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The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas

The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.

The resurrection of the dead

Most Jews, with the Pharisees, expected God to raise the dead to bodily life at the end of the age. The Sadducees denied it. Nobody expected one man to rise ahead of everyone else.

Jewish life and lawWhat people were waiting for

First, in plain English

The family gathered Grandpa's bones into a box and said they would see him again on the last day. Most Jews in Jesus' time believed that God would one day raise the dead to new bodily life, when he set the world right. The Sadducees, the party of the leading priests, said there was no resurrection at all. Those who believed in it expected the dead to rise together at the end, not one person first.

What it meant then

Most Jews of Jesus' day held the Pharisees' view: God would raise them to new life when he brought in the new age. Eternal life was the life of the coming age (Daniel 12:2), promised to the righteous after the resurrection. The Sadducees were notorious for denying it. Rabbis who saw themselves as heirs of the Pharisees counted them heretics for it, and the Pharisees held that the Sadducees would be shut out of the world to come. Josephus says they "take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades." The CSB Study Bible says they believed a person ceased to exist at death. Pharisees argued for the resurrection from the books of Moses, which the Sadducees accepted. Some traditions held that the dead would rise in the form in which they died before being made whole. Martyrs expected to get back limbs lost in God's service (2 Maccabees 7:11). Keener ties the custom of gathering bones into a box a year after burial to the hope of a bodily resurrection. He also explains why some who saw the risen Jesus doubted: they expected everyone to rise at once at the end, so a Messiah raised first did not fit. Martha's belief in the resurrection at the last day was that of the Pharisees and of most Jews. Wright reads Lazarus, who came back to ordinary life still bound in grave clothes, as a signpost only. Greeks had no final judgment and no bodily resurrection. They pictured a shadowy underworld or the soul's flight upward, and educated Romans thought the idea barbarian.

The bridge to today

An analogy: a promise that a demolished family home will be rebuilt on the same plot, with the same family moving back in. It is not a move to another country, and nobody expects one room to be finished years ahead of the rest.

What it changes in the reading

Resurrection was a disputed hope, so the Sadducees' riddle in Matthew 22:23-28 tests a known position, and Paul can split a council over it in Acts 23:6-8. Because the dead were expected to rise together at the end, one man raised ahead of the rest, the firstfruits of 1 Corinthians 15:20, was new.

Where the analogy breaks

Not the whole story once Easter came. The analogy fits the Jewish hope that everyone would be raised together at the end. The Gospels report the Messiah raised ahead of everyone else, which is why some who saw him doubted. Nor is the hope the survival of the soul alone.

Where scholars disagree

Why the Sadducees rejected it. The ESV Study Bible points to their canon: they drew mainly or only on the five books of Moses, where the theme is less developed. Wright gives a political reason: they knew it was a revolutionary doctrine and, as the people in power, wanted to stop it.

Passages where it appears

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-22-23-33\/","n":"Matthew 22:23-33, Seven brothers and one bride","s":"Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, pose a riddle about a woman married in turn to seven brothers. Jesus answers that the raised do not marry, and that God is the God of the living.","r":"Matthew 22:23-33"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-28-1-15\/","n":"Matthew 28:1-15, Women at dawn and a bribed guard","s":"At dawn after the Sabbath an angel rolls back the stone and tells two women that Jesus is risen. They meet him on the road, while the chief priests pay the guards to say the disciples stole the body.","r":"Matthew 28:1-15"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-14-1-14\/","n":"Luke 14:1-14, Dropsy at a Pharisee's table, and guests who cannot repay","s":"On a Sabbath at the house of a leading Pharisee, Jesus heals a man with dropsy, tells the guests not to grab the best places, and tells the host to invite people who cannot invite him back.","r":"Luke 14:1-14"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-20-27-40\/","n":"Luke 20:27-40, The Sadducees and the woman with seven husbands","s":"Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, ask whose wife a woman married to seven brothers will be. Jesus answers that the risen do not marry and are like the angels, and argues from the burning bush.","r":"Luke 20:27-40"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-24-36-53\/","n":"Luke 24:36-53, Not a ghost; hands lifted in blessing","s":"Jesus stands among the disciples, who think they are seeing a ghost. He shows his hands and feet and eats fish, opens the Scriptures to them, and leads them out to Bethany, where he lifts his hands and blesses them.","r":"Luke 24:36-53"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-5-19-47\/","n":"John 5:19-47, The Son sent by the Father, and his witnesses","s":"Jesus answers the charge of making himself equal with God: the Son does what he sees the Father doing, gives life and judges, and has witnesses in John, in his works, in the Father and in the Scriptures.","r":"John 5:19-47"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-11-1-44\/","n":"John 11:1-44, Lazarus four days in the tomb","s":"Jesus waits two days after hearing that his friend Lazarus is ill, reaches Bethany to find him four days buried, weeps with the mourners, and calls him out of the tomb still bound in his grave clothes.","r":"John 11:1-44"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-16-16-33\/","n":"John 16:16-33, A woman in labor","s":"Jesus tells the puzzled disciples that in a little while they will not see him and then will see him again, and that their grief will turn to joy like a mother's after childbirth. He warns that they will be scattered.","r":"John 16:16-33"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-20-1-18\/","n":"John 20:1-18, The empty tomb and the gardener","s":"Mary Magdalene finds the stone moved and runs to Peter and the beloved disciple, who see the linen cloths lying in the empty tomb. Weeping outside, she takes the risen Jesus for the gardener until he says her name, and he sends her to tell the others.","r":"John 20:1-18"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-20-19-31\/","n":"John 20:19-31, Locked doors, and my Lord and my God","s":"On the evening of the first day Jesus stands among the disciples behind locked doors, shows his hands and side, sends them as the Father sent him and breathes the Spirit on them. A week later Thomas sees the wounds and confesses him as Lord and God.","r":"John 20:19-31"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-4-1-31\/","n":"Acts 4:1-31, Before the temple rulers","s":"The temple authorities arrest Peter and John for proclaiming the resurrection in Jesus. Before the council the unschooled fishermen speak boldly, are warned and released, and pray with the believers in the words of Psalm 2.","r":"Acts 4:1-31"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-17-16-21\/","n":"Acts 17:16-21, Athens: idols, the marketplace and the philosophers","s":"Waiting in Athens, Paul is distressed at a city full of idols. He argues in the synagogue and the marketplace, and Epicurean and Stoic philosophers take him for a preacher of foreign gods and bring him to the Areopagus.","r":"Acts 17:16-21"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-17-22-34\/","n":"Acts 17:22-34, Paul before the Areopagus","s":"Before the Areopagus, Paul starts from an altar to an unknown god and from the Athenians' own poets, speaks of the one Creator who made every nation from one man, and ends with a coming judgment and a man raised from the dead. Some mock; a few believe.","r":"Acts 17:22-34"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-22-30-23-11\/","n":"Acts 22:30-23:11, Paul before the council","s":"The tribune brings Paul before the chief priests and the council. Struck on the high priest's order, Paul calls him a whitewashed wall, then declares himself a Pharisee on trial for the hope of the resurrection, and the council splits.","r":"Acts 22:30-23:11"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-24-1-27\/","n":"Acts 24:1-27, The hearing before Felix","s":"The high priest's orator Tertullus charges Paul before Felix with stirring up riots and trying to profane the temple. Paul answers point by point; Felix puts off a decision and keeps him in custody for two years, hoping for a bribe.","r":"Acts 24:1-27"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-25-13-26-32\/","n":"Acts 25:13-26:32, Agrippa and Bernice hear Paul","s":"King Agrippa II and his sister Bernice visit Festus, who asks them to hear Paul so that he will have something to write to the emperor. Paul tells his story; Festus calls him mad, Agrippa turns the question aside, and all agree he could have been set free had he not appealed to Caesar.","r":"Acts 25:13-26:32"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-6-12-20\/","n":"1 Corinthians 6:12-20, The body and the prostitute","s":"Answering slogans such as everything is permissible and food is for the stomach, Paul argues that the body belongs to the Lord, will be raised, and must not be joined to a prostitute, for believers were bought at a price.","r":"1 Corinthians 6:12-20"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-15-1-11\/","n":"1 Corinthians 15:1-11, What I received","s":"Paul reminds the Corinthians of the good news he handed on to them as he had received it: that Christ died for sins, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas, the Twelve, more than five hundred, James, all the apostles and last of all to Paul.","r":"1 Corinthians 15:1-11"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-15-12-34\/","n":"1 Corinthians 15:12-34, If the dead are not raised","s":"Against some who say there is no resurrection of the dead, Paul argues that then Christ was not raised either, calls Christ the firstfruits, and asks why anyone is baptized for the dead or why he fights wild beasts if the dead are not raised.","r":"1 Corinthians 15:12-34"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-15-35-58\/","n":"1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Seeds, stars and the last trumpet","s":"Asked what kind of body the dead will have, Paul answers with the seed that dies and rises as a plant and with the differing glories of sun, moon and stars, sets the first Adam beside the last, and ends with the trumpet and death swallowed up.","r":"1 Corinthians 15:35-58"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-4-7-18\/","n":"2 Corinthians 4:7-18, Treasure in clay jars","s":"Paul carries God's treasure in a clay jar, hard pressed but not crushed, carrying Jesus' dying in his body so that Jesus' life may show, while the outer self wastes away and the inner self is renewed day by day.","r":"2 Corinthians 4:7-18"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-5-1-10\/","n":"2 Corinthians 5:1-10, The tent and the judgment seat","s":"Paul sets the earthly tent of the body against a building from God, longs to be clothed rather than found naked, names the Spirit as a down payment, and says that all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.","r":"2 Corinthians 5:1-10"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-1-12-26\/","n":"Philippians 1:12-26, Chains known to the whole palace guard","s":"Paul tells how his imprisonment has carried the gospel through the palace guard and made other preachers bolder, some from rivalry, then weighs living against dying and expects to stay on for their sake.","r":"Philippians 1:12-26"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-3-12-4-1\/","n":"Philippians 3:12-4:1, The race, citizens of heaven, and a Savior from there","s":"Paul pictures himself as a runner straining toward the prize, warns against those whose god is their stomach, and reminds a Roman colony that its citizenship is in heaven, from where it awaits a Savior who will transform its lowly bodies.","r":"Philippians 3:12-4:1"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1thessalonians-1-1-10\/","n":"1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Turned to God from idols","s":"Paul, Silas and Timothy thank God for a young church that received the message in the middle of suffering, whose story is now told everywhere: they turned to God from idols to serve him and to wait for his Son from heaven.","r":"1 Thessalonians 1:1-10"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1thessalonians-4-13-18\/","n":"1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Grief with hope, and the welcoming party","s":"Paul tells a grieving church that believers who have died are not lost: when the Lord comes down from heaven with a shout, the archangel's voice and God's trumpet, the dead in Christ will rise first, and the living will be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air.","r":"1 Thessalonians 4:13-18"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2timothy-2-14-26\/","n":"2 Timothy 2:14-26, Gangrene, a resurrection already past, and vessels in a great house","s":"Timothy is to warn the church against quarreling about words and to handle the word of truth correctly; the teaching of Hymenaeus and Philetus, who say the resurrection has already happened, spreads like gangrene, but God's foundation stands sealed, and in a great house some vessels are for honor and some for dishonor.","r":"2 Timothy 2:14-26"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-20-1-6\/","n":"Revelation 20:1-6, Satan bound and the thousand years","s":"An angel with the key to the Abyss and a great chain seizes the dragon, binds him for a thousand years and seals him in the Abyss so that he cannot deceive the nations. Those beheaded for their witness, who refused the beast and its mark, come to life and reign with Christ for the thousand years, the first resurrection, over which the second death has no power.","r":"Revelation 20:1-6"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-20-7-15\/","n":"Revelation 20:7-15, Gog and Magog and the great white throne","s":"Released at the end of the thousand years, Satan gathers Gog and Magog, the nations from the four corners of the earth, around the camp of God's people, but fire from heaven consumes them and the devil is thrown into the lake of fire. Before a great white throne the dead, given up by the sea, death and Hades, are judged from the books, and anyone not found in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire, the second death.","r":"Revelation 20:7-15"}

Sources

N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Matthew 22:23-33
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 22:23, 22:29-33, 25:46, 27:59-60 and 28:17
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 18:8, 19:16, 22:23 and 22:29
ESV Study Bible, study note on Matthew 22:23
CSB Study Bible, note on Matthew 22:23
Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 2.8.14, trans. William Whiston
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on John 11:24
ESV Study Bible, study note on John 11:24
N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, ch. 9, Hope Refocused (1): Gospel Traditions Outside the Easter Narratives
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 17:31, 17:32 and 26:24
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 17:31 and 17:32

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