Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 12:18

"And there come unto him Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying," — Mark 12:18 (ASV)

Reliable information about the Sadducees (mentioned only here in Mark) is difficult to obtain because no documents that are clearly Sadducean have been preserved. The word “Sadducee” (GK 4881) is usually traced to Zadok, the high priest during the time of David.

In the time of Jesus, the Sadducees were small numerically but exerted great influence politically and religiously. They were not, however, popular among the masses. They represented the urban, wealthy, sophisticated class and were centered in Jerusalem. When Jerusalem was destroyed in A. D. 70, they disappeared from history. Mark identifies the Sadducees as those “who say there is no resurrection.” They held this position because they accepted as Scripture primarily the first five books of the Bible and rejected all beliefs and practices not found there. Since they claimed to be unable to find clear teaching about the Resurrection in the books of Moses, they rejected the doctrine. This set them against the Pharisees, who considered the oral tradition as authoritative as the written Scriptures.