LTRBE Seminar | Section 13B: Terminology (Part 2)
Section 13B: Bible Terminology (Part 2)
PHARISEE
The Pharisees were a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ. The word means "separated". The fundamental principle of the Pharisees is that by the side of the written law there was an oral law to complete and to explain the written law. It was given to Moses on Mount Sinai and transmitted by him by word of mouth. The first portion of the Talmud, called the Mishna or "second law", contains this oral law. It is a digest of the Jewish traditions and rituals and was esteemed far above the written law.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer." (Matt. 23:14)
SADDUCEE
The Sadducees, meaning "the righteous", were a religious party among the Jews at the time of Christ. They denied that the oral law was a revelation of God to the Israelites, and deemed the written law of Moses alone to be obligatory on the nation, as the divine authority.
"For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both." (Acts 23:8)
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