“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” – 2 Timothy 3:16
If the Pharisees’ goal was separatism, the Sadducees’ goal was syncretism, or the combining of Christian beliefs with beliefs from other religions/cultures. The meaning behind the name Sadducees is not entirely clear, but it probably means “righteous” or “pure.” For this group, being celebrated and tolerated by the world system for teaching tolerance of sin rather than repentance of sin is what they consider to be good behavior.
The beliefs of the Sadducees are curiously amiss. They did not accept all the Scriptures. The Pharisees had Torah plus tradition by adding to God’s Word. On the other side of the continuum, the Sadducees removed parts of the Bible that did not agree with their compromise with culture.
The Sadducees, ancient and modern, really hate the Bible’s emphasis on the Fall and human sin. They didn’t agree that human beings were totally depraved, with sin infecting and affecting all their being. Like modern progressives, they wrongly believed people were good and making progress at getting better and better. Like liberals of every age, they wrongly trusted time and education to cause moral progress because they thought we are all basically good people.
Also offensive to the Sadducees was God’s sovereignty and providential ruling over the affairs of mankind. Instead, they downplayed God’s sovereignty and stressed our free will in human decision-making. For them, the thought of being under authority, including God’s, was repugnant.
In addition, they were morally and culturally progressive, and they wanted to emphasize tolerance over repentance. One thing the Pharisees do get right is that people need to repent of sin, but they didn’t repent of their personal sin. What the Sadducees got wrong was that they practiced tolerance over repentance. If you were Greek in your behavior, which included your sexual progressivism or your philosophical syncretism, they would tolerate that. They tolerated lots of transgenderism and sexual sin, just like liberal “Christians” today.
The Sadducees denied the Resurrection (Acts 23:8), and, as a result, there’s no Heaven, there’s no Hell, and there’s no eternal judgment. They believe that all you have is this life; you’re not really a sinner, and God’s not really sovereign. What you need to do is be a good person, make good decisions, and make the world a better place. They were known for being combative, argumentative, self-righteous, and given to cancel culture. Anyone who disagrees with the spirit of the Sadducees, yesterday or today, is attacked and ignored for being out of touch, outdated, primitive, unlearned, uncouth, repressive, intolerant, bigoted, and behind the times.
This political and cultural option is not possible for any true Christian. This thinking erases the line between the Church and the world by reducing or removing the Word of God to promote the tolerance of sin over the repentance of sin. Furthermore, it denies the existence of the two kingdoms and leads to syncretism and then apostasy.
Tomorrow we will wrap up the week, and this series, by discussing how Jesus would vote.
Are there any areas of your life where you tend towards a Sadducee spirit?
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