Although Scripture can be a bit enigmatic about the nature of heaven, Jesus does make one thing clear in the Gospel of Luke: even if we marry on this earth to an earthly spouse, we will not stay married to them in heaven.

One may wonder how this question comes about. Of all the things to wonder about heaven, a spouse doesn’t necessarily top the list of questions one may think to ask.

However, it seems reasonable that Christians may wonder about this. Many Christians have lost a spouse along the way and want to reunite with them in heaven.

Others may have experienced a divorce (or a few divorces) and may wonder which spouse they’d be married to in heaven. Or even others have remarried along the way, and would that mean they’d be married to both spouses? How would that work?

However, when the Sadducees queried Jesus about the nature in heaven, they had something different in mind. They posed the question as such:

If a man’s brother dies, the wife of the late brother would marry the brother. For the sake of clarity, we’ll label the brother who died as Brother One, and the new brother as Brother Two. Brother Two is obligated to marry Brother One’s wife under Judeo law.

Brother Two dies and Brother Three marries the woman and so on until she marries all seven brothers and bears no children.

They asked Jesus whose wife she’d be in the resurrection. Now, we have to keep the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead (Mark 12:18).

Hellenized and under the social graces of the Romans, they gave up parts of their Jewish identity and beliefs in order to fit in with society. That included the belief in a resurrection. By asking this question, they want to prove the idiocy of Jesus’ claims by saying, “See! He believes in the resurrection, but there’s logical problems with the resurrection if she’s technically married to seven men.”

So when they posed the question, “Who would she be married to in heaven?” they were really seeking to trip Jesus up. They didn’t really care about the answer, so long as the answer made Jesus appear foolish.

What Does the Bible Say About Marriage in Heaven?

Nevertheless, Jesus does answer their question in Luke 20:27-38.

In essence, he says no, we don’t stay married to those we married on earth. In Luke 20:34-35, he replies, “… ‘The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage…’”

The Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the passage digs even deeper into the reasoning for this.

First, we have to understand that metaphysical nature of the world to come is entirely different than the world we live in now. They operate by different measures.

Second, among many other purposes, marriage serves the purpose of death in this world. Although that statement may seem like a contradiction, Matthew Henry explains it as thus.

Essentially, we marry to be a reflection of Jesus Christ and the church, avoid sexual sin, and to produce offspring to fill the earth. That third purpose, the purpose to procreate, fills the hole of death in this world (Genesis 1:28).

But in heaven, death doesn’t exist. Neither does temptation and sin. That eradicates the first two purposes. Third, marriage is a reflection of the relationship between Christ and the Church.

But in heaven, we no longer see in a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12). Why settle for a reflection when we have the best kind of marriage at our fingertips in heaven: the marriage of Christ and his Church? More on this later.