Acts 23:6-10 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brothers… It answered the end he sought. It divided the Sanhedrin, and got the Pharisees on his side. Three results came out of it. 1. A great excitement through a sectionising dogma. "The resurrection of the dead," which was a grand truth to the apostle, was a mere dogma to them; but it was just that dogma that divided them into two sects. As a rule, whatever idea divides one religious sect from another is the idea which awakens sectarian bitterness. Immersion, Presbyterianism, Independency — these things make sects and awaken irritation in the parties they divide. 2. A demonstration of the apostle's innocence. So little impressed was the Sanhedrin with the idea of the apostle's criminality, that they forgot all about it in the disputation amongst themselves; and, more than this, the Pharisees actually said, "We find no evil in this man." 3. His deliverance from Jewish persecution (ver. 10). (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. |
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