God, by contrast, raised him from death and gave him the place of highest honour. Once again Peter accused the Jews, especially their leaders, of rejecting and crucifying the Messiah (cf. The Sadducees therefore had no hesitation in using their priestly power to arrest Peter and John and bring them before the Sanhedrin (4:1-4). In particular, they were angry because all these people were responding to a message that was based on a belief in Jesus’ resurrection. When the number of Christians in Jerusalem increased rapidly as a result of Peter’s preaching (the men alone numbered about five thousand), the Sadducees became angry.
A major difference of faith between the two parties was that the Pharisees believed in a physical resurrection of the dead, but the Sadducees did not ( Matthew 22:23 Acts 23:8). They were the high priestly party and had controlling power in the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish council that sat in Jerusalem ( Matthew 16:11-12 Matthew 26:57, Matthew 26:59 Acts 5:17). The Sadducees came mainly from the wealthy classes and were more concerned with exercising power in Jewish society than with following tradition. They were concerned with the outward show of religion, but not so concerned with correct attitudes of heart ( Matthew 12:1-2 Matthew 15:1-2 Matthew 23:5, Matthew 23:23-28). The Pharisees came mainly from the common people, and tried to preserve the Jewish way of life from the corruption of foreign ideas and political ambition. The most important of these were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. During the centuries leading up to the Christian era (see ‘The New Testament World’), several parties had arisen within the Jewish religion.
0 kommentar(er)
