I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
All Commentaries on Matthew 22:32 Go To Matthew 22
John Chrysostom
AD 407
And again by Moses does He stop their mouths, since they too had brought forward Moses; and He says, But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Not of them that are not His meaning is, and that are utterly blotted out, and are to rise no more. For He said not, I was, but, I am; of them that are, and them that live. For like as Adam, although he lived on the day that he ate of the tree, died in the sentence: even so also these, although they had died, lived in the promise of the resurrection.
How then does He say elsewhere, That He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living? Romans 14:9 But this is not contrary to that. For here He speaks of the dead, who are also themselves to live. And moreover too, I am the God of Abraham, is another thing from, That He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. He knew of another death too, concerning which He says, Let the dead bury their dead. Matthew 8:22
