Acts 26:4

μὲν οὖν : with no formal antithesis, but as marking the opposition between his present and former mode of life, a contrast dropped for the moment, and resumed again in Acts 26:9; see Rendall, Appendix on μέν οὖν, but also Page, in loco, and notes below on Acts 26:9. βίωσιν : vivendi et agendi ratio, Grimm; cf. the same word used in the description of a life very similar to that of Paul before he became a Christian, Ecclus., Prol., 12, διὰ τῆς ἐννόμου βιώσεως (Symm., Psalms 38 (39):6). νεότητος, 1 Timothy 4:12, only elsewhere in N.T. in Luke 18:21, and in parallel passage, Mark 10:20, in LXX Genesis 43:33; Job 31:18, etc. From its use with reference to Timothy it is evident that the word did not imply the earliest years of life, and although Paul may probably have removed to Jerusalem at an early age, the context does not require a reference to the years he had lived before his removal. τὴν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς γεν.: explanatory of preceding, the commencement of his training, which was not only amongst his own nation, but also specially τε, at Jerusalem, cf. Acts 22:3. The Apostle presses the point to show that he was most unlikely to act in violation of Jewish feeling he is still a Jew. ἴσασι : only here in N.T., perhaps a conscious classicism, Simcox, Language of the N.T., p. 33; on the classical forms in this speech see Blass, Proleg., p. 14, and Gram., p. 49, and especially p. 5, Philology of the Gospels, p. 9. These literary forms are what we should have expected the Apostle to employ before an audience so distinguished. Ἰουδαῖοι : Blass gives a further reason for the omission of article, “abest ut 2, 3, 7, 21, sec. usum Atticorum, cf. Acts 17:21 ”.