Floyd Parker, «The Terms "Angel" and "Spirit" in Acts 23,8», Vol. 84 (2003) 344-365
In any discussion of the Sadducees, there will always remain a certain amount of doubt due to the paucity of sources about them. Based on what data has survived, the older theory that the Sadducees rejected the extravagant beliefs about angels and spirits provides the most convincing solution to the problem of Acts 23,8. The Sadducees’ reasons for rejecting these views were twofold: 1) angels were integrated into the apocalyptic world view that they rejected; and 2) angels often served as God’s servants to administer predestination or providence. Thus, when Paul claimed that a heavenly being had appeared to him in a manner and with a message that appeared to be predestinarian in nature, the Sadducees were unwilling to entertain the idea that an angel or spirit had appeared to him. Certainly new theories will arise in an attempt to grapple with this issue, but to re-appropriate the words of Jesus in Luke 5,39, "the old is good enough".
angels after the time of the Babylonian exile19; 2) they may have regarded angels as integral to the apocalyptic worldview. The Sadducees probably endorsed a more "this-worldly" eschatology20 and, therefore, rejected apocalyptic eschatology along with its accompanying "luxuriant angelology and demonology that supplied the drama of the end time with a huge cast of characters"21; 3) perhaps they believed angels no longer appeared as they once did. Angels do not play much of a role in the Prophets (with the exception of Zechariah) and the Writings (with the exception of Daniel). The few times they are mentioned in the Prophets, they do not usually serve as messengers with a mission, but rather as the guardians of the ark of the covenant (Ezek 1,10), the temple of God (Isa 6,1-6), or as figures of the distant past (Hos 12,4 [Gen 32,24-32]; Isa 64,9 [Exod 23,20-23; 32,34])22. Zeitlin’s explanation of this trend is that, "with the advent of the prophets the functions of the angels were dispensed with", thus giving rise to Sadducean disbelief in the continued intervention of angels23; or 4) perhaps they rejected angels along with their rejection of providence or fate, for angels could be construed as interfering with free will, a belief which the Sadducees cherished (BJ 2.164-65)24.