The Sadducees believed only in the divine authority of the Law. They rejected the Pharisaic beliefs in resurrection and the Last Judgment, a messianic deliverer, angels or demons.

They held to the Old Testament idea of Sheol as the place of the dead. Their religious beliefs were narrowly confined within the Jewish Law.

Wealthy and influential members of the Jerusalem priesthood, they were mainly concerned with external religious observance and were represented in the Sanhedrin. It is interesting that they co-operated with the Pharisees to oppose Jesus as they were usually in a state of conflict with them although both parties shared membership of the Sanhedrin; Jesus was seen by both groups to be a threat to their entrenched positions.

The Sadducees disappeared with the destruction of the Temple and the terrible massacre of the Jews that accompanied the Roman siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.