Married to Christ: A Look at Matthew 22:23–33

Married to Christ: A Look at Matthew 22:23–33


“At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”

—Matthew 22:30



This verse has long unsettled people who’ve loved deeply in marriage. Will we not know our spouses in the afterlife? Will the memories of our covenant bonds vanish?


In Matthew 22:23–33, Jesus addresses a trap laid by the Sadducees—a group that denied the resurrection. They present a bizarre hypothetical: a woman who married seven brothers (per levirate law), all of whom died. They ask, “In the resurrection, whose wife will she be?”


But Jesus isn’t playing their game. His reply both affirms the resurrection and reshapes how we think about covenant, marriage, and the age to come.




1. The Sadducees’ Trap Was Legal, Not Romantic


The Sadducees weren’t concerned with love or emotional attachments. Their question was a legal challenge: “If resurrection is real, how does the Law (levirate marriage) work in the next age?”


Jesus doesn’t dismantle marriage—He dismantles their misuse of Torah. In the resurrection, the legal institution of earthly marriage ends—not the relational love we’ve experienced within it.



2. “Like Angels”: A Shift in Covenant Status, Not in Consciousness


When Jesus says we’ll be “like angels,” He’s not suggesting that we’ll become genderless or emotionless. He means that in the resurrection, we won’t marry or be given in marriage, because our covenantal identity has shifted.


In the old covenant, physical marriage was a picture of covenant fidelity and fruitfulness. But in the new age—the one inaugurated by Christ and consummated in the fullness of His presence—we become corporately married to Him (Rom. 7:4; Rev. 21:2). Our deepest identity becomes that of a bride adorned for her Husband.


But this doesn’t imply amnesia. The resurrection doesn’t erase who we were; it glorifies it.



3. Love Remembered, Transformed, Not Lost


If love is enduring, how could our experience of marriage be discarded or forgotten? Paul says, “Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:8). Earthly marriage may not continue in its legal form, but its love, sacrifice, growth, and memories is a part of who we are.


In fact, as those now raised with Christ (Col. 3:1), we already share in this spiritual union—and yet we still remember those we’ve loved and lost. That’s not incompatible; it’s redemptive. It means that in being united with Christ, we don’t lose what shaped us—we see it fulfilled.


We are now part of a new and better marriage—one that doesn’t compete with past relationships but redeems and reframes them.



4. Resurrection Is About Restoration, Not Replacement


Jesus' answer to the Sadducees wasn't about denying human bonds; it was about showing that the resurrection life is not constrained by old legal categories. In this new reality:


We are no longer bound by laws like levirate marriage (which existed because of death).


We are no longer defined by bloodline obligations or reproductive purposes.


We are raised into a kingdom where death no longer rules, and thus, marriage as a legal protection against death is no longer needed.



Yet our memories, our stories, our love—that’s part of who we are. And God doesn’t wipe out our identities when He resurrects us. He perfects them.




5. Married to Christ, Not in Isolation


Being “married to Christ” isn’t individualistic—it’s corporate. We, the Church, are His bride. That means the relationships we had on earth don’t become irrelevant—they become part of our shared testimony in the new creation.


Think of it like this: when you enter a new covenant (as we do in Christ), you don’t forget the old covenant—you understand it in light of the new. Similarly, when we are joined to Christ, the love and covenant faithfulness we experienced in marriage will not be undone—it will be understood through a greater lens.




Conclusion


The age to come is not about forgetting our past marriages, but about seeing them fully—not through the lens of loss, but of fulfillment. We are married to Christ in a way that transcends legal contracts and touches the core of who we are. But we won’t forget the spouses who walked beside us, the sacrifices made, the joys shared, or the stories told. Love never fails. And in Christ, it is never lost.


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