Mat_22:30.
Ἐν
γὰρ
τῇ
ἀναστάσει
] not: in the resurrection life, but, as in Mat_22:28 : at the resurrection (in answer to Fritzsche), which will be signalized not by marrying or giving in marriage, but by ushering in a state of things in which men will be like the angels, therefore a higher form of existence, from which the earthly conditions of life are eliminated, in which human beings will be not indeed disembodied, but endowed with a glorified corporeality, 1Co_15:44. The cessation of human propagation, not the abolition of the distinction of sex (Tertullian, Origen, Hilary, Athanasius, Basil, Grotius, Volkmar), is essentially implied in the
ἀφθαρσία
of the spiritual body. Comp. Luk_20:36.
γαμοῦσιν
] applies to the bridegroom;
γαμίζονται
(Apoll. de Synt. p. 277, 13), on the other hand, to daughters who are given in marriage by their parents.
ἀλλʼ
ὡς
ἄγγελοι
,
κ
.
τ
.
λ
.] but they are as the angels of God in heaven.
ἐν
οὐρανῷ
belongs not to
εἰσί
, but to
ἄγγελοι
τ
.
θεοῦ
, because the partakers in the resurrection (and the Messianic kingdom) are not understood to be in heaven (Mat_25:31 ff.; 1Co_15:52; 2Pe_3:13; not inconsistent with 1Th_4:17). It is obvious from our passage—in which the likeness to the angels has reference to the nature of the future body—that the angels are to be conceived of not as mere spirits, but as possessing a supramundane corporeality. This is necessarily presupposed in the language before us. Comp. 1Co_15:40; Php_2:10; Hahn, Theol. d. N. T. I. p. 267; Weiss, Bibl. Theol. p. 68; Kahnis, Dogm. I. p. 556. The
δόξα
of the angels is essentially connected with their corporeality (in opposition to Delitzsch, Psychol. p. 66).
While a similar idea of the future body and the future mode of existence is met with in Rabbinical writers (see Wetstein), it is also conjoined, however, with the gross materialistic view: “Mulier illa, quae duobus nupsit in hoc mundo, priori restituitur in mundo futuro,” Sohar Gen. f. xxiv. 96.