Acts 23:1

ἀτενίσας δέ, and earnestly beholding. The verb is one which St Luke very frequently employs to note a speaker’s expression at the commencement of a speech, and it is one of those features in the Acts which shew us where the compiler has acted as editor to the narratives which he used. He very generally gives some word to indicate the gesture or look of the person who speaks.

On its use in describing St Paul’s earnest look, see Acts 14:9, note.

ἄνδρες�. See note on Acts 1:16.

ἐγὼ πάση συνειδήσει … ἄχρι ταύτης τῆς ἡμέρας, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. The ἐγώ is emphatic. It is as though the Apostle would say, ‘You see me before you as though I were an offender, but personally I feel myself innocent.’ πολιτεύομαι in profane authors signifies ‘to discharge the duties of a citizen.’ St Paul implies by its use that he has been obedient to God’s laws, as a good citizen would be to the laws of his country. He employs the verb again in his epistle to the Philippians (Philippians 1:27). It is also found in LXX. 2Ma 6:1; 2Ma 11:25 πολιτεύεσθαι κατὰ τὰ ἐπὶ τῶν προγόνων αὐτῶν ἔθη.

So far as being devoted to God’s service, St Paul’s whole life up to the present moment had been of one piece, it was only that his conscience had been enlightened, and so his behaviour had changed. He had at first lived as a conscientious and observant Jew, his conscience now approved his conduct as a Christian.