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Sadducees

Greek Σαδδουκαῖοι. Also called Sadducee, Saddoukaioi.

The priestly, aristocratic party — they held the temple, accepted only the five books, and denied the resurrection.

The Sadducees were the establishment: wealthy, priestly, and running the temple and much of the council. They took only the Torah as authoritative and, on that basis, rejected resurrection, angels and spirits — which Luke notes in a parenthesis to explain why an argument in Acts split the room. Their question to Jesus about the woman with seven husbands is a resurrection puzzle designed by people who did not believe in one. When the temple fell in AD 70 they had nothing left to stand on, and they disappear.

Where it appears

• Acts 23:8 The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection
• Matthew 22:23-33 The woman with seven husbands

See also

• Pharisees — The party they disagreed with on resurrection

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