Pharisee (Religious group in the New Testament)

The Pharisees were a Jewish religious movement devoted to strict observance of the law, both the written text and an extensive body of oral tradition interpreting it, and they held significant influence over Jewish religious life in the first century despite holding no official political power. Jesus repeatedly clashed with Pharisees over his willingness to break their added traditions, particularly around Sabbath observance and ritual purity, even as the apostle Paul himself had been a Pharisee before his conversion.