“Like the Angels in Heaven” (Mark 12:25). The Significance of Comparison and the Celibacy of the Resurrected

Abstract

The subject of the study is the significance of comparing the resurrected to the angels. Many commentators identify the state of celibacy as their common feature. This explanation is based on some of the texts of Jewish apocalypticism considered as parallel to the answers of Jesus. This interpretation does not accurately render the meaning of the conjunction “but” (ἀλλά), which combines the clause depicting the resurrected as unmarried with the other part of the sentence containing this comparison. The sentence introduced by this conjunction does not elaborate or explain the announcement of celibacy because its content is the promise that the resurrected will dwell with God like the angels who are in heaven.