He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are therefore badly mistaken.”
- KJV He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.
- BSB He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
- NKJV He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.”
- NLT So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus concludes that God is the God of the living, not the dead, so the Sadducees are badly mistaken.
Overview
Because God remains the covenant God of the patriarchs, they live before Him and will be raised. Jesus thus affirms the resurrection and exposes the Sadducees' grave error. His teaching assures believers that death does not sever God's covenant faithfulness, which is fully secured in Christ's own resurrection.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Rom 14:9For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
- Mark 12:24Jesus answered them, “Isn’t this because you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God?
- Rom 4:17As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.
- Heb 11:13–16These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
- Heb 3:10Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways;’
- Prov 19:27If you stop listening to instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 12:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.