New Testament Backgrounds - Part 2

Another group often found in the New Testament is the Sadducees.  They originated in the period between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament.  During the time when the Ptolomy rulers of Egyptian were in control of Judah there was a class of Jews who embraced Greek culture.  They wanted a gymnasium built in Jerusalem and participate as the Greeks did, in the nude.  They desired to look like the Greeks, so they sought ways to reverse their circumcision. They also rejected other religious observances of their ancestors.

Later, during this historical period, we find the first references to the Sadducees. While in the minority, the Sadducees were the political leaders of their day. Religiously, they were the religious liberals of their day.  Acts 23:8 describes the Sadducees beliefs as saying, “there is no resurrection, neither angels, nor spirit.”  We find them mentioned only 9 times in the gospels.  They were opposed to Jesus but it seems more due to their political position than from religious motivation.

In Acts, however, they are mentioned as opponents of the apostles and the message they were preaching.  Luke records how, as Peter and John were preaching, “the priests, and captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:1,2). Later Luke records:  “Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in prison” (Acts 5:17,18).  Their political position and religious beliefs led these men to oppose Jesus and the apostles.

—Denny