What are the different sects of Judaism?

The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. What do you think they were called in Jewish circles? We find the answer to that in Acts 24. There comes this Tertullus, and he accuses Paul in the presence of the Roman power. He says of Paul, “ … we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes”. There were the Pharisees, who were terrific sticklers for the law and rather full of themselves. There were the Sadducees, who were very analytical and critical and didn't believe this and didn't believe that. And there were the Herodians, who didn't bother their heads so much about these things, but who went along with the ruling power because they knew it would be profitable for them in worldly things if they did so. The Jews had these sects among them and they were saying: “Now we've got the Nazarenes, the followers of this remarkable Person, Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified”. But another thing now arrives. Here where there was this work among the Gentiles, those who were converted owned the authority of the Lord over their hearts and lives and it put the stamp of Christ upon them. Others looking at these believers said, “We can't talk about them with a long rigmarole of explanation, we shall have to have something short and to the point. Well, they are Christ's ones, they are Christians”. It has often been pointed out that that word only occurs three times in the New Testament. Agrippa knew it (Acts 26:28). The name Christian had clearly travelled into high circles. Agrippa didn't say, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Nazarene”, but, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian”. And it is endorsed by the Holy Spirit of God because in the first epistle of Peter you have the Spirit of God saying, “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (1 Peter 4:16). The Spirit of God, so to speak, accepts this name as a very good definition of those who are swept into this new and mighty work of His.

Now the Jews come to Him (v. 21) with a subtle question. There were three great representatives of the people, the Herodians, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. The Herodian was political religionist; the Sadducee, a free-thinking religionist; and the Pharisee was a legal religionist; but these were only different forms of enmity against God. The flesh can never form alliance with God's Christ. We must be born again for that. Now they come to Him with a question "Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?" They thought they had Him, and it was a sharp-sighted, subtle question. At once, detecting the moral of the occasion, He approached it. "You come to lay a snare, not to have a difficulty solved. Why tempt ye me? Show Me a penny."

1919 241 So here in chap. 19 the Lord goes back to the beginning. He Himself could say "Consider the lilies." Thus the lesson is, how would that which God at the beginning instituted be affected by the new order of things? There were three great sects among the Jews when the Lord was here, but only two come before is in Scripture, the third is not even mentioned though it is evidently dealt with — that of the Essenes — and it is generally thought that in the Epistle to the Colossians, the Spirit has these before Him and deals with them — "Touch not, taste not, handle not … which things have indeed a show of wisdom in neglecting of the body" etc. That was their line of things dealing severely with their bodies, but they were unsupported by the word of God in what they were doing. That is the sect, and some of the saints were being affected by them. Nothing can be wrong that is instituted by God. You ought by His grace to be a better husband and father and all else, and so able to adorn the doctrine.

In contrast the Jewish scribes relied on the authority of well-known Rabbis who had lived before them for all they taught. This is why their explanations were often lengthy and dry. Many of the schools of Jewish teaching from the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes had grown up in the 400 years after the last prophets of the Old Testament. They disputed over basic questions but were often taken up with debates about trifling matters. It is difficult to follow the arguments of the scribes, but many a sermon of our own day is not much better.

Next to the Pharisees, the Sadducees were the most prominent sect of the Jews. The Pharisees made proselytes, but the Sadducees were much more exclusive, and therefore remained fewer in number. They did not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels, nor in spirits: they held that the soul perished with the body. Matt. 22:23; Acts 4:1-2; Acts 23:8. Though strict in regard to the written law of Moses, they repudiated the traditions of the elders, or what is called the oral law. They believed that God punished a man's sins during his life, and that man's will was free, and he had power to restrain his passions. In consequence of this they were severe judges. The Lord Jesus warned His disciples against their doctrines, and denounced them as the 'offspring of vipers.' The tenets of the modern rationalists have much in common with the Sadducees.

This name was given to a religious school among the Jews; it is supposed to have been derived from the Hebrew word parash, signifying 'to separate'; it was given to them by others, their chosen name being chasidim, 'pious ones.' Josephus speaks of them as early as the reign of Jonathan (B.C. 161-144). They prided themselves on their superior sanctity of life, devotion to God, and their study of the law. The Pharisee in the parable thanked God that he was 'not as other men.' Luke 18:11. Paul, when before Agrippa, spoke of them as 'the most straitest sect.' The Pharisees included all classes of men, rich and poor: they were numerous, and at times had great influence. In the council before which Paul was arraigned they were well represented. Acts 23:6-9. They were the great advocates of tradition, and were punctilious in paying tithes. In many respects the ritualists of modern days resemble them.

A Jewish sect in existence when the Lord was on earth, and whose principles in some respects resembled the more recent monasticism. They enjoined celibacy, isolation, ceremonial ablutions, and abstinence from animal food. The worshipping of angels was part of their profession. They neglected sacrifices and the temple service, but had priests of their own. They are not mentioned by name in the N.T., but may be alluded to in Col. 2:18, 23; and it is to be remarked that two of the tenets, celibacy and abstaining from animal food, are specially condemned in 1 Tim. 4:3, which things are being revived in the present day by Theosophists and Spiritualists.

Many then were baptized unto repentance by the forerunner. But now for the first time we meet with the two great religious classes and leaders among the Jews, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who came out to John. These two classes play an important role in the Gospel. The Pharisees* were the strictly religious, orthodox-ritualistic class. (The name Pharisee means a Separatist. One who says: "I am holier than them.") They were well versed in the traditions of the elders, and occupied themselves with creating new commandments and strange interpretations of the law. They are the fathers of the talmudical Jews of the present day and typical of ritualistic Christendom, having the form of godliness and not the power. The Sadducees were the rationalists, the unbelieving class. They were much given to reform. Their offspring today are the reformed Jews, who reject the greater part of the Word of God, and in Christendom they are remarkably reproduced in the unevangelical "Isms," though they call themselves "Christian" (as the Sadducees called themselves Jews), who reject portions of the Word, who do not believe in the inspiration of the Bible.

The name comes from Herod, and refers to those who took part with him and his successors in leavening the Jews with Grecian and Roman manners and licentiousness. In scepticism they sided with the Sadducees, but were strongly opposed to the Pharisees. This makes it the more striking that they should have united with the latter in endeavouring to entrap the Lord in His speech. Matt. 22:16; Mark 3:6; Mark 12:13. Their evil principles may well come under the term 'the leaven of Herod.' Mark 8:15.

It is generally supposed that, before his call to be an apostle, he belonged to a sect among the Jews called "The Zealots." They were conspicuous for their fierce advocacy of the Mosaic ritual. They looked upon themselves as the successors of Phinehas, who, in zeal for the honour of God, slew Zimri and Cozbi. (Num. 25) In pretending to follow the zeal of the priest of old, they assumed to themselves the right of putting to death a blasphemer, an adulterer, or any notorious offender, without the ordinary formalities of the law. They maintained that God had made an everlasting covenant with Phinehas, and with his seed after him, "because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for Israel." These high sounding claims and pretensions deceived both rulers and people for a time. Besides, their fury and zeal for the law of Moses, and for the deliverance of the people from the Roman yoke, gave them favour in the eyes of all the nation. But, as must ever be the case under similar circumstances, their zeal soon degenerated into all manner of licentiousness and wild extravagance. They became the pests of every class of society.

Under a pretended zeal for the honour of God, they charged whom they would with being guilty of blasphemy or of some other grievous sin, and immediately slew them and seized their property. Josephus tells us that they failed not to accuse some of the "prime nobility," and when they had succeeded in turning everything into confusion, they meantime "fished in the troubled waters." He bewails them as the great plagues of the nation. Attempts were made at different times to suppress the society, but it does not appear that they were ever much reduced until, with the unbelieving nation, they were swept away in the fatal siege.

Simon is frequently styled "Simon the Zealot." and is supposed to have belonged to this troublesome faction. There may have been true and sincere men among them, but good and bad alike passed under the odious name of "Zealots." Nothing is certainly known of the future labours of our apostle. Some say that, after travelling for a while in the East, he turned to the West, and penetrated as far as Britain where he preached, wrought miracles, endured many trials, and at last suffered martyrdom.