Acts 23:6
‘When Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council: “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee! Of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called into question!” And when he had said so, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees — and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection…nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both…. The scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part, arose and strove — saying: “We find no evil in this man!”‘ Acts 23:6-9.
Calvin comments: “Paul…truly acknowledged that the Sadducees were hostile to him, because he affirmed the resurrection of the dead…. He set his enemies to fight among themselves….
“‘One part were Sadducees’…. That was bound to happen, when the Word of God was set aside!… No matter what kind of deformity befalls…, this may be a help and consolation to us…. By His grace, some seed will always be left!…
“The Pharisees were so named from ‘separation’ — because they removed themselves from the rest of the flock…. The Sadducees took their name from ‘righteousness’ — as if they were zaddukiym, ‘righteous men’…. The Pharisees were not content with the genuine teaching of the Law and the Prophets, and with it mixed up fabrications of their own…. The Pharisees confessed both…that resurrection awaits the dead, and that human…spirits are immortal…. The Sadducees used to deny the resurrection of the dead….
“It is brute-like stupidity to be satisfied with the life that is changing and transitory, and not to have a taste for what is above the Earth!… The sons of God ought to…raise their eyes to Heaven, and meditate continually upon the glory of the final resurrection…. The Sadducees denied any knowledge of angels; and secondly, of spirits of any kind…. They said that all that Scripture teaches about good and bad angels, sprung from the Heathen…. It is rather the case, that the belief that is accepted throughout the world took its origin from the heavenly teaching!… Even today, certain good-for-nothing fellows suppose that souls vanish at death!”
Calvin also says in his Institutes I:14:9: “The Sadducees of old maintained that by ‘angels’ nothing more was meant than the movements which God impresses on men, or manifestations which He gives of His Own power (Acts 23:8). But this dream is contradicted by so many passages of Scripture, that it seems strange how such gross ignorance could have had any countenance among the Jews. To say nothing of the passages…which refer to thousands and legions of angels (Psalm 91:11 & 97:7 etc.).”
Calvin further says in his Psychopannychia: “We know how often our Saviour condemned the error of the Sadducees. Which partly consisted…(Acts 23:8) in denying the existence of spirit.”
Paul, however, was on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!
