Pharisees

The Pharisees (from a root meaning “separated” or “set apart”) were the most influential religious party of Second Temple Judaism, arising in the Maccabean era as a lay movement zealous for the Mosaic law and the “tradition of the elders” — the body of oral interpretation they held alongside Scripture (Mark 7:3-5). They sought to extend priestly purity to everyday life through scrupulous tithing, fasting, and sabbath-keeping. Unlike the Sadducees, they believed in the resurrection of the dead, angels, and spirits (Acts 23:8), and as teachers in the synagogues they held wide influence over the common people.

In the Gospels the Pharisees are Jesus’ most frequent opponents. They disputed with him over sabbath healings (Matthew 12:9-14), eating with tax collectors and sinners (Luke 15:1-2), ceremonial washing, and the authority by which he forgave sins. Jesus honoured their formal office — “the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat” — yet warned, “practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice” (Matthew 23:2-3). His sharpest words fell on their hypocrisy and pride: the sevenfold “woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” for straining gnats while swallowing camels and cleansing the cup’s outside while inside full of greed (Matthew 23:23-28), and the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector exposing self-righteous prayer (Luke 18:9-14).

Not all Pharisees were hostile. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and later defended him (John 3:1-2; John 7:50-51); the renowned teacher Gamaliel counselled restraint toward the apostles (Acts 5:34-39); and many priests and Pharisees believed (Acts 15:5). Most notably, Saul of Tarsus was “a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees,” trained under Gamaliel, who counted that pedigree loss for the sake of Christ (Acts 23:6; Philippians 3:5-8).

After the temple’s destruction in AD 70, the Pharisees’ emphasis on Torah, synagogue, and oral tradition made them the forebears of rabbinic Judaism. In Scripture they stand as a sober warning that meticulous religion without a humble, regenerate heart breeds hypocrisy — the very self-righteousness Jesus said could not enter the kingdom unless one’s righteousness exceeded theirs (Matthew 5:20).