Early Christian Beliefs About the Essenes and Jewish Sects
Early Christian writers described Judaism as divided into several sects, especially Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. Hippolytus gives the fullest account of the Essenes, saying they lived by strict customs and differed on marriage. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and the Apostolic Constitutions also speak about Jewish sects in general. Bible passages like Acts 23 and Acts 24 help explain the background of these groups.
104 early-church witnesses · 195 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about the Essenes and Jewish Sects?
Early Christian writers said the main Jewish sects in Jesus’ time were Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, and Hippolytus gives the clearest description of the Essenes as a separated, disciplined group with strict customs and different views on marriage. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and the Apostolic Constitutions also speak of Jewish sects in general, especially Pharisees and Sadducees, showing that Christians knew Judaism as divided into several groups.
The evidence for the Essenes themselves is fairly strong in Hippolytus, but the broader material is mixed because many passages talk about sects in general or about Pharisees and Sadducees without focusing on the Essenes. Some Bible passages are directly relevant to Jewish sects, like Acts 23:6-8 and Acts 24:14, while others are only background for purity rules or separation.
Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Hippolytus gives the clearest early Christian description of the Essenes.
- Early Christian writers often grouped the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes together as Jewish sects.
- Acts 23:6-8 and Acts 24:14 are the most direct Bible passages for Jewish sect divisions.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Who were the Essenes according to early Christian writers?
Hippolytus describes the Essenes as a Jewish sect with a strict way of life, mutual love, self-control, and special customs. He also says they were split into different parties over time, and that some branches differed over marriage.
-
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching
... the rest. For there is a division among them into three groups. The followers of the first are the Pharisees, of the second the Sadducees, and the rest are Essenes. These live a more devoted life, full of mutual love and self-control. They turn away from every act of excessive desire, and they are unwilling even to hear about such things. They renounce marriage, but they take other people's boys, and in this way have offspring begotten for them. They lead these adopted children into the practice of their own special customs, and in this way raise them and urge them to learn the sciences. They do not, however, forbid them to marry, though they themselves refrain from marriage. However, they do not admit women, even if women are willing to follow the same way of life, since they have no confidence in women at all.
-
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching
There is then another order of the Essenes who use the same customs and prescribed method of living with the foregoing sects, but make an alteration from these in one respect, viz., marriage.
-
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching
There is also another group of the Essenes. They follow the same customs and the same prescribed way of life as the groups mentioned before, but they differ from them in one point: marriage. They hold that those who have rejected marriage commit a very serious offense that leads to the destruction of life, and that they should not cut off the succession of children. For if everyone held this opinion, the whole human race would easily die out. However, they test their betrothed women for a period of three years. And when the women have been purified three times, in order to prove that they are able to bear children, then they marry them. They do not, however, have relations with pregnant women. In this they show that they marry not for sensual pleasure, but for the benefit of having children. The women also undergo washing in the same way as their husbands, and they too are clothed in a linen garment, in the manner in which the men wear their girdles. These, then, are the statements I have to make concerning the Essenes.
-
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
The Essenes have, however, in the lapse of time, undergone divisions, and they do not preserve their system of training after a similar manner, inasmuch as they have been split up into four parties.
-
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
But as regards judicial decisions, the Essenes are most accurate and impartial.
-
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
... same food before the candidates, while these men continue to live in a different house outside the Essenes' own meeting place. They give the probationers a hatchet, a linen belt, and a white robe. When this period has ended, if a man gives proof of self-control, he comes closer to the sect's way of life, and he is washed more thoroughly than before. Yet he still does not share food with the Essenes. For after he has shown whether he is able to gain self-control, his manner of life remains under trial for two years. And when he appears worthy, he is then counted among the members of the sect. But before he is allowed to share a meal with them, he is bound by fearful oaths. First, that he will worship the Divinity. Next, that he will deal justly with men, that he will in no way injure anyone, and that he will not hate a person who injures him or is hostile to him, but will pray for them. He also swears that he will always help the just, and keep faith with all, especially with those who are rulers. For they argue that no one comes into a position of authority without God. And if the Essene himself is a ruler, he swears that he will never act arrogantly in the use of power, nor be
-
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
and the adherents of the first are the Pharisees, but of the second the Sadducees, while the rest are Essenes.
Did early Christians say Judaism had several sects?
Yes. Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and the Apostolic Constitutions all refer to multiple Jewish sects or divisions. Acts 23:6-8 also names Pharisees and Sadducees as different groups, and Acts 24:14 uses the word sect for the Way.
-
Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching
...such people we say this: among you Jews, and among the most famous philosophers of the Greeks, many sects have appeared. Yet you do not say that a person should hesitate to practice philosophy or Judaism because the sects among you disagree with each other. Also, the Lord foretold that heresies would be sown among the truth, like weeds among the wheat. What was predicted would happen could not fail to happen. The reason is that everything beautiful is followed by some ugly stain. So then, if someone breaks his commitments and turns away from the confession he made before us, should we stop holding to the truth because he has proved false to his profession? No. Just as a good person must not prove false or fail to confirm what he has promised, even though others break their commitments, so we also are in no way bound to break the rule of the Church. And we especially keep our confession in the most important points, while they go against it.
-
Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
To whom we say, that among you who are Jews, and among the most famous of the philosophers among the Greeks, very many sects have sprung up.
-
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching
do not imagine that they are Christians, even as one, if he would rightly consider it, would not admit that the Sadducees, or similar sects of Genistæ, Meristæ, Galilæans, Hellenists, Pharisees, Baptists, are Jews (do not hear me impatiently when I tell you what I think), but are [only] called Jews and children of Abraham, worshipping God with the lips, as God Himself declared, but the heart was far from Him.
-
Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
There are also those that separate themselves from all these, and observe the laws of their fathers, and these are the Essenes.
-
Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
...d heresies. Among them were the Sadducees, who do not confess the resurrection of the dead; and the Pharisees, who ascribe the actions of sinners to fortune and fate; and the Basmotheans, who deny providence and say that the world was made by spontaneous motion, and who take away the immortality of the soul; and the Hemerobaptists, who do not eat each day unless they wash. No, unless they also cleanse their beds and tables, or platters and cups and seats, they do not use any of them. And there are those who have newly arisen among us, the Ebionites, who insist that the Son of God is a mere man, begotten by human pleasure and the union of Joseph and Mary. There are also those who separate themselves from all these and observe the laws of their fathers, and these are the Essenes. These, therefore, arose among the former people. And now the evil one, who is wise in doing harm, but as for goodness knows nothing of it, has cast out some from among us and has worked heresies and schisms through them.
-
Acts 23:6 Direct teaching
But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”
-
Acts 23:8 Direct teaching
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
-
Acts 24:14 Direct teaching
But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.
How did early Christians compare the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes?
Early Christian writers often named these three groups together as major Jewish sects. Hippolytus gives the fullest breakdown, while the Gospels and Acts show Pharisees and Sadducees as separate and sometimes opposing groups.
-
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching
These, then, are the opinions of the Pharisees. The Sadducees, however, want to do away with fate. They admit that God does nothing wicked and does not exercise providence over earthly matters. But they argue that the choice between good and evil lies in the power of human beings. They deny that there is a resurrection, not only of the flesh, but they also think that the soul does not continue after death. They consider the soul to be nothing more than mere vitality, and they say that it is because of this that man has been created. However, they maintain that the idea of resurrection has been fully fulfilled in this one fact: that we end our days after leaving children on earth. But they still insist that after death a person should expect to suffer nothing, either bad or good. For they say that both soul and body are dissolved, and that man passes into non-existence, just as the material of animal creation does. But whatever wickedness a man may have committed in life, if he has been reconciled to the injured party, he has gained by his wrongdoing, since he has escaped the punishment that otherwise would have been inflicted by men. And whatever possessions a man may have gained,
-
Origen, Commentary on Matthew Direct teaching
Now our discussion has come to this point because the Pharisees and Sadducees came together to Jesus. They disagreed with each other about the resurrection, but they came to a kind of agreement for the purpose of tempting our Savior and asking Him to show them a sign from heaven. They were not satisfied with the wonderful signs shown among the people in the healing of every kind of disease and sickness, or with the rest of the miracles that our Savior had done in the sight of many. They wanted Him to show them a sign from heaven as well. I think they suspected that the signs on earth might perhaps not be from God. For they did not hesitate to say, "Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons." And it seemed to them that a sign from heaven could not come from Beelzebub or any other wicked power. But they were mistaken about both kinds of signs, both signs on earth and signs from heaven. They were not approved money-changers, and they did not know how to distinguish between the spirits that were at work, which ones were from God and which had revolted from Him. They should have known that even many of the wonders worked against Egypt in the time of Moses, though they
-
Tatian, The Diatessaron Supporting witness
...cribes answered and said to him, "Teacher, you have spoken well." Matthew 22:34 But the rest of the Pharisees, when they saw that he had silenced the Sadducees on this point, gathered together against him to argue with him.
-
Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness
And those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said to him, John 1:24-25, "Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" Those who sent the priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John these questions, after learning who John was not and who he was, keep a proper silence. It is as if they quietly agreed and showed that they accepted what was said, and saw that baptism suited a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. But the Pharisees, as their name suggests, were a divided and rebellious group of people. They show that they do not agree with the Jews of the chief city, nor with the ministers of God's service, the priests and Levites. They send messengers who speak with rebuke, and as far as they can, they try to stop John from baptizing. Their messengers ask, "Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" And if we were to join into one statement what is written in the different Gospels, we would say that at this time they spoke as it is reported here. But at a later time, when they wanted to receive baptism, they heard John's words: Matthew 3:7-8, "Brood of vi
-
Acts 23:7 Direct teaching
And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.
-
Matthew 22:34 Direct teaching
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
-
Acts 5:17 Direct teaching
Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,
Common Questions
Did early Christians think the Jews had different sects?
Yes. Writers like Hippolytus, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and the Apostolic Constitutions speak of Jewish sects such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.
What did Hippolytus say about the Essenes?
Hippolytus said the Essenes lived by a strict way of life, were split into different parties, and differed over marriage.
Which Bible passages talk about Jewish sects?
Acts 23:6-8 and Acts 24:14 are the clearest passages in this set. Acts 23 names Pharisees and Sadducees, and Acts 24 calls the Way a sect.
Source Index for the Essenes and Jewish Sects
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 195 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 104
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
-
Cyprian, Connection to Acts 17:11
Bible Passages 80 shown of 91
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.