Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
the Sadducees say . . . there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit—(See on Luke 20:37).
the scribes . . . of the Pharisees' part . . . strove, saying, We find no evil in this man, but—as to those startling things which he brings to our ears.
if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him—referring, perhaps, to his trance in the temple, of which he had told them (Acts 22:17). They put this favorable construction upon his proceedings for no other reason than that they had found him one of their own party. They care not to inquire into the truth of what he alleged, over and above their opinions, but only to explain it away as something not worth raising a noise about. (The following words, "Let us not fight against God," seem not to belong to the original text, and perhaps are from Acts 5:39. In this case, either the meaning is, "If he has had some divine communication, what of that?" or, the conclusion of the sentence may have been drowned in the hubbub, which Acts 23:10 shows to have been intense).
when Paul perceived—from the discussion which plainly had by this time arisen between the parties.
that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out—raising his voice above both parties.
I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee—The true reading seems to be, "the son of Pharisees," that is, belonging to a family who from father to son had long been such.
of the hope and resurrection of the dead—that is, not the vague hope of immortality, but the definite expectation of the resurrection.
I am called in question—By this adroit stroke, Paul engages the whole Pharisaic section of the council in his favor; the doctrine of a resurrection being common to both, though they would totally differ in their application of it. This was, of course, quite warrantable, and the more so as it was already evident that no impartiality in trying his cause was to be looked for from such an assembly.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Acts 23:8:
Luke 20:27-34
Acts 4:1-12
Acts 23:1
Acts 24:11
Acts 24:15
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