The Likeness of the Angels

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this answer, and they do not use the same number of words. That is normal for eyewitness accounts. One witness keeps a detail another one leaves out, and putting them together gives you the fuller picture.

Matthew and Mark both say that people “will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven.” Mark 12:25 Luke records it this way:

But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In fact, they can no longer die, because they are like the angels. And since they are sons of the resurrection, they are sons of God. Luke 20:35-36

In Luke, the reason no one marries is that they can no longer die, and he ties that to being like the angels. So the likeness has a job in the sentence. It explains why marrying stops.

Reading the Accounts Together

I am careful not to read too much into a word choice unless there is a logical reason to. Being like the angels, or equal to them, can be true for many reasons. It is about certain things we will share with them, not about everything. And in this small set of verses, the wording could easily be swapped from one account to another without changing the point. So I do not build anything on the exact word. What matters is taking all of the eyewitness accounts together, not just the ones we prefer, and Luke's account tells us the reason he heard: they can no longer die.

What People Add

We become spirits. We are already spiritual beings with souls, right now. The promise is a body raised, not a soul finally let out. When Jesus rose, He said, “Touch Me and see—for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” Luke 24:39 Then He ate a piece of broiled fish in front of them. Luke 24:42-43 Angels can take a physical form. Abraham fed three visitors, and Hebrews says “some people have entertained angels without knowing it” Hebrews 13:2. Genesis 18:8 But I do not believe that is their normal state, and we are promised new bodies. So that does not seem to be what these verses are talking about.

We will finally be focused on God's glory. Worship is real, and the angels do it. But we are told to do it now: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:2 We do it poorly, but that does not mean we do not do it. The resurrection does not bring in a new duty. Luke brings in a new fact: death is finished.

Angels have no gender, so we will have none. The Bible does not give us a biology of angels. Gabriel is called “the man I had seen in the earlier vision” Daniel 9:21, and at the empty tomb Mark describes “a young man dressed in a white robe” Mark 16:5. Zechariah does see “two women approaching, with the wind in their wings” Zechariah 5:9, though the text does not call them angels. Either way, we should not build what we believe about men and women on what the Bible never says about angels. We should put the likeness where Luke put it.

Sons of the Resurrection

Luke adds one more phrase: “since they are sons of the resurrection, they are sons of God” Luke 20:36. The likeness to the angels sits right next to being sons of God. The people in this sentence are raised human beings. They have not been turned into a different kind of creature.

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