R	eligion in the Time of Jesus

During the time of Jesus the main religious parties were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Scribes or teachers of the law. The Pharisees were a group of people who were called "separated from others" because of their ritual purity. They were ordinary people who had committed their lives observing the law of Moses. They believed in the spiritual realm and in life after death. They believed that the Scriptures were the word of God and a God was going to fulfill his promises to the people of Israel. When Jesus was confronted by them he told his disciples that their righteousness needed to surpass those of the Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). He told the Pharisees of their traditions which they followed so closely were actually leading them astray (Matthew 15:2, Mark 7:3-5). The Pharisees controlled the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Israel and they were the ones who plotted Jesus death. The other group, the Sadducees or "righteous ones" were an aristocratic group who were very wealthy and very influential. They were open to allowing the Greco-Roman way of life into Israel, they were the liberals of the day. They did not believe in an afterlife, or angels, and the only followed the five books of Moses. The Scribes were the "teachers of the law" and they were expert interpreters of the writings of Moses. They actually dedicated their lives to the study of the Torah. They were the rabbis of Jesus day and were revered for their expertise in the minute details of the law. The other groups the time of Jesus with the Zealots who wished to overthrow the Romans. There were also the Essenes who lived an ascetic lifestyle and went out into the desert to build a community to live a separated life, although they are not actually mentioned in the Scriptures their writings were discovered with the Dead Sea Scrolls and their community at Qumran.