Lecture 12—Was Jesus a Pharisee?
In this lecture, we discuss the emergence of the major Jewish sects
in the late Second Temple period, specifically the Sadducees and the
Pharisees. We compare and contrast the beliefs of these two sects
with regard to resurrection of the dead, immortality of the soul, and free
will and conclude by considering whether Jesus was a Pharisee.
Jewish Sects
1. During the Hasmonean period, various Jewish factions or groups
came into being in Judea. Josephus calls these groups hairesis,
which is Greek for “heresies.” The Latin word is secta, which
means “sects” or “philosophies.” Today’s negative connotation of
these terms comes out of Christianity, not early Judaism. ln fact,
in their original usage, the Latin secta and the Greek hairesis
were simply neutral terms meaning a school of thought.
2. Josephus specifically mentions three sects that developed
among the Jews: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the
particularly saintly Essenes. Although there is no scholarly
agreement about the background against which these sects first
developed, generally, scholars think that they originated and
crystallized by the mid-2"“ century B.C. ln other words, these
sects developed against the background of the Heliodorus affair
and the Maccabean Revolt.
3. The Sadducees originated from the Zadokites, who controlled
the priesthood in the Temple of Jerusalem until the Heliodorus
affair. At the point when the Zadokites lost control of the high
priesthood in the Temple, the Zadokite line then split into at least
three branches.
4. One branch of this family was called the Oniads, named after
Onias lll, Onias IV, and their descendants. Sometime around the
middle of the 2"“ century B.C., Onias IV left Judea and went to
Egypt, where he established a temple dedicated to the God of
Israel at a site called Leontopolis. The Oniads officiated as the
priests in this temple until the temple was closed by the Emperor
Vespasian in 73 A.D.
5. Another branch of the Zadokites was central in the formation
of the Essene sect. A third branch of the Zadokite family, the
Sadducees, remained in Jerusalem, forming an alliance with the
Hasmoneans and becoming an integral part of Jewish society
for the next two centuries.
The Sadducees
1. The information we have about the Sadducees actually comes
from sources that were hostile to them. These sources include
Josephus, who was a Pharisee. The New Testament and
rabbinic literature are also associated with the Pharisees.
2. The Sadducees were members of the priestly class and the
aristocracy-wealthy members of Judean society consisting
mostly of the Jerusalem elite. Not surprisingly, the Sadducees
wanted to maintain the status quo. They were concerned with
preser\/ing political and social stability in order to secure and
retain their own economic interests. What’s more, they favored a
policy of cooperation with foreign rulers.
3. ln addition to being politically conser\/ative, the Sadducees
were also religiously conser\/ative. They recognized only the
written tradition as holy scripture. ln contrast to the Pharisees,
the Sadducees rejected the principle of oral law-meaning an
oral tradition that made new adaptations or interpretations of the
written law possible.
4. For example, while the Pharisees advocated the idea of a
physical resurrection of the dead, the Sadducees rejected it
because it had no explicit basis in the written law.
The Pharisees
1. The name Pharisees may have derived from the Hebrew word
parash, which means “to separate.” They may have sought to
separate themselves from the dominant priestly class or from
those they considered to be lax in the obser\/ance of biblical
purity laws. Issues of ritual purity and impurity were important to
the Pharisees, who held themselves to much higher standards
than most other Jews (except for the Essenes, who considered
the Pharisees lax).
2. The Pharisees usually referred to themselves not as Pharisees
but by other terms, such as scribe or sage, which means rabbi.
Despite this identification as scribes, scholars debate whether
these were the scribes mentioned in the Gospel accounts. When
the Gospel authors mention scribes, we don’t actually know if
they’re referring to groups within the Pharisees’ circles or other
groups that were separate from them.
3. In fact, the beliefs and opinions of the Pharisees eventually
became decisive through Rabbinic Judaism after 70 A.D. Their
synthesis of free will and determinism and their belief in the
sanctity of oral law ultimately prevailed in Judaism.
4. The Pharisees were not a monolithic or homogeneous group;
in fact, they seem to have been quite diverse. Some of them
lived in cities; others came from rural areas. They were made
up of the lower ranks of priests, craftspeople, small farmers, and
merchants. In a sense, they represented the middle classes.
Immortality and Free Will
1. The Pharisees believed in the existence of angels and spirits.
Josephus describes the Pharisees as follows: “They also believe
that souls have an immortal vigor in them. And that under the
Earth, there will be rewards or punishments according as they
have lived virtuously or viciously in this life.” In Acts of the
Apostles 23:8, we read: “For the Sadducees hold that there is
no resurrection, and that there are no angels or spirits, while the
Pharisees believe in all three.”
2. The Sadducees believed in complete human free will. The
Pharisees, however, emphasized both divine omnipotence and
human freedom and responsibility. On the one hand, God is all
knowing, but on the other hand, humans still have free will.
3. Josephus describes the Pharisees’ belief in free will as follows:
“And when they determine that all things are done by fate, they
do not take away the freedom of men acting as they see fit. Since
their notion is that it has pleased God to make a temperament
whereby what he wills is done, but so that the will of men can act
virtuously or viciously.”
4. This belief was summed up by Rabbi Akiva, who was also a
Pharisee: “All is foreseen, but free will is given.”
5. Of course, most readers of the Gospel accounts are familiar
with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, although most Gospel
references are to the Pharisees. One possible reason for this
is that Jesus’s ministry was based in Galilee, which is where
the Pharisees were influential. The Sadducees were based
in Jerusalem.
6. Another possible reason is that the Pharisees’ form of Judaism
became dominant after 70 A.D., when the Second Temple
was destroyed. The Essenes disappeared from the stage of
history at that time, as did the Sadducees. This is the period
when it’s thought that the Gospels-perhaps except for Mark-
were composed.
The Term Rabbi
1. In a number of passages in the Gospel accounts, Jesus is
addressed by the term rabbi. The Pharisees sometimes referred
to each other as rabbis. According to Mark, “Then Peter said
to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make
three dwellings.”
2. The term rabbi in Hebrew or Aramaic is an unofficial term of
respect that was generally given to men who were experts in
the Torah, or Jewish law. Literally translated, the term means
“my master” or “one who is greater than myself.” We should
not confuse the term rabbi as used in the time of Jesus with
modern rabbis.
3. Although Pharisees often apparently spoke to each other using
the term rabbi or were addressed as such because they were
considered experts in the law, it doesn’t mean that this term was
used necessarily only to address someone who was a Pharisee.
Anyone who was considered to be an expert in the Torah could
have been addressed by the term rabbi.
Was Jesus a Pharisee?
1. As mentioned earlier, the Pharisaic principle of oral law allowed
for interpretation of the written law. But passages in the Gospels
suggest that Jesus rejected the principle of oral law.
2. For example, Mark 7:1-8 reads: “The Pharisees gathered about
him with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem. They
had noticed that some of his disciples ate their food without first
giving their hands a ceremonial washing to purify them. And
the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Jesus, why do your
disciples not observe the rules handed down by our ancestors,
but eat food without purifying their hands?”’
3. Notice the reference here to the laws handed down by our
ancestors-that is, oral law. Jesus’s response is very interesting:
“But he said to them, it was about you, hypocrites, that Isaiah
prophesied. So finally in the words this people honors me with
their lips, but their hearts are far from me. In vain do they worship
me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.”
4. Jesus is citing Isaiah 29:13. We see this all throughout the
Gospels: Jesus cites passages from the Hebrew Bible to
support his position. And Jesus then continues in this passage,
saying, “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to
human tradition.”
5. Jesus accuses his opponents here of being hypocrites who worship
God with their lips, their mouths-in oral tradition-not with their hearts.
And he accuses them of improperly following the law by adhering to
human traditions. Here, human traditions refers to the oral
interpretation of the law, not the written law.
6. In other words, if we take seriously this passage and others in
the Gospel accounts, then we conclude that Jesus was not a
Pharisee, and he explicitly rejected the Pharisees’ doctrine of
oral law.
Suggested Reading
Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, “Pharisees, Sadducees,
and Essenes,” pp. 143-164.
Nickelsburg, Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins, “Religious Groups,”
pp. 160-175.
VanderKam, An Introduction to Early Judaism, “Groups,” pp. 186-192.
Questions to Consider
1. Who were the Sadducees, and what are our sources of information
about them?
2. Who were the Pharisees, and how did their beliefs differ from those
of the Sadducees?
