman and multiple brothers who married her in succession. This verse specifically states that the second brother, having taken her as his wife according to the law of levirate marriage, also died without having any children. This repeated pattern of marriage and childless death is crucial for setting up the Sadducees' complex question to Jesus about the nature of resurrection.
Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Deut 25:5-6 | "If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife...shall not go...brother-in-law shall go in to her..." | Levirate Law: Foundation of the Sadducees' question. |
| Gen 38:8-9 | "Then Judah said to Onan, 'Go in to your brother's wife...raise up offspring for your brother.'" | Levirate Custom: Early example, Onan's refusal. |
| Ruth 4:5-10 | Boaz explains his duty to "restore the name of the dead to his inheritance." | Levirate in Practice: Raising up an heir. |
| Lk 20:28 | "Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife...and died without children." | Preceding Verse: The same outcome for the first brother. |
| Lk 20:31 | "And the third took her, and in like manner all seven died, leaving no children." | Following Verses: Completion of the repeated pattern. |
| Lk 20:27 | "Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection..." | Sadducees' Belief: Their reason for the question. |
| Acts 23:8 | "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit..." | Sadducees' Theology: Explicit denial of resurrection. |
| Mt 22:23-33 | The parallel account in Matthew's Gospel of the Sadducees' question. | Synoptic Parallel: Matthew's version of the debate. |
| Mk 12:18-27 | The parallel account in Mark's Gospel of the Sadducees' question. | Synoptic Parallel: Mark's version of the debate. |
| Lk 20:34-36 | Jesus' response: "The sons of this age marry...but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age...neither marry nor are given in marriage..." | Jesus' Answer: Explains nature of resurrection. |
| Mt 22:30 | "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage..." | Marriage in Resurrection: Key point of Jesus' teaching. |
| Mk 12:25 | "For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage..." | Marriage in Resurrection: Reinforces the same teaching. |
| Exo 3:6 | "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." | God of the Living: Jesus' proof for resurrection. |
| Rom 6:9-10 | "We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again..." | Nature of Resurrection: Victory over death for believers. |
| 1 Cor 15:42-44 | "So is it with the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory..." | Resurrection Body: Transformed nature of resurrected life. |
| Phil 3:20-21 | "...He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body..." | Transformation: Believers' bodies will be changed. |
| Rev 21:4 | "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more..." | End of Death: Resurrection implies eternal life. |
| 1 Pet 1:3-4 | "...has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..." | Living Hope: Resurrection as basis of Christian hope. |
| John 11:25-26 | "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live..." | Jesus is Resurrection: Ultimate source and meaning. |
| 1 Cor 7:29-31 | "the time is short...those who have wives should live as though they had none...for the present form of this world is passing away." | Temporal Marriage: Earthly relationships temporary. |
Context
Luke 20:30 is embedded within a direct challenge from the Sadducees to Jesus during his final week in Jerusalem. Following encounters where Jesus' authority was questioned (20:1-8) and His teachings on the Kingdom illustrated by the parable of the wicked tenants (20:9-19) and taxes to Caesar (20:20-26), the Sadducees present their unique argument. As a Jewish sect, they were characterized by their strict adherence to the Pentateuch (the first five books of Moses) and, crucially, their rejection of the resurrection of the dead, angels, and spirits—beliefs commonly held by the Pharisees and central to Jesus' own teaching. Their elaborate scenario, rooted in the levirate marriage law (Deut 25:5-10), attempts to expose what they perceive as the logical absurdity of resurrection. By recounting how the first brother died childless (20:28), and now the second (20:30), they meticulously build their case that climaxes with the question of whose wife the woman would be in the resurrection (20:33), aiming to discredit the very concept.
Word Analysis
- And (Καὶ, kai): A simple conjunction, connecting this event to the previous one, showing a continuation of the same scenario.
- the second (ὁ δεύτερος, ho deuteros): An ordinal numeral, marking the progression in the series of seven brothers mentioned. It emphasizes the repetition of the Sadducees' constructed dilemma.
- took her (ἔλαβεν αὐτήν, elaben autēn):
- took (ἔλαβεν, elaben): From the verb lambano, meaning to take, receive, or grasp. In this context, it signifies "took her in marriage," specifically referring to the fulfilling of the levirate duty to marry a deceased brother's wife. This was a legal and social obligation under Jewish law.
- her (αὐτήν, autēn): The woman who was first married to the eldest brother. The focus is on her repeated marriages.
- and he died (καὶ οὗτος ἀπέθανεν, kai houtos apethanen):
- and he (καὶ οὗτος, kai houtos): Literally "and this one." "He" refers to the second brother, reiterating the individual's role in the progression.
- died (ἀπέθανεν, apethanen): From the verb apothnesko, meaning to die, expire, perish. This crucial word indicates the unchanging, unfortunate outcome for each successive brother in the Sadducees' scenario.
- childless (ἄτεκνος, ateknes):
- This is a compound word formed from the negative prefix a- (without) and teknon (child, offspring). It literally means "without child" or "childless."
- Its significance is paramount as the entire purpose of the levirate marriage law (Deut 25:5) was precisely to prevent a brother from dying "childless," by ensuring the deceased's name and lineage continued through an heir fathered by his surviving brother. The Sadducees highlight this repeated "childless" state to show the persistent failure of the law to achieve its aim in their hypothetical, creating a marital entanglement if the dead were to rise. The repeated failure to produce offspring is the linchpin of their objection to the resurrection.
Commentary
Luke 20:30, while a simple declaration, is critical to understanding the Sadducees' cunning argument against the resurrection. This verse functions as the second step in their elaborately constructed, multi-marriage dilemma based on the levirate law. By stating that the second brother also died childless, just like the first, the Sadducees methodically escalate the hypothetical problem. Their premise is that if there is a resurrection, and if marital relationships (governed by earthly laws like levirate marriage) persist into it, then this woman would have an irresolvable dilemma regarding her seven deceased husbands.
The Sadducees were rationalists who only accepted the written Torah, finding no explicit teaching about the resurrection there. Their question was a direct polemic, intended to ridicule the idea of an afterlife where earthly concerns like marriage and progeny—which were so vital to Mosaic Law for continuity and inheritance—would create an unmanageable mess. They projected earthly laws and their limitations onto a future, divine reality. Jesus, in His response (Luke 20:34-36), precisely overturns their flawed premise by explaining that the resurrected state transcends these mortal relationships, making their convoluted scenario irrelevant. He clarifies that marriage, as we know it, is a temporary arrangement for the "sons of this age," whereas those "worthy to attain to that age" are like angels, no longer needing to procreate or adhere to earthly marital structures because death no longer holds sway over them.
Bonus section
- The Sadducees' argument against resurrection highlights a common human tendency: to imagine heaven and eternal life merely as an extension or amplified version of earthly existence, rather than a transformed reality. Jesus' answer fundamentally corrects this limited perspective.
- The detail of "childless" (ἄτεκνος) is key because if any of the brothers had produced children, the levirate obligation would have ceased, rendering the subsequent marriages unnecessary under the law and undermining the Sadducees' carefully crafted chain of events.
- This exchange between Jesus and the Sadducees not only affirms the reality of the resurrection but also offers profound insight into the nature of the resurrected life—a state freed from the limitations, mortality, and reproductive necessities of our current existence. It reveals a future that is qualitative, not just quantitative, different from present life.
- The Sadducees' question was not a genuine search for truth about the resurrection but a rhetorical trap designed to discredit Jesus and the notion of an afterlife. Jesus' masterful answer exposed their lack of understanding of both the power of God and the Scriptures (Mt 22:29).
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