12:27a

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: At the time that Moses wrote the book of Exodus, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were already dead. They had all been dead for almost two thousand years. Jesus was saying here that the statement in 12:26d implies that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive in some sense. Even though their bodies had died, they still lived and God was still their God. Therefore, Jesus implied, God was able to make their bodies live again. (This implies that our spirits also continue to live even after our bodies die.)

The Sadducees believed that people do not continue to exist after they die. In this verse Jesus implied that if it were true that dead people no longer existed, God would not identify himself as their God.

In some languages it may be confusing to translate the clause “He is not the God of the dead” in a literal way. It may wrongly imply that God no longer cares for people who have died. God does care for people who worshiped him and who have died. Here are possible ways to translate 12:27a to avoid this wrong meaning:

He is not the God of people who no longer exist! He is the God of people who still exist!

He is not the God of the dead: Jesus indicated here that God is not the God of people who have died and ceased to exist. If a person no longer exists, he does not have a god. Jesus explained to the Sadducees that they were wrong when they said that a person does not exist after his body dies. You may need to put a footnote in your translation to explain this strange belief of the Sadducees and how Jesus showed that there is life after death.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

He is not the God of people who have died
-or-
He does not say to the dead, “I am your God”

but: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but shows that there is a contrast between being God of dead people and God of living people. Use a natural way in your language to show this contrast. Another way to say this in English is:

He is not the God of the dead. Rather, he is the God of the living.

of the living: God continues to be the God of his people, even of those who have died. He continues to relate to them as their God, and he will make their bodies alive again in the future. In some languages it may be helpful or even necessary to repeat the words “he is the God” in the second clause. (See the example above).

General Comment on 12:26–27

It is important for you to avoid two possible wrong meanings in 12:26–27. One wrong meaning could be that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not really die. The other wrong meaning could be that God is the God only of people who have not died physically. So your translation may need a note to explain that God is the God of his people even after their bodies have died.

12:27b

You are badly mistaken: Jesus was saying that the Sadducees were very wrong to claim that dead people will not become alive again.

mistaken: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mistaken is the same word that was translated as “mistaken” in 12:24a–c. If it is natural in your language, you can translate it in the same way here.

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