For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

By clicking on the link, you can listen to the 6th lesson in our series, 1st Century Judaism: Many Flavors of Messiah. The podcast is 20 minutes in length.

Sectarian groups of the 1st century

• Pharisee – Torah (written and oral)
• Sadducees – Temple
• Essenes – Land (Qumran and library of Dead Sea Scrolls)
• Zealots – Kingship (Sicarii -- extreme measures)
• Herodians – Regime (Mark 3:6)
• Scribes – Text (Shammai & Hillel; Mark 12:34)
• Samaritans – Sectarian past (see 2 Kings 17; John 4)
• Christians – Messiah (Christ)

Later Judaism

• Remnant of Jews joined the Christian movement (Romans 9-11).
• Escalating antipathy, esp. after 70 AD. Anti-Christian curses.
• Did not deny Christian miracles, but rejected Jesus’ divinity.
• Expected a political Messiah (John 6:15).
• Heirs of Pharisees (rabbinic Judaism) codify oral law in Mishnah, c.200 AD.

Modern Judaism

• Descendants of the Pharisees
• Three main divisions
  • Orthodox (right)
  • Conservative (center)
  • Reform (left)
• Mystics (kabala)
• Charismatics (chasidim)

Conclusion

• Divisions into sects -- each with its own take on the Messiah -- was not just a Jewish phenomenon of the first century.
• As we shall see, division will come round again in the course of church history, and perhaps nowhere more so than in our generation – about 20 lessons from now.
• This violates God's ideal that his people remain one (John 17:22-23).

Next section: Christ in the Gospels.  Next podcast: Mark: Lord Caesar or Lord Jesus?