Who were the Sadducees and the Pharisees?

TL;DR:

The Sadducees and Pharisees were Jewish sects who were influential. The Sadducees and Pharisees missed the Messiah because they were spiritually blind.

The Sadducees and the Pharisees were religious sects within Judaism during the time of Christ (having originated more than one hundred years before His birth). These two sects were essentially the ruling class of Jews in Israel during this time. Both sects had members in the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council) and both sects valued Mosaic law as written in the Torah. Despite these similarities, there were some major differences between the two groups.

from the old testament

The Sadducees and Pharisees are not mentioned by name in the Old Testament.

from the new testament

The Sadducees were a wealthy and sophisticated group. They were politically minded and often compromised with secular leaders in exchange for more power. As such, the Sadducees welcomed Roman rule, controlled the high priesthood (Acts 5:17), and held a majority in the Sanhedrin. The Sadducees subscribed to a more literal interpretation of Mosaic law and were exacting in keeping Levitical purity. They viewed only the Torah (the five books of Moses) as canonized Scripture and did not view oral law or tradition as authoritative or binding. They were theologically unorthodox as they did not believe in an afterlife (Matthew 22:23; Mark 12:18) or any sort of spiritual realm with angels or demons (Acts 23:8). They also placed a high priority on the fact that people have free will.
The Pharisees were seen more as the sect of the common man. They championed human equality and emphasized ethics over theology. Their main priority was the religion of Judaism, so they resisted secular influence, including Roman rule. Their resistance led them to be separatists wishing for Israel's freedom and independence. Religiously, they believed oral law and tradition held as much authority as written Scripture. Jesus criticized the Pharisees for elevating tradition as equal to Scripture saying, "You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. … You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!" (Mark 7:8–9). Because the Pharisees also accepted the "writings" and the "prophets" as canonized Scripture, they believed in an afterlife where people received reward or punishment. Similarly, they believed in a hierarchy of angels and demons in the spiritual realm. Rather than emphasizing free will like the Sadducees, the Pharisees believed God's sovereignty could essentially cancel out free will, though free will did still affect a person's life.
While the Sadducees controlled the high priesthood and the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, it was the Pharisees who were the teachers in the synagogues throughout Israel.
Because the Pharisees' focus was religion rather than politics, they were the ones who most often confronted Jesus (Matthew 12:2, 24; Mark 7:1–5; 10:2; John 5:16–18).
When the Sadducees believed Jesus would draw negative attention from the Roman rulers, the Sadducees and the Pharisees united to plot His death. John 11:47–48 and 53 record, "So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, 'What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.'…So from that day on they made plans to put him to death."
John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Sadducees “broods of vipers” (Matthew 3:7).
Jesus warns of the leaven, or false teaching, of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:11–12).

implications for today

The Sadducees and Pharisees prioritized their ideals over allowing God’s Word to shape their hearts and convictions. As such, they missed much of what Jesus taught and revealed. Their expectations and pride in their own thinking caused their hearts to be hard and to miss the Messiah that they knew of from their Scriptures. The spiritually blind are unable to understand the truth of God’s Word (Matthew 13:13; Deuteronomy 29:4). We, too, can be blinded by sin or expectations and circumstances. Jesus came so that we could see the truth. Believers have the Spirit of God to help us see the truth and to live in the light (1 John 4:13). John tells us, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15). Jesus promised: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

understand

The Sadducees were a religious sect that was wealthy, politically connected with Rome, and strictly adhered to Mosaic law, but denied the concept of an afterlife.
The Pharisees were a religious sect that championed ethics and equality, accepted oral tradition alongside written Scripture, and believed in an afterlife.
The Sadducees and Pharisees united to oppose Jesus, with the Pharisees being more confrontational.

reflect

How do your personal beliefs and values align with your actions and decisions?
In what ways might your expectations or preconceptions about spirituality or religious teachings hinder your ability to recognize truth?
How open are you to allowing God's Word to shape your heart and convictions, even if it challenges your existing beliefs or traditions?

engage

When Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in AD 70, the Sadducees ceased to exist. The Pharisees, however, continued and wrote the Mishnah, an important text that helped Judaism continue beyond the destruction of the temple. Thus, despite there being no sect of Pharisees today, they did lay the groundwork for modern-day Rabbinic Judaism.
What lessons can we draw from the interactions between Jesus and the Sadducees and Pharisees regarding the importance of humility and openness to spiritual truth?
How can understanding the spiritual blindness of the Sadducees and Pharisees inform our approach to engaging with individuals who may hold different religious beliefs or interpretations?