God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
A passage that some think that is supporting the doctrine of “souls” continuing living after death is in Matthew 22:32. There we read:
“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
So people say: “you see: God is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and since He is not a God of the dead but of the living, therefore Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, though they died, they are alive”. However such an isolated consideration of the passage completely ignores its context and can only give wrong results. In fact if you read the above passage you will understand that the first part of it is a half sentence. What happened is the following: the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, came and challenged Jesus asking him whose wife a woman that married seven times will be in the resurrection. Then Jesus gave them the following reply:
Matthew 22:29-32
“Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?” God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."”
“Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?” God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."”
All that Jesus said was about the resurrection! When he said “have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ' I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.", his sentence did not start there! Instead he said this speaking about the resurrection: “But concerning the resurrection of the dead…”. Indeed, God is not a God of dead but of living. Why? Not because the dead are now living somewhere, but because God will raise the dead and they will live again. It is “concerning the resurrection of the dead” that “He is not a God of dead but of living”.
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