What Jesus says to the Saducee is that God is not the God of the dead but of the living. This catches them in their literalism. He specifically does not call death the beginning of a new life. You are adding that, and I take issue. Jesus own parable (Lazarus & the Rich Man) makes the point that a resurrection cannot convince anyone to repent, yet you have just told me the opposite that repentance will give me an extra life. Surely you see the irony? I consider repentance to be a resurrection from a false life that is dead in sins and for good reason. Also Devil is a Jewish concept akin to the prosecutor in a courtroom, only it is someone who makes a false charge and presses it against someone. Sin first appears in the story of Cain. Sin crouches at Cain's door ready to conquer him. This should remind you of the term Satan used in Christianity. It does not? You do not see that the Devil and Satan are part of you and I? What does James say but that each person is dragged away by his own sin and enticed and dies as a result. Literalism tends to obfuscate it.
What we can see from Jesus' interaction with the Saducee is their carnality. Your definition of literalism, seems to be carnality. The Saducee were not thinking from a spiritual or spirit-filled standpoint as Jesus was. This reminds me of Nicodemus who did not understand Christ's message of being born again, a spiritual concept (John 3:3-7).
It seems we may have a different interpretation of life. When the Sadducees came to Jesus, they inquired, " In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife" (23). They believed that once one is resurrected (from the dead) they would carry on earthly functions in heaven. Christ clarified that such belief does not correlate with God's declaration that he is the God of the living not the dead. So we must ask ourselves what kind of "living/life" is Jesus talking about? If there is such a thing as the resurrection, where those that die rise up again...are they still declared dead? When Jesus Christ rose from the grave was he declared dead or alive? Did he have the same body that he had on earth or was there a new one?
Christ made several points through his parable, however, it would not be right to say that Christ Jesus' resurrection did not bring many to repentance. After all, it is by his death and resurrection we are free from sin and given power over the devil. Because to say, "resurrection cannot convince anyone to repent" is to say that Christ's death and resurrection can not save us.
Haha! I had to reread your comment a few times to really grasp what you are talking about. What I am telling you is this,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death unto life" (John 5:24).
Question, how can someone who is alive (you would need to be alive to hear the word of Jesus Christ and believe in God) be passed from death to life? Because it is a spiritual event that Jesus makes plain through his comment to a potential follower, "Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:60). And what of this verse, "But
she that
liveth in pleasure is
dead while she liveth" (1 Timothy 5:6). And what of the Old Testament stance, "...
the soul that sinneth,
it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4) and when God told Adam and Eve of the punishment for disobedience, "for in the day that
thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely
die" (Gen 2:17). And let me remind you, Adam and eve were not immortal either (Gen 3:22), and yet after eating the fruit they did not die. What we do see is a separation from God and the lack of knowledge of God. Adam and Eve were not able to relate with God as they used to neither were they able to walk with God and commune as previously. And taking into consideration the verses within the New Testament, we see a behind the scenes of what God meant by "ye shall die". It is not a physical death, as that is guaranteed because they weren't immortal, but it was a spiritual death in which they would be separated from God, who is life; "For as the Father hath
life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have
life in himself" (John 5:26). This can be extended to everyone today. Because of sin we are dead/separated from God, who is life. But, when we accept Jesus Christ, the light of the world and the life, we are revived/resurrected/born again, making us dead to sin, and free from bondage.
Reading the New Testament opens ones eyes to grasp the spiritual which is extremely necessary when going through life. Man was created with a spirit and a body. It doesn't make sense that we only focus on the physical/earthly aspect of our life and ignore the spiritual. As creations of God, we should also be aware of the warfare that's going on spiritually between good and evil, God and the devil.
The word sin appears with Cain, but what is sin? Sin is simply anything that goes against the word of God, anything that is wrong/evil/unrighteous as defined by God. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they sinned. Even without the word being mentioned, we see that sin has been in existence before the birth of Cain. What's also interesting to note, is that the devil/Satan/Lucifer was not in God's creation; man was never inherently evil but because of sin, because man gave over their dominion to the devil, it tossed everyone into slavery, into sin; making us children of the devil rather than children of God (1 John 3:8). This reminds me of Snow White, when the evil witch poisons her and having both the title of the most beautiful in the land and also remaining queen over the kingdom.
But the beauty of Jesus Christ's death on the cross is that it brings an end to sin and gives us our dominion/rulership/kingship back. Enabling us to be sons and daughters of God and allowing us to be awarded the same power Jesus Christ had on earth. Of course it doesn't mean we are God, but it means we can be like him.
"The disciple is not above
his master, nor the servant above his lord" (Matthew 10:24).
Simple. He repents and is made righteous. You wish to believe the man gets another life, but the message is for us to encourage us not to disregard a moment nor the value of repentance. The thief is in paradise not will be. The Greek (so I am told) can translate to "Today I tell you you are with me in paradise." Nevertheless even if it doesn't translate our lives should be about love not about heaven and escaping from our duties.
People who say, "our lives should be about love not about heaven and escaping from our duties" have failed to understand the core of Christianity. The core of Christianity is love. The Bible is a love letter from God to mankind warning us about the doom that is to come. And, it calls us to repent and to come to him for freedom from sin and destruction. The world we live in is sinful and evil because of the sinfulness of mankind and the devil's tactics in keeping man in sin. God, who plans on judging the world, the people who do evil, and the devil who deceived them, is calling us to flee from sin by believing on Jesus Christ and living like him. Promising us freedom from sin, protection over our lives, and the chance to live with him forever. That is the point of our creation, to be with God and to commune with him as was done before the fall in Genesis. Now that the world is tainted with sin, God promises to destroy evil, punish bad and re-establish that environment of peace, love and freedom as was seen with Adam and Eve.
The whole duty of man is, "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this
is the whole
duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13) and for Christians, "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). When we keep the commandments of God, when we live by the teachings of Jesus Christ, we become the embodiment of love. Our devotion is to God, our desire is to be with God. It's like sending your child to school, at the end of the day, they want to come home. That can be extended to Christians, we are sent out to preach the gospel of love and live by it until its time to go home. We do not forget our duty of preaching and loving those who hate us and neither do we forget the promise Jesus Christ made to us, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if
it were not
so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2-3).
I hope this clarified a few things. If you have any more thoughts that are outside of the topic feel free to let me know and we can continue in pm or maybe in person.
God bless!