New Testament · Gospel

Mark 12:18

The Widow's Offering

Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned Him: Mark 12:18 · Berean Standard Bible
What It Means

Mark 12:18, in plain English

Next up: the Sadducees, a group who didn't believe in resurrection at all. They came to Jesus with a question they thought would stump Him.

Why it's here

The Sadducees were wealthy, powerful, and religiously conservative. They only accepted the first five books of the Bible and saw no evidence for life after death.

Who's speaking

Mark introduces the Sadducees as they approach Jesus.

Where it sits in the story

It's like a gauntlet — one group after another lines up to challenge Jesus. First the leaders, then the Pharisees and Herodians, and now the Sadducees.

A Closer Look

The scholarly reading

The Sadducees, the aristocratic priestly party who denied resurrection, now approach Jesus with a question designed to demonstrate the absurdity of afterlife beliefs.

Language and setting

The Sadducees accepted only the Torah (Pentateuch) as authoritative and argued that resurrection was absent from Mosaic law, making it a later theological innovation.

Voice

Mark introduces the Sadducees and their challenge to Jesus.

Significance

A third hostile group now confronts Jesus, this time targeting His theological position on resurrection with what they consider an unanswerable logical puzzle.

In context

Mark 12:16–20

16So they brought it, and He asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

17Then Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

18Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned Him:

19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.

20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died, leaving no children.

Read all of Mark 12 — Trick questions from every direction, a scribe who almost gets it, and a poor widow who gives everything — two small coins that outweigh them all.

Understand every verse, not just this one

This page covers one. BibleKey does all 31,102 — tap any verse for its meaning, any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, and keep reading without leaving the chapter.

Get BibleKey

Understand every verse.

Not just the famous ones. BibleKey is free on iPhone and iPad.

Download on the App Store

Free on iPhone & iPad