“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40 ESV

Greetings, Everyone!

This month, we will continue to look at the fifth essential teaching that was written in the book of Hebrews 6:1-2(NKJV),

“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

This month, we will continue the resurrection of the dead. There were four Jewish parties: Herodians, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, who didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. Last month's article shared what the Herodians and the Pharisees thought about the resurrection of the dead. In this article, I will discuss the Sadducees and Essenes. In Hebrew, Sadducees can be translated as “the Righteous One,” the Essenes have been identified with various groups: Hasidim, Zealots, Greek, or Iranian influence, and they are not mentioned in the New Testament.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, The Sadducees were elitists who wanted to maintain the priestly caste. Still, they were also liberal in their willingness to incorporate Hellenism into their lives, something the Pharisees opposed. They claimed to be descendants of Zadok, the High Priest of David (2 Samuel 8:17). The Sadducees rejected the idea of the Oral Law and insisted on a literal interpretation of the Written Law; consequently, they did not believe in an afterlife since it is not mentioned in the Torah. In Matt 22: 23-33 (ESV), they question Jesus about the resurrection; they think physical death is the end of existence. So, they asked Jesus, “In the resurrection whose wife would the widow be? For they all had her?” Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” So, from their question and response, they still didn’t believe.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, the Essenes emerged out of disgust with the other two. This sect believed the others had corrupted the city and the Temple. They moved out of Jerusalem and lived a monastic life in the desert, maintaining a non-Levitical priesthood, adopting strict dietary laws, and committing to celibacy. The Essenes are particularly interesting to scholars because they are believed to be an offshoot of the group that lived in Qumran, near the Dead Sea. In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd stumbled into a cave containing various ancient artifacts and jars containing manuscripts describing the sect's beliefs and events. The oldest known copies of the Old Testament were the most important documents, often only parchment fragments that had to be meticulously restored. The similarity of the substance of the material found in the scrolls to that in the modern scriptures has confirmed the authenticity of the Bible used today. They consider the afterlife as “Spiritual Survival.”

Learning about the Jewish parties during Jesus’s ministry was interesting. Even though their belief system was different, they had one commonality: Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior's demise. What are your thoughts now that we know about the various parties and their behaviors towards Christ’s teaching? Did it affect Christ's teaching regarding the resurrection of the dead? No, it didn’t. So, next month, we will continue with The Resurrection of the Dead Part 3.