Sadducees and Pharisees

Sadducees and Pharisees
According to the bible, Sadducees and Pharisees have always had conflict with Jesus. The Sadducees and Pharisees were the ruling fraternity of Israel. Despite these factions having a number of similarities between them, there are significant differences that separate these sides.
At the time of Jesus Christ as well as the New Testament, Sadducees were elaborately aristocrats. This was a faction that was rich and had considerably powerful positions. They also served as high priest and chief high priest besides occupying posts in the ruling Sanhedrin. They were devoted to uphold peace by signing treaties with Rome. They had severed relations with the common man. The Sadducees were mainly conservative on religious issues and observances of the doctrine. They considered with great regard the written word of God and preserved its authority. Sadducees are noted to be contradicted in their belief of the scripture, for they were materially sufficient and therefore denied God as their provider. They did not believe in life after death thus did not believe in the resurrection. They also did not believe in spiritual existence and of angels. In A.D. 70 Sadducees ceased existence when Rome destroyed Jerusalem (Weeks, 2009).
The Pharisees comprised of middle class citizens who were merchants. This group would come easily in contact with the common man. Common considered them with high esteem. Despite their small number in the Sanhedrin, they were capable of authority than the Sadducees who were the majority in the council. This authority was due to the public that was in support of them. In contrast, the Pharisees were mostly middle-class businessmen, and therefore were in contact with the common man. The Pharisees were held in much higher esteem by the common man than the Sadducees. Though they were a minority in the Sanhedrin and held a minority number of positions as priests, they seemed to control the decision making of the Sanhedrin far more than the Sadducees did, again because they had the support of the people.
On religious matters, the Pharisees considered and adopted the written word as God inspired. But they highly regarded the authority of oral tradition and were on most occasions defending their position on such issues. They believed and observed that god was the overall controller of all things. The Pharisees upheld in belief that there i...