Matthew 3:7

Pharisees and Sadducees] The Pharisees were the strictest, the most active, and the most influential of the Jewish parties or sects. They were zealously attached to the Law, and still more to 'the traditions of the elders.' By the length of their prayers, the frequency of their fasts, and their devotion to ceremonialism, they sought to win honour with men and merit with God. They were hostile to foreign rule, intensely national and patriotic in spirit, and ready to suffer persecution even unto death for their religion. They believed in angels and spirits (also in revelations made by them), in eternal retribution in the next world, and in the resurrection of the dead. They also cherished with especial fervour the Messianic hope. They were closely allied with the scribes or lawyers, with whom they formed practically one party.

The views of the Sadducees were in most respects the opposite of those of the Pharisees. They made no special pretensions to piety. They acknowledged the Law of Moses as alone authoritative, and rejected the traditions of the elders. They were hostile to the aspirations of the national party, and leaned for support on Rome. Sceptical, or semisceptical, in their religious views, they rejected the popular beliefs in angels and spirits, in a future life, and in the resurrection of the dead. They were a worldly, wealthy, and selfishly ambitious party, and their adherents were chiefly found among the chief priests. Their opinions were so unpopular, that they often hesitated to express them publicly. In the Sanhedrin, although the leading Sadducees had seats, Pharisaic views were decidedly in the ascendant.

Come to his baptism] In consequence of John's severe denunciation of their conduct, most of the Pharisees and Sadducees who had come for baptism departed without it: see Luke 7:30. Generation (RV 'offspring') of vipers] This peculiar term of condemnation is also applied by Christ to the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 12:34; Matthew 23:33) Probably the allusion is to their poisonous opinions and corrupt influence: see Psalms 58:4; Isaiah 14:29. Who hath warned you] Are you, too, conscious of your danger? To flee] The picture is that of vipers fleeing before the flames when the stubble in the fields is set on fire. The wrath to come] the great judgment with which it was generally believed that the age of the Messiah would open. The Jews regarded it mainly as a judgment upon the Gentiles, but John declared that it would be a judgment upon every hypocritical Jew.