St. Mina and St. Abanoub Coptic Orthodox Church

Doctrines and Beliefs

The Pharisees were a lay group who stood in opposition to the Sadducees, the party of the Jewish priesthood. The New Testament and Josephus's histories allude to some distinct Pharisaic beliefs, particularly in contrast with the beliefs of the Sadducees. Some of these beliefs are as follows:

1. The Sadducees admitted only the Law and the five books of Moses as imposing obligations upon Jews. The Pharisees accepted also the oral traditions of the elders, which was attributed to a chain of elders going back to the Prophet Moses. These traditions erected a "fence" around the Law. St. Matthew stated, "Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 'Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.'" (Matt. 25:1-2; see also Mk. 7:5.) When the Mishna was compiled around 200 A.D., it incorporated the teachings of the Pharisees on Jewish law.
2. The Pharisees were the true representatives of the people, whose high calling they endeavored to develop by making them realize, both in practice and life, that "God has given to all alive the kingdom, priesthood, and holiness" (2 Macc. 11:17.) Also, Exodus 19:6 states, "And e shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel."
3. The Sadducees, on the other hand, set the highest value upon their priestly aristocratic office, and who, by virtue of their hereditary rights, tried to appropriate everything unto themselves. Ultimately, they manifested little sympathy for the common Jew and the people at large.   Unlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; and in the existence of angels and spirits (Acts 23:6-8.)

Josephus states that the Pharisees "say that every soul is imperishable, but that the souls of good men only pass over (transmigrate) into another body, while the souls of bad men are chastised by eternal punishment (War 2:8, 14; see also 3:8,5.) Josephus' words might be interpreted as an affirmation that the Pharisees believed in the transmigration of souls. There are two passages in the Gospels that may support this notion. One, in Matthew 14:3, where Herod the Jewish King is represented as fearing that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (though a different tone is given to Herod's thoughts in the corresponding passage from Luke 9:7-9.) The other, in John 9:2, where the question is put to Jesus whether the blind man himself had sinned or his parents that he was born blind, may also confirm Pharisaical belief in transmigration of souls (thereby explaining transmigration of sin.)

That the Pharisees believed in ithe full resurrection of the dead, much in the same sense as Christian patristic thoughts, is certain. Christ's teachings concerning the future life assume it as already adopted by His hearers, except the Sadducees, although He condemns some unspiritual conceptions about its nature as erroneous (Matt. 22:30; Lk. 20:34-36.) St. Paul's statement to the chief priests and council (Acts 23:6) that he was a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, and that he was called in question for the hope of the resurrection of the dead is another example of this belief.

Pharisaism

These doctrines of the Pharisees distinguish them from the Sadducees, but did not constitute the essence of Pharisaism. This latter is the final and necessary result of that conception of religion which makes it consist in conformity to the Law, and promises of God's grace only to the doers of the Law. Religion becomes external; the disposition of the heart becomes less vital than the outward act. The interpretation of the Law, and its application to the details or ordinary life accordingly become a matter of grave consequence.

Our Saviour's great effort with regard to the Old Testament dispensation, was to unfold the principles which are the basis of that dispensation. TO carry them out to their legitimate conclusions; that is, to "fulfill" the Law in its remarkable character as pointing forward to something greater than the mere letter of the Law. The basic error of the Pharisees was their refusal to admit that Judaism could reach any further development beyond themselves; they called a halt to the activity and power of God.

Amonog the Pharisees, however, there were men like Nicodemus and Gamaliel, who was St. Paul's teacher and mentor when he was Saul of Tarsus.

GLORY BE TO GOD FOREVER, AMEN.