3.) Their _spirit_. The Pharisee was the radical and zealot, showing an intense, intolerant Judaism. The Sadducee was the liberal easy-going man of the world, taking the world as he found it. 4.) Their _beliefs_. The Pharisee believed in a spiritual world, heaven, hell, angels, the hereafter, the judgment. The Sadducee could not find clear statements of these doctrines in the Old Testament, and denied them. See Matt. 22. 23; Acts 23. 8. 5.) Their _influence_. The Pharisees were strong in the synagogues, where the scribes gave their interpretations, and hence were powerful among the people as leaders in religion. The Sadducees were the smaller body, but influential from their wealth and their social position, for the high priests and all the priestly order belonged to them, and they were the office-holding class, the court party. (Acts 4. 1, 2; 5. 17.) 6.) Their _evils_. The evil of the Pharisees was their tendency to make religion mere hypocritical formality, so often rebuked by Christ. See Matt. 23. 2-7. The evil of the Sadducees was their utter lack of moral conviction, from worldliness and self-interest. See their motive for putting Christ to death (John 11. 47-50). 3. Thus far we have noticed only Jews, but there were also in Palestine many =Gentiles=, which was the name the Jews gave to all foreigners or people of race other than themselves. These were of three classes, called respectively: 1.) =Sinners=--That is, those who made no attempt to observe Jewish usages. See Gal. 2. 15. The same name was given to the Jews who did not undertake to keep the ceremonial law, without reference to their moral character (Matt. 9. 10, 11). 2.) =The Devout.= Those who believed in the Scriptures and worshiped God, but who had not been received into the Jewish Church by circumcision. Such was Cornelius (Acts 10. 1, 2). 3.) =Proselytes=--Such as renounced Gentilism, received circumcision, and obeyed the Jewish law (Acts 6. 5; Matt. 23. 15). V. =The Language of Palestine.= 1. Originally =Hebrew=; still read, in Christ's time, in the synagogue but not well understood and requiring an interpreter. 2. Mostly =Aramaic=, or =Syro-Chaldaic=--that is, Chaldaic with Syrian admixture; the common dialect of the people, and undoubtedly spoken by Christ. See instances in Mark 7. 34; 15. 34. This is the language referred to in John 19. 20, 21, and Acts 22. 2, as "Hebrew." 3. The language of polite literature in all countries was =Greek=; strongly opposed by the Pharisees, but employed by the Jews of the Dispersion, and used in the courts of Herod and Pilate (Acts 21. 37). 4. The official language was =Latin=, that of the Roman Government, but not used by the Jews, and not generally understood by them. Blackboard Outline