Easton's Bible Dictionary (Gr. hairesis, usually rendered "heresy", Acts 24:14; 1 Chronicles 11:19; Galatians 5:20, etc.), meaning properly "a choice," then "a chosen manner of life," and then "a religious party," as the "sect" of the Sadducees (Acts 5:17), of the Pharisees (15:5), the Nazarenes, i.e., Christians (24:5). It afterwards came to be used in a bad sense, of those holding pernicious error, divergent forms of belief (2 Peter 2:1; Galatians 5:20). Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) A cutting; a scion. 2. (n.) Those following a particular leader or authority, or attached to a certain opinion; a company or set having a common belief or allegiance distinct from others; in religion, the believers in a particular creed, or upholders of a particular practice; especially, in modern times, a party dissenting from an established church; a denomination; in philosophy, the disciples of a particular master; a school; in society and the state, an order, rank, class, or party. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia SECT sekt (hairesis): "Sect" (Latin, secta, from sequi, "to follow") is in the New Testament the translation of hairesis, from haireo, "to take," "to choose"; also translated "heresy," not heresy in the later ecclesiastical sense, but a school or party, a sect, without any bad meaning attached to it. The word is applied to schools of philosophy; to the Pharisees and Sadducees among the Jews who adhered to a common religious faith and worship; and to the Christians. It is translated "sect" (Acts 5:17, of the Sadducees; Acts 15:5, of the Pharisees; Acts 24:5, of the Nazarenes; Acts 26:5, of the Pharisees; Acts 28:22, of the Christians); also the Revised Version (British and American) Acts 24:14 (the King James Version and the English Revised Version margin "heresy"), "After the Way which they call a sect, so serve I the God of our fathers" (just as the Pharisees were "a sect"); it is translated "heresies" (1 Corinthians 11:19, margin "sects," the American Standard Revised Version "factions," margin "Greek: `heresies' "; the English Revised Version reverses the American Standard Revised Version text and margin; Galatians 5:20, the American Standard Revised Version "parties," margin "heresies"; the English Revised Version reverses text and margin; 2 Peter 2:1, "damnable heresies," the Revised Version (British and American) "destructive heresies," margin "sects of perdition"); the "sect" in itself might be harmless; it was the teaching or principles which should be followed by those sects that would make them "destructive." Hairesis occurs in 1 Maccabees 8:30 ("They shall do it at their pleasure," i.e. "choice"); compare Septuagint Leviticus 22:18, 21. See HERESY. W. L. Walker

Multi-Version Concordance Sect (10 Occurrences) Mark 2:16 But when the Scribes of the Pharisee sect saw Him eating with the sinners and the tax-gatherers, they said to His disciples, "He is eating and drinking with the tax-gatherers and sinners!" (WEY) Mark 12:18 Then came to Him a party of Sadducees, a sect which denies that there is any Resurrection; and they proceeded to question Him. (WEY) Luke 5:30 Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?" (See NIV) Acts 5:17 But the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy, (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS) Acts 15:5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS) Acts 23:9 So there arose a great uproar; and some of the Scribes belonging to the sect of the Pharisees sprang to their feet and fiercely contended, saying, "We find no harm in the man. What if a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel----!" (WEY) Acts 24:5 For we have found this man to be a plague, an instigator of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. (WEB KJV ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Acts 24:14 But this I confess to you, that after the Way, which they call a sect, so I serve the God of our fathers, believing all things which are according to the law, and which are written in the prophets; (WEB ASV DBY YLT NAS RSV NIV) Acts 26:5 having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Acts 28:22 But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against." (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)