John the Baptist was a prophet, meaning God spoke to him. And more importantly, I think, John listened to understand what God wanted him to do. He understood that both the Pharisees and Sadducees were hypocrites and not really very Godly at all.

The Pharisees and Sadducees:
There were three major branches of Judaism during this time: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes.

The Pharisees were probably the most influential of the three at the time of Christ. They were so wrapped up in following the letter of the law that they lost sight of the fact that they started out loving and worshiping God. They were powerful in Israel, and I think they loved that power and tried very hard to keep it.

They saw Christ, when He came on the scene, as someone who was messing up their cha-cha, so to speak. They had had become slaves to the minute legal things in their religion and sort of lost sight of the spirit of the law. Even after they witnessed Christ’s miracles and heard what He had to say, they managed to deny who He was.

He had harsh words for the Pharisees and the way they lived, and He called them hypocrites.

We’ll get into it later, of course, but you can flip ahead to Matthew, chapter 23, where Jesus says just what he thinks about them.

In the end, it was the Pharisees who turned Christ over to be crucified.

The Sadducees:
Not a lot is known about the Sadducees, though I think the most important difference between them and the Pharisees was the fact that the Sadducees didn’t believe that there would be a Resurrection, so they didn’t believe that the Messiah would be rising from the dead when He came.

We’ll see a lot about both the Pharisees and the Sadducees soon.

Sandra, that’s a perfect explanation of the Pharisees.

Both John the Baptist and Jesus called them self-righteous, proud hypocrites at various times. Later on in Matthew, *Matthew 16:11-12), we’ll see that Jesus says, “Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?” Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the yeast in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

The Pharisees were one of the ruling classes in Israel and were considered to be among the spiritual fathers of Judaism. They believed in written law (the Torah, which is the five books of Moses – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) as well as the oral law (what was passed down orally for tradition and interpreted law – these were later written down and is referred to as the Talmud). The Pharisees were the most important religious group of their day, with a great deal of influence when it came to the masses. They did believe in an afterlife, and believed that God would punish the wicked and reward the righteous. The problem with the Pharisees (which is why Jesus was at such odds with them) was that they taught the people to do right, while they themselves were not upright. This is why Jesus called them hypocrites and vipers, and told the people to observe and what what they taught, but to not do as they do because they didn’t practice what they preached. That’s why they were found to lay heavy burdens (the following of their religious laws) on the shoulders of others. They “were not fair, I see!” (this “fair, I see!” will make sense in just a bit).

The Sadducees were, for the most part, wealthy aristocrats and were essentially conservative literalists when it came to the religious interpretations and teachings. They did not hold to oral teachings, and the Talmud was seemingly not something they gave as much merit to in the way the Pharisees did. They (as well as those Pharisees) were believed to be a part of the Sanhedrin, though the only real class of people they had influence on were their wealthy peers (they did not have the same influence on the masses that the Pharisees did). Another notable thing about the Sadducees – they were, unlike the Pharisees, “sad, you see?” They did not believe in the afterlife, and they did not have the hope of the resurrection.

So in remembering which group was which, the Pharisees were not “fair I see” (they used the Word as a guide for others, not really following it for themselves) while the Sadducees were “sad you see” (they used only the Torah for the most part, and didn’t believe in the afterlife…how sad!).

Both of these religious groups are fascinating to learn about, and while this information I’ve shared is more “off the cuff” I’d be happy to post whatever else I think of if you’d like to know more about either of the groups. They were not the only two religious groups operating at that time, but they were both very major in those days, but they were probably the most noteworthy. Hope that helps a bit!