'Ac 23:1-11

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Before the Sanhedrin (Ac 22:30-23:11)

Still wanting to find out the story behind this remarkable man, Lysias called the Jewish Sanhedrin to examine him (Ac 22:30).

Paul soon saw, however, that the Sanhedrin was already set against him and he was not likely to get justice there (Ac 23:1-5).

Paul therefore changed his tactics. The one who had spoken to the Roman commander in Greek, addressed the mob in Aramaic, announced himself as God’s apostle to the Gentiles and claimed to be a Roman citizen, now called himself a Jewish Pharisee! He was being condemned because of his orthodox Pharisaic belief in the resurrection (Ac 22:6).

The immediate result of Paul’s declaration was that the Sanhedrin split in two, Pharisees against Sadducees. Some Pharisees thought Paul was not such a bad person after all (much the same as another Pharisee had said of Peter and John in a similar Sanhedrin dispute more than twenty years earlier; see Ac 5:33-39).

In the uproar that followed, the Roman soldiers again saved Paul from possible death (Ac 22:7-10).

The Lord was still with Paul and eventually would bring him to Rome (Ac 22:11).