In contrast to the shortcomings of the Pharisees, we see another revered group of religious leaders that shadow the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ in the Sadducees.

The Sadducees flat out refuse to believe in angels, spirits, or the resurrection of the dead in addition to their collective denial of Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God appearing to them in the flesh.

Scripture tells us that the Pharisees had a problem rooted in people pleasing. Privately they held very strong opinions about Jesus, including wanting to constantly make a plan to destroy him, but then they would flatter him and ask him questions in front of the multitudes.

Besides that, the Sadducees were also lumped into John’s condemnation of the religious leaders when he called them a “generation of vipers.”

The first main point I want to make with regard to what it means to be a Sadducee is people pleasing, but to a different degree.

Like we learned, the Pharisees had a problem with pleasing the crowds — Sadducees, on the other hand, blindly followed the footsteps of the Pharisees in their accusations and craftiness against Jesus.

When the Pharisees get offended with Jesus as described in Matthew 15, Jesus responds by saying “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”

While the Pharisees took the lead in accusing Jesus, the Sadducees were right behind them and were just as blind as who they were following.

This highlights their inability to discern the scriptures for themselves to come to the correct conclusion on matters concerning who Jesus Christ was.

And we see this all the time today in the modern American church culture.

When we ignore the Bible on our bookshelf, we will allow the wolves to lead the sheep and not think twice about it.

The second note on the Sadducees that I want to highlight takes us to the gospel of Mark.

In Mark 12, as an immediate follow up to the Pharisees trying to catch Jesus in his words regarding paying tribute to the Rome, the Sadducees ask him a question about something that they don’t believer prior to asking and won’t believer even after asking regarding the resurrection.

In this moment, we see the second attribute of the Sadducee in that they will ask ridiculous questions about Jesus and provide impossible scenarios in an effort to also catch him in his words.

Think of it as if they are the spiritual entrapment experts.

Here’s the full text of their question as it relates to the resurrection of the dead, which they don’t believe in:

18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,
19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.
21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.
22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.
23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.
26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

Twice Jesus tells them that they err, or are in error.

Initially, he answers that way as it relates to their question because not only do they deny the power of God, but it would be something they would know the answer to if they had actually tended to reading the scripture on the subject.

After addressing that, Jesus concludes his answer to them by doubling down on his reply and the fact that God is not the God of the dead — concluding that not only are they in error, but they “therefore do greatly err.”

Notice how Jesus doesn’t avoid their complicated question, but instead provides clarity with a simple and powerful response rooted in what the scriptures teach on the issue.

By doing this, Jesus not only establishes what the scriptures already instructs us on the resurrection of the dead, but also asserts his own authority as the Son of God to speak authoritatively in his own words on the topic.

If we jump over to Luke chapter 20 we see this same interaction with the Sadducees but with some additional commentary.

Jesus is recorded as saying that those who obtain a resurrection unto eternal life will be in a state “equal unto the angels” as well, which tossed even more coals of fire on the Sadducees because of the fact that they denied such things even existed.

So now it forced them into a corner of having to figure out how they can continue to deny the existence of the spiritual realm and resurrection when Jesus himself addressed it head on and spoke with authority on both their existence and operation.

As a middle point between the second and third highlighted issues with the Sadducees, I want to touch briefly on the over-literalism that is littered throughout their beliefs.

While the Pharisees practiced the law publicly as spiritual elites, the Sadducees took it to the next level in that they deemed themselves the moralist elites in addition to keeping the law of Moses as a spiritual elite.

So, yes, the Pharisees would do things that would make them seem righteous in the eyes of the general public, but the Sadducees had a self-righteousness to the point where they practiced the law of Moses for the purpose of becoming untouchable.

I would equate them to the modern-day equivalent of Jordan Peterson.

Peterson is very open about liking a lot about the Bible and even about the person of Jesus, but he consistently comes short of being willing to admit that Jesus is the Son of God.

But he won’t hesitant to defend moralism through how we should behave individually or in small and large group settings and even zoomed out when addressing the world in a collective sense.

Peterson is also an excellent babbler who has mastered the craft of saying everything and nothing at the same time.

To summarize what we’ve covered so far, the first point about Sadducees is that they have a tendency to blindly follow false teachers, even when the false teaching is blatant and obvious.

Second, they ask ridiculous questions that they aren’t genuinely willing to accept the answer to.

The bonus point we just reviewed was on their appeal to the moral law of God without being willing to accept the truth about the spiritual world and the power that comes with receiving Jesus as the Son of God.

Now to the third and final point that I want to make regarding the Sadducees — they are reality deniers.

Join me in Acts 4, where we’ll see how they responded to the preaching of the truth from people other than Jesus:

1 And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.

Notice that the Sadducees are part of the first group of people to take action against the preaching of the Word of God and how they were still specifically agitated by the fact that the resurrection of the dead was the message.

Peter goes on further into the chapter to address the power of the resurrection of Jesus as the source for the preaching.

Look at what Peter says in Acts 4:10:

10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

We see also three verses later that this brought into acknowledgement that the men preaching had been with Jesus because of what they were preaching about and the power and boldness leading the charge of their message to the people.

Despite the fact that at this point Jesus has already well-risen from the dead after three days and three nights following a beyond-gruesome crucifixion at the hands of the Jews and the Romans, the Sadducees still refused to accept the fact that there is power in the name of Jesus.

They were not only willing to fight the Lord Jesus Christ himself, but also demonstrated that same stubborness with those who they perceived had spent time with Jesus and who preached also about the resurrection of the dead through faith in the name of the Son of God.

Eventually, the leaders collectively charge Peter and John that they are not allowed to preach in the name of Jesus anymore under the threat of arrest for continuing to do so.

I hope you are just as inspired and encouraged by their response as I am in Acts 4:19-20:

19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Knowing this, let’s recap now what the fruit of a Sadducee is.

First, they will blindly follow false teachers, particularly in their pursuit of false claims or accusations of and against Jesus Christ.

Second, they will ask ridiculous questions that are insincere because they are unwilling to accept the answer if it upsets them.

As a bonus point, they emphasize the moral and literal interpretation of the law while denying the power of the spiritual component.

And finally, they have a unique stubbornness to the point where they will deny the resurrection of the dead even if they are witnesses of Jesus Christ himself coming back from the dead and will stop at nothing to attack those who preach with the power, boldness, and accuracy of the Holy Spirit.

As Jesus says in Matthew 16:6, we must “take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

Hopefully now you’re able to spot them both and deal with them according to the scriptures.

What Does It Mean To Be a Sadducee?

The Melchizedek Priesthood

What does It mean to be a pharisee?