Matthew 3:1-12 Sadducees and Pharisees

Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."...But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"...As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." [Matthew 3:1-12 NASB]

John the Baptist fit the image of an Old Testament prophet. He was a wild looking man, living in the wilderness, and dressed in camel hair. He fired the imagination of the people, and they came to him in droves. As they came to him confessing their sins, he performed a ritual cleansing by immersing them in the Jordan River. He preached forgiveness of sin through repentance and baptism in water.

Among those who appeared at the baptisms were the Sadducees and the Pharisees. These two groups made up most of the Jewish ruling class of the time, though they rarely agreed with one another. They were kind of like the Republicans and Democrats of their day.

Of the two, the Sadducees were the elite. They were responsible for the temple maintenance and priesthood. Generally, the high priest was a Sadducee. They believed in a strict adherence to the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament. They rejected the authority of the historical, poetic, and prophetic books of the Old Testament. They also rejected the concept of life after death, the resurrection, and spirits of any kind including angels. The Sadducees died out after the destruction of the second Jewish temple.

The Pharisees were the peoples party. They rejected the elitism of the priestly cast, claiming the priesthood of all Jews. They accepted all of the Old Testament as scripture, and believed in resurrection. They also elevated the "Oral Law" or "tradition" to the same level as the Torah, and would even give greater authority to tradition than to the Torah. They believed in a strict adherence to the Torah, the Prophets, and tradition. Rabbinical Judaism was born out the Pharisaical sect.

Both the Sadducees and the Pharisees believed in a strict adherence to the Law over faith.

Although they had their differences, the Sadducees and Pharisees managed to work together. They became united whenever they felt the status quo was being threatened. For example, when John the Baptist came on the scene, he drew huge crowds of people who were repenting of their sins and being baptized. But he did so outside of their authority, and they could not control him.

God revealed the hearts of these religious leaders to John the Baptist so that he could see that they did not come to him in true repentance, but were only giving lip service to be seen by the people. So he said to them, "You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance, and don't think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!" [Matthew 3:7-9 NET]

The ritual of baptism wasn't sufficient for the forgiveness of sins. True repentance is proven by a change in your life. These religious leaders believed that their heritage as descendants of Abraham would be enough. In the same way, many Americans think of themselves as Christians because their parents were Christians, or they go to church, or, since they are not anything else, they are - by default - Christians.

This is, of course, wrong. A Christian is one who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, believes that Jesus died and rose again, and has turned from a life of sin to live that is lived for God. As Christians, we don't baptize for the forgiveness of sins, but as a testimony of the new life God has already created in us.

We look to the One who is to come after John the Baptist, who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire. We believe that when he separates the wheat from the chaff, we who trust in him will be separated from those who are religious or pay lip service only, and we will be gathered to Him.