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Selected Verse: Acts 23:8 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ac 23:8 |
King James |
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
the Sadducees say . . . there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit--(See on Luk 20:37).
the scribes . . . of the Pharisees' part . . . strove, saying, We find no evil in this man, but--as to those startling things which he brings to our ears.
if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him--referring, perhaps, to his trance in the temple, of which he had told them (Act 22:17). They put this favorable construction upon his proceedings for no other reason than that they had found him one of their own party. They care not to inquire into the truth of what he alleged, over and above their opinions, but only to explain it away as something not worth raising a noise about. (The following words, "Let us not fight against God," seem not to belong to the original text, and perhaps are from Act 5:39. In this case, either the meaning is, "If he has had some divine communication, what of that?" or, the conclusion of the sentence may have been drowned in the hubbub, which Act 23:10 shows to have been intense). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
For the Sadducees say - They believe.
No resurrection - Of the dead. By this doctrine they also understood that there was no future state, and that the soul did not exist after death. See the notes on Mat 22:23.
Neither angel - That there are no angels. They deny the existence of good or bad angels. See the notes on Mat 3:7.
Nor spirit - Nor soul. That there is nothing but matter. They were materialists, and supposed that all the operations which we ascribe to mind could be traced to some modification of matter. The Sadducees, says Josephus (Jewish Wars, book ii. chapter 8, section 14), "take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades." "The doctrine of the Sadducees is this," says he (Antiq., book 18, chapter 1, section 4), "that souls die with the bodies." The opinion that the soul is material, and that there is nothing but matter in the universe, has been held by many philosophers, ancient and modern, as well as by the Sadducees.
Confess both - Acknowledge, or receive both as true; that is, that there is a future state, and that there are spirits distinct from matter, as angels, and the disembodied souls of people. The two points in dispute were:
(1) Whether the dead would be raised and exist in a future state; and,
(2) Whether mind was distinct from matter. The Sadducees denied both, and the Pharisees believed both. Their belief of the Latter point was, that spirits existed in two forms - that of angels, and that of souls of people distinct from the body. |
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Both
Showing that two classes of doctrines peculiar to the Sadducees, and not three, are meant: 1. The resurrection. 2. The existence of spirits, whether angels or souls of men; "neither angel nor spirit." |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
The Pharisees confess both - Both the resurrection, and the existence of angels and separate spirits. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection - It is strange, since these denied a future state, that they observed the ordinances of the law; for they also believed the five books of Moses to be a revelation from God: yet they had nothing in view but temporal good; and they understood the promises in the law as referring to these things alone. In order, therefore, to procure them, they watched, fasted, prayed, etc., and all this they did that they might obtain happiness in the present life. See the account of the Pharisees and Sadducees, Mat 3:7; Mat 16:1. |
10 And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.
39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
17 And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;
37 Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,
1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?