This was the largest religious political group in Judah at the
time of Jesus. In all probability, the Pharisees originated in the period
before the Maccabean war, in a reaction against the Grecian
influence that so many Jews seemed willing and ready to accept. The
Phariseos held to a strict conformity of the law of Moses and the traditions
of the elders.
The Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul in the resurrection
of the body, and in the
existence of spirits.They also believed that people would receive rewards
or punishment in the
future life for what they did, or did not do, while living on the earth.
Pharisaism is the final and
necessary result of a concept of religion that makes religion consist
in conformity to the law, and promises only God's grace to the doers of
the law. Religion, therefore, becomes external. The
disposition of the heart is less vital than the outward acts of worship,
and following the outward
parts of the law of Moses. The interpretation of the law, and its application
to the details of ordinary life, accordingly became a matter of grave consequence.
Lawyers acquired increased importance, and expositions of the law by recognized
authorities grew to a body of precepts of binding force.