The Meaning of Luke 20:27 Explained

Luke 20:27

KJV: Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,

YLT: And certain of the Sadducees, who are denying that there is a rising again, having come near, questioned him,

Darby: And some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection, coming up to him,

ASV: And there came to him certain of the Sadducees, they that say that there is no resurrection;

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Then  came  to [him] certain  of the Sadducees,  which  deny  that there is  any  resurrection;  and they asked  him, 

What does Luke 20:27 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Luke had not identified the party affiliations of Jesus" former critics as Matthew and Mark did. These Jewish parties would not have been of much interest to his original readers. However here he identified the Sadducees by name. He needed to do this because of their denial of the resurrection that was the central problem that they brought to Jesus. Most Greeks denied the resurrection of the body too (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:12). Much Greek psychology viewed the body as the temporary prison of the soul that was immortal.
Jesus had taught much about the future and had implied that He believed in the resurrection of the body (e.g, Luke 19:11-28). The Sadducees opposed the Pharisees at many points because they believed the Pharisees had departed too far from the teachings of the Old Testament. In one sense the Sadducees were liberal in their theology since they denied much that is supernatural (e.g, the resurrection, angels, and spirits; Acts 23:8). On the other hand they were quite conservative in that they based their views on a strict interpretation of Old Testament teachings and rejected the oral traditions.

Context Summary

Luke 20:27-40 - The God Of The Living
Here our Lord answers the materialism of His time. He speaks with the note of absolute certainty concerning the unseen, Hebrews 11:27. Its inhabitants do not die or marry, nor are they subject to the conditions of our earthly life. These are the children of the resurrection. What an inspiring title! May it be applied to us as in Colossians 3:1-4? Too many are "the sons of this age," Luke 20:34, r.v., margin! They adopt this transient earth as their foster parent! We cannot belong to both, though some, like Bunyan's waterman, row in one direction, while they look in another.
How wonderful to find a proof of immortality in that passage about the bush, Exodus 3:6! The fact that Jehovah said, "I am the God of Abraham," proved that the patriarch was in existence somewhere at that moment. Those whom we describe as dead are living people who have died. Death is but a passage, a step. There is no break in the chain of existence. Yonder and here all live unto God, Romans 14:8. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 20

1  Jesus confirms his authority by a question of John's baptism
9  The parable of the vineyard
19  Of giving tribute to Caesar
27  He instructs the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection
41  How Jesus is the Son of David
45  He warns his disciples to beware of the scribes

Greek Commentary for Luke 20:27

There is no resurrection [αναστασιν μη ειναι]
Accusative and infinitive with negative μη — mē in indirect assertion. The Sadducees rally after the complete discomfiture of the Pharisees and Herodians. They had a stock conundrum with which they had often gotten a laugh on the Pharisees. So they volunteer to try it on Jesus. For discussion of details here see Matthew 22:23-33; and notes on Mark 12:18-27. Only a few striking items remain for Luke. [source]
Asked []
See on Mark 12:18. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 20:27

1 John 2:22 But [ει μη]
Except, if not.That denieth that Jesus is the Christ (ο αρνουμενος οτι Ιησους ουκ εστιν ο Χριστος — ho arnoumenos hoti Iēsous ouk estin ho Christos). Common Greek idiom for ουκ — ouk to appear after αρνεομαι — arneomai like redundant μη — mē in Luke 20:27; Hebrews 12:19. The old Latin retains non here as old English did (Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors IV. ii. 7, “He denied you had in him no right”). The Cerinthian Gnostics denied the identity of the man Jesus and Christ (an αεον — aeon they held) like the modern Jesus or Christ controversy.This is the antichrist The one just mentioned, Cerinthus himself in particular.Even he that denieth the Father and the Son (ο αρνουμενος τον πατερα και τον υιον — ho arnoumenos ton patera kai ton huion). This is the inevitable logic of such a rejection of the Son of God. Jesus had himself said this very same thing (John 5:23.). [source]
1 John 2:22 That denieth that Jesus is the Christ [ο αρνουμενος οτι Ιησους ουκ εστιν ο Χριστος]
Common Greek idiom for ουκ — ouk to appear after αρνεομαι — arneomai like redundant μη — mē in Luke 20:27; Hebrews 12:19. The old Latin retains non here as old English did (Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors IV. ii. 7, “He denied you had in him no right”). The Cerinthian Gnostics denied the identity of the man Jesus and Christ (an αεον — aeon they held) like the modern Jesus or Christ controversy. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 20:27 mean?

Having approached then some of the Sadducees the ones denying a resurrection not there is they questioned Him
Προσελθόντες δέ τινες τῶν Σαδδουκαίων οἱ ἀντιλέγοντες ἀνάστασιν μὴ εἶναι ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν

Προσελθόντες  Having  approached 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: προσέρχομαι  
Sense: to come to, approach.
τινες  some 
Parse: Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: τὶς  
Sense: a certain, a certain one.
τῶν  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Σαδδουκαίων  Sadducees 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: Σαδδουκαῖος  
Sense: a religious party at the time of Christ among the Jews, who denied that the oral law was a revelation of God to the Israelites, and who deemed the written law alone to be obligatory on the nation, as the divine authority. They denied the following doctrines:.
οἱ  the  ones 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἀντιλέγοντες  denying 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀντιλέγω  
Sense: to speak against, gainsay, contradict.
ἀνάστασιν  a  resurrection 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀνάστασις  
Sense: a raising up, rising (e.
εἶναι  there  is 
Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Active
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
ἐπηρώτησαν  they  questioned 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: ἐπερωτάω  
Sense: to accost one with an enquiry, put a question to, enquiry of, ask, interrogate.