Mark 12:27

27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are very much mistaken!"

Mark 12:27 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 12:27

He is not the God of the dead
This is our Lord's reasoning upon the passage; showing from hence, that since God is the God of these persons, they must be now alive in their souls, for God is not the God of the dead; and that their bodies must rise again, or he will not be the God of their whole persons;

but the God, of the living:
the word "God", in this clause, is omitted in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, but retained in the Persic and Ethiopic versions; (See Gill on Matthew 22:32);

ye therefore do greatly err;
signifying, that it was not a slight mistake, an error of small importance, but a very great one; inasmuch as it was contrary to the Scriptures, and derogated from the power of God, and destroyed that covenant interest, which God has in his people, and particularly in the principal men of their nation, who were the fathers and founders of them.

Mark 12:27 In-Context

25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

26 Now concerning the dead, that they are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses {in the passage about the bush} how God spoke to him, saying, 'I [am] the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'?

27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are very much mistaken!"

28 And one of the scribes came up [and] heard them debating. [When he] saw that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?"

29 Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one.