The Pharisees and Sadducees feature prominently in the Gospels and the book of Acts in the New Testament. Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles interact with them, mostly in negative confrontations. Students of the Bible can better understand the significance and nature of these encounters by understanding a bit about who they were and what they believed. (Also see “4 Tips for Understanding the Gospels” and “Why the Political History of the Bible Matters for Bible Study.”)

The origin of these two groups is uncertain because little information exists from history and nothing from Scripture to tell us. But both rose to prominence during the Intertestamental Period, probably in the second century B.C. (Also see “What Happened Between the Old and New Testaments?” and “What is the Post-Exilic Period in the Bible?”)

By the time of Jesus, the Pharisees and Sadducees were solidly entrenched as religious and political leaders in Judaism. Both sects held seats in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, but the Sadducees were the majority members.

Who were the Pharisees?

According to the first century Jewish historian Josephus, there were about 6,000 Pharisees during the time of Jesus. Many scholars believe their name means “separated ones.” It’s possible they earned this name due to their zeal for the Law. Josephus wrote that the Pharisees appeared “more religious” than others and seemed to “interpret the laws more accurately.”

The Pharisees were not priests but rather laymen who controlled the synagogues. They identified with the common man and were generally more popular than the Sadducees.

They were regarded as experts in the Law. The Pharisees devoted themselves to study and interpret the 613 individual commands God gave in the Law of Moses so they could both understand and teach it to the people. Over time, their work of interpretation developed into an “oral tradition” to which they claimed had equal authority with God’s Scripture. (Also see “Help to Understand the Old Testament Law.”)

The New Testament often links the Pharisees to the “scribes.” This group likely developed during the Babylonian exile when Jews depended on educated men to copy, preserve, and teach God’s Word. Ezra is an example of this (Ezra 7:6).  By Jesus’ time, they were well-respected scholars, pious and influential men who preserved and interpreted the Law. However, like other religious leaders, the Gospel writers present them negatively.

What did the Pharisees believe?

The Pharisees believed in a bodily resurrection, the afterlife, and a spirt world with both angels and demons. They focused heavily on ritual purity. They strongly believed that following the oral tradition (man’s interpretation of God’s Law) showed God’s people how to keep His Law and please Him. 

However, as we see in this Gospels, their close adherence to the Law and the oral tradition meant they easily fell into legalism. The Gospel writers often pit them as opponents against Jesus who criticized them for elevating strict adherence to oral tradition (interpretation of the Law) over the needs of people. 

An example of Jesus and the Pharisees

In Mark 3:1-6, Jesus experienced a conflict with some Pharisees over whether it was lawful to physically heal someone on the Sabbath day. The event in this passage happened on a Sabbath day in a synagogue. The Pharisees watched a man with a withered hand to see if Jesus would defy the oral tradition and heal him. The Gospel writer tells the reader that the Pharisees’ motive was to catch Jesus doing something “unlawful” so they could accuse Him.

Although He knew their motives, Jesus expressed power, mercy, and love by healing the man. But He also expressed righteous indignation towards the Pharisees. He corrected their thinking about God’s good purpose and design for the Sabbath and revealed their hypocrisy and lack of concern for the man. 

As a result of this encounter, the Pharisees began to plot Jesus’ death. They were jealous of Jesus and He threatened their religious influence on the people. 

Why did Jesus and the Pharisees differ so much on this? The trouble stems from the manmade oral traditions the Pharisees added to the Law. For instance, in the Law, God commanded His people to “remember the Sabbath day” by not doing any work (Exodus 20:8-10). The oral tradition attempts to help God’s people know how to obey that command by detailing 39 primary categories of work each with multiple sub-categories. Jesus called these rules “burdens” (Luke 11:46). 

Even though some Pharisees did become believers, long-entrenched beliefs were hard to change. Some of them continued to keep the Law of Moses and encouraged others to do so as well (Acts 15:5). We see this problem come up repeatedly in the New Testament, particularly in Paul’s letters to the Gentile churches.

Who were the Sadducees?

The Sadducees get far less ink in the New Testament than the Pharisees. As we learned above, the Pharisees were not priests but laymen. However, the chief priests and high priests were Sadducees. While the Pharisees focused on the Law and the synagogue, the Sadducees involved themselves with temple administration and ritual. 

The Sadducees not only came from priestly lines, but they were also wealthy, influential aristocrats. While the Pharisees seem to have greater support of the public, the Sadducees were more closely connected with the privileged. They were politically involved and supported the ruling powers, like Rome. Their reluctance to “rock the boat” politically fueled their opposition to Jesus. 

The Sadducee party essentially ended when the temple was destroyed by Rome in 70 AD.

What did the Sadducees believe?

The Sadducees doctrine differed significantly from the Pharisees. Christian tradition holds that the Sadducees only accepted the Torah/Pentateuch – the first five books of the Old Testament – as God’s authoritative Word. However, contemporary scholars are divided on this. It may be that the Sadducees placed a much higher priority on the Pentateuch but did not completely reject the rest of the Old Testament. Most scholars do think the Sadducees rejected the oral tradition held by the Pharisees. 

The Sadducees focus on the Pentateuch shaped their theology. It seems they hesitated to believe anything they did not clearly see in the first five books. The result was the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection, an afterlife, or demons and angels (Mark 12:18, Acts 3:8).

Based on the examples we have in the Gospels, when Jesus interacted with them, He limited Himself to the first five books. 

An example of Jesus and the Sadducees

Knowing even just a bit of the Sadducees background and beliefs helps us more fully understand their encounters with Jesus. We get a clearer picture of their motivations and why Jesus responded to them as He did. Let’s consider an example.

In Mark 12:18-27, some Sadducees approached Jesus with a complicated hypothetical question designed to trip Him up. Their question involved the Jewish practice of levirate marriage (Deut 25:5-6). If a man died and left his widow with no son to care for her and carry on the family name, the man’s brother was to marry the widow and give his brother an heir. 

The Sadducees’ question proposed a ridiculous situation of a woman sequentially marrying seven brothers through levirate marriage. They asked Jesus, “In the resurrection, whose wife will she be?” 

Their question is particularly ironic since the Sadducees did not even accept the main premise of the proposed situation. They rejected the resurrection because they didn’t see it in the Pentateuch (five books of Moses). 

After Jesus patiently explained that God doesn’t need marriage in heaven, He showed them how the Pentateuch supports the resurrection. The Sadducees had strayed from the path of God’s truth because they lacked sufficient knowledge of both Scripture and God’s power.

They denied the resurrection because of their limited view of God. They didn’t believe Him powerful enough to raise the dead. Ironically, it would only be a matter of days until God gave them a tomb-busting demonstration when He brought Jesus out of the tomb.

How does all this impact our understanding of the Gospels?

The Gospel writers primarily show the Pharisees and Sadducees as adversaries of Jesus. However, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, there were also godly members of these groups that sought the truth. 

Although many opposed Jesus, they could not stop God’s plans. God used them and their political aspirations to work out His purposes for Jesus’ sacrificial death. As a result, even some of their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

For Bible study resources to help you find out more about the background of Scripture check out “5 Bible Study Resources for Your Home Library” and “10 Online Bible Study Resources.”

What you thought much about the Pharisees and Sadducees in the past? In what ways does the information in this post aid your Bible study?