Acts 5:17

Which is the sect of the Sadducees (h ousa airesi twn Saddoukaiwn). Literally, "the existing sect of the Sadducees" or "the sect which is of the Sadducees," h being the article, not the relative. Hairesi means a choosing, from aireomai, to take for oneself, to choose, then an opinion chosen or tenet (possibly 2 Peter 2:1 ), then parties or factions ( Galatians 5:20 ; 1 Corinthians 11:19 ; possibly 2 Peter 2:1 ). It is applied here to the Sadducees; to the Pharisees in Acts 15:5 ; Acts 26:5 ; to the Christians in Acts 24:5-14 ; Acts 28:22 . Already Luke has stated that the Sadducees started the persecution of Peter and John ( Acts 4:1 ). Now it is extended to "the apostles" as a whole since Christianity has spread more rapidly in Jerusalem than before it began.