People & groups
Pharisee
A member of an influential Jewish movement devoted to interpreting and practicing the law.
Also called · Pharisees
What it means
Pharisees emphasized practices of purity, tithing, Sabbath, and inherited interpretation beyond the temple setting. They affirmed resurrection and spiritual beings.
The Gospels record sharp disputes with Jesus, yet Pharisees were not a single uniform group; Paul continued to identify his Pharisaic background.
How it appears in the Bible
Pharisees shaped Jewish religious life in the late Second Temple period and debated how covenant faithfulness should be lived.