1. Religious Sects In Jesus’ Time
Chapter 2
Religious Sects In Jesus’ Time

2. The Sadducees

3. The Sadducees
Mainly made up of the priestly and aristocratic classes. Chief Priests!
Temple practices and worship were incredibly important, and therefore they centered their activities in Jerusalem.
They also collaborated with the Romans to stay in power.
Theologically conservative, CITY FOLK.

4. The Sadducees What they didn’t believe in:
Oral Tradition/Oral Interpretation and daily application of the Torah
Resurrection of the dead (Jesus?)
Immortality of the soul
Angels
They essentially disappeared completely after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD.

5. The Pharisees

6. The Pharisees Strict Legalists; the Law was incredibly important.
From the middle class, they had a lot of influence during Jesus’ time; we believe that Jesus was a rabbi from the Pharisee class.
They held firm to prayer, almsgiving and fasting. COUNTRY FOLK!
Jesus is most critical and has more encounters with this group than any other.

7. The Pharisees What they also believed in: The Resurrection of the body
Divine judgment by God of the living and the dead
Oral Interpretation of the Law (which they held to be almost as sacred as the Law itself).
Jesus was generally wrong and they were often in conflict with Him, especially in regards to God’s love and how one is to live their life.

8. The Essenes

9. The Essenes
An apocalyptic group, they believed that God would bring forth His Kingdom and His Messiah with a great, even catastrophic, event. DOOMSDAY believers!
We believe that John the Baptist was from the this group.
They lived strict, pure lives. DESERT FOLK!
Like the Sadducees, they too disappeared after the destruction of the Temple

10. The Essenes
They believed that those who taught in the Temple were corrupt, so they withdrew to Qumran, near the Dead Sea and completely separated themselves from mainstream Jewish society.
They didn’t marry, remained celibate and bath many times a day to try and remain as pure as possible through acts of ritual purification.

11. The Zealots

12. The Zealots
Began and lead by Judas the Galilean, the Zealots believed that no foreign power had the right to collect taxes from the Jews, who had been given the Holy Land by God.
Between AD, during the time of the First Jewish War against the Romans, the Zealots were armed, organized and wanted to defeat and overthrow the Romans.

13. Other Groups
Tax Collectors: hated by all, collected taxes for the Romans, and skimmed alittle of the top as well
Common Folk: fishermen, tradesmen, farmers, skilled laborers (Jesus’ contemporaries).
Slaves: wealthy Romans employed many. Had great freedoms

14. Bottom Feeders Women: considered 2nd class citizens
Prostitutes, Lepers, Sick, Lame, Blind, Possessed etc.
(ANYONE who was unhealthy in ANY form was considered PUNISHED by GOD)

15. THE ROMANS Different Classes within the Roman society BUT….
Better to be Roman of any class than…NOT