Acts 23:6

But when Paul perceived, &c. We are not told in what way the knowledge which the Apostle here acted on was gained. Perhaps the Pharisees, as in the parable of the Pharisee and publican, kept themselves apart; or to a Jewish eye some mark of their dress may have been enough to bespeak a difference of party. St Paul used this party spirit in a perfectly legitimate manner. What he did was not done merely to set them by the ears, but to secure an opportunity for speaking on that central doctrine of Christianity, the resurrection of the dead. (Cp. Acts 24:21.)

Men and brethren Better "Brethren." See note on Acts 1:16.

the son of a Pharisee The best MSS. give a son of Pharisees. This reading has the advantage of removing St Paul's language beyond the questioning which has sometimes been raised about it. "I am a Pharisee," he says. And the question has been raised, whether he had a right to describe himself thus. When he continues "a son of Pharisees" we see that he is stating that by descent and birth his family had for generations been members of that party. Having said this, he then propounds that doctrine which, of all their teaching, was that which severed them from the Sadducees. That this point also was the central doctrine of Christianity makes St Paul's address not disingenuous, but an appeal to those who agreed with him thus far in his belief, to hear what he had further to say which might meet with their acceptance. And it is not as if the Apostle had raised the question in their midst on some side-issue. The whole teaching of the Christian church rested on the truth of the resurrection, and therefore with much wisdom and without any thought of deception he cries, "I am a Pharisee, and for teaching the doctrine of the resurrection (which they hold) I am now called in question."