PARTY (Gr. αἵρεσις, G146). A word used to denote a distinct group, the Pharisees (Acts 15:5; 23:9; 26:5: “the strictest party of our religion”), the Sadducees (Acts 5:17), and the “circumcision party” (Acts 11:2; Gal 2:12; Titus 1:10). In other passages the Gr. word αἵρεσις, G146, is tr. differently—e.g., “sect” (Acts 24:14), “faction” (1 Cor 11:19) and “heresy” (2 Pet 2:1). The Christians were called by their Jewish opponents “the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5; 28:22).

“Party” is sometimes used in a neutral sense, of belonging to a certain group or school, as of the Sadducees in Acts 5:17, and of the Pharisees in Acts 15:5; 26:5. As a term of reproach it is used along with dissension, in the sense of “party spirit,” which belongs to the works of the flesh (Gal 5:20).