Where had Pharisees and the teacher of the Law scribes come from?

Answer 1

They were Jews, they believed in Jehovah and that the Messiah was to come but was not Christ. They were religious leaders of the day who had political connection with the Romans but did not share the same religious philosophy. They played political and religious tug-o-war with the Romans.

They looked down on the Romans but knew their place was not one of power in the face of Roman supremacy. They thought that when the Messiah did come He would come and save them from their worldly prison and rule in a political and worldly way. THUS, they failed to see Christ for who He truly was.

Answer 2

The Pharisees and Sadducee (scribes) sects arose some time not long after the Return from the Babylonian Exile. The Pharisees became influential during the reign of the Hasmoneans and gained considerable power under Queen Alexandra, when their leader, prince Simeon ben Shetah, formally threw the Sadducees out of the high court (Sanhedrin).

Paul and Josephus make it clear that Pharisaism was a way of life, for which there seems to have been no entrance requirements or initiation rites. Neither described Pharisaism as a political party or a church. To them, one was considered a Pharisee just by conducting oneself as one.

The Pharisees taught that the written Law had been given to the Jews and that they were free to interpret the Law as the world had changed since the days of Moses. As a consequence, the Pharisees said that the 'written Torah' was to be supplemented with 'the oral Torah', the interpretation of the written Law by the Pharisee teachers, the rabbis. The Sadducees taught observance of the letter of the Law. The Sadducees rejected the concepts of resurrection and rewards and punishments after death. According to Josephus, they even denied the immortality of the soul. They maintained that human choices and actions were totally free, without divine interference, and denied the existence of angels. On the other hand, the Pharisees seem to have believed in resurrection, as well as angels and Satan. The Sadducees were the party of the wealthy and powerful, while the Pharisees gained their support from the poorer people.

In both theology and their concern for the poor, the Pharisees were quite close to the early Christians, meaning that they both sought to attract the same potential converts. Conflict between the two sects was probably inevitable, as is portrayed in the gospels.