The Sadducees rejected the teaching of Jesus; He was animated by a spirit which they would not acknowledge as manifesting itself thus; and His teaching in regard to God and the future life contradicted their theories. They believed in God as the only being superior to man; but they argued that an overruling providence and a divine foresight would deprive man of free moral agency, and degrade him to the position of a slave. It was their belief, that, having created man, God had left him to himself, independent of a higher influence. They held that man was free to control his own life and to shape the events of the world; that his destiny was in his own hands. They denied that the Spirit of God works through human efforts or natural means. Yet they still held that, through the proper employment of his natural powers, man could become elevated and enlightened; that by rigorous and austere exactions his life could be purified.

Saddukæerne forkastede Jesu lære. Han var besjælet af en ånd, som de ikke ville anerkende i denne skikkelse, og hans lære med hensyn til Gud og det fremtidige liv modsagde deres teorier. De troede på Gud som den eneste, der stod over mennesket; men de "hævdede, at et altbeherskende guddommeligt forsyn ville berøve mennesket den frie, moralske virkeevne og nedværdige det til at blive en slave. Det var deres tro, at Gud, da han havde skabt mennesket, havde overladt det til sig selv, uafhængigt af højere påvirkning. De holdt på, at det stod mennesket frit for at være herre over sit eget liv og at forme verdensbegivenhederne, at mennesket selv var herre over sin skæbne. De benægtede, at Guds Ånd virker gennem menneskers stræben eller ved naturlige midler. Dog holdt de stadig fast ved, at mennesket ved den rigtige anvendelse af sine medfødte evner kunne blive højnet og oplyst; at dets liv kunne blive lutret gennem strenge og hårde krav.