Thursday, February 16, 2012

Sadducees are members of a Jewish faction that opposed Jesus during His ministry. Known for their denial of the bodily resurrection, the Sadducees came from the leading families of the nation - the priests, merchants, and aristocrats. The high priest and the most powerful members of the priesthood were mainly Sadducees. - Acts 5:17 -

Many of the wealthy lay people were also Sadducees. This may be the reason why the Sadducees gave the impression of wanting to preserve things as they were. They enjoyed privileged positions in society and managed to get along well under Roman rule. Any movement that might upset order and authority was bound to appear dangerous in their eyes.

The Sadducees rejected the 'tradition of the elders' that body of oral and written commentary which interpreted the law of Moses This automatically placed them in direct conflict with another Jewish group, the Pharisees, who had made the traditions surrounding the Law almost as important as the Law itself. The Sadducees insisted that only the laws that were written in the law of Moses (the PENTATEUCH, the first five books of the Old Testament) were really binding. They thought this way because of religious practices that had taken place for several centuries.

For many years the priests were in charge of teaching the law of God to the Israelites; they were the authorities to go to for interpretation or application of the law. - Deut 17:8-13 - Unfortunately, the leading priests lost the respect of the peoples by becoming corrupt and arrogant. When this happened, many Jews began to respond to the Scribes, peoples who had become experts in God's law and who usually lived pious, disciplined lives, although many of them are not priests.

People began to follow the teaching of the scribes and to let the scribes interpret the law of God for them. The 'tradition of the elders' which followed was made up of customs, ruling, and interpretations that the scribes passed on as the authoritative way in which God's law should be applied. The Sadducees rejected this approach to authority in favour of the written law of Moses. They felt the original law alone could be trusted. Naturally, they felt Sadducean priests should be the ones to serve as the law's interpreters.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or the immortality of the soul, since these doctrine are not mentioned in the law of Moses. Neither did they believe in rewards or punishments handed out after dead, as in the doctrines of heaven and hell. They also did not believe in angels and spirits, either, but they believed in free will - that man is responsible for his/her own prosperity and misfortune. They interpreted the law literally and tended to support strict justice as opposed to mercy toward the offender.

As soon as Paul's said this a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was split between the two parties. For the Sadducees say there is nether resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, while the Pharisees accept all three. - Acts 23:7-8 -

A few references are made to the Sadducees in the New Testament. They opposed the early Church, much more so than even the Pharisees. Since the chief priests usually came from among the Sadducees, it is clear that they played a major role in the arrest of Jesus and the preliminary hearing against Jesus Christ, and they urged Pilate to crucify Him. Jesus warned His disciples about the "leaven"-the "doctrine" or teaching - of the Sadducees. And John the Baptist was suspicious of their supposed "repentance".

But even on this point their evidence was conflicting. The high priest then stood up before the whole assembly and put this question to Jesus, 'Have you no answer to that? What is this evidence these men are bringing against you?' But Jesus was silent and made no answer at all. The high priest put a second question to him, 'Are you the Christ' he said 'the Son of the Blessed One?' 'I am' said Jesus 'and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.' The high priest tore his robes, 'What need of witnesses have we now?' he said, 'You heard the blasphemy. What is your finding?' And they all gave their verdict: he deserved to die. - Mark 14:59-64 -

First thing in the morning, the chief priest together with the elders and scribes, in short the whole Sanhedrin, had their plan ready. They had Jesus bound and took him away and handed him over to Pilate. For Pilate realized it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. The chief priests, however, had incited the crowd to demand that he should release Barabbas for them instead. Then Pilate spoke again, 'But in that case' he said to them 'what am I to do with the man you call king of the Jews?' They shouted back, 'Crucify him!' 'Why!' Pilate asked them 'What harm has he done?' But they shouted all the louder, 'Crucify him!' - Mark 15:1, 10-14 -

The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked if he would show them a sign from heaven.  He replied............ How could you fail to understand that I was not talking about bread? What I said was: Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that he was telling them to be on their guard, not against the yeast for making bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. - Matt. 16:1-12 -

But when John the Baptist saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them, 'Brood of vipers, who warned you to fly from the retribution that is coming? But if you are repentant, produce the appropriate fruit, and do not presume to tell yourselves, "We have Abraham for our father" because I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these stones. Even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees, so that any tree which fails to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire. I baptise you in water for repentance, but the one who follows me is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to carry his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn in afire that will never go out. - Matt. 3:7-12 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -


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