These were the wealthiest and most powerful Jews in the New Testament period. They dominated the Sanhedrin (see 296) and the priesthood in Jerusalem.
They differed from the common people and the Pharisees in an important respect: They accepted only the Torah, the Bible’s first five books, as sacred. And, unlike most Jews in that era, they had no belief in an afterlife.
Like the Pharisees, they disapproved of Jesus, and on one occasion they came to Him with a ridiculous question about marriage in the afterlife, which Jesus answered wisely (Matt. 22:23–33).
Acts 23 describes Paul’s trial before the Sanhedrin, where he cleverly played off one party against another.
Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out to the Sanhedrin, “Men and brethren, and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!” (v. 6).
When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
