Act 23:10-15 | KingComments | STEP | Paul sees that there is no willingness whatsoever to listen to him. Then he uses his knowledge of both parties to play them off against each other. When they turn on each other, a unanimous condemnation of him is far away. He knows that one part of the Council consists of Pharisees and the other part of Sadducees. With a loud voice he addresses the Council again with “brethren”. Then he declares that he is a Pharisee, not because he joined this guild, but because his father was already a Pharisee, making it clear which of the two groups of the Council he is connected with. At first that group will have experienced this as anything but an honor. Then Paul comes up with the statement which leads to division in the Council. He is a Pharisee who on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead. In the Council the two groups kept well with each other, avoiding the things that separated them. But now that this doctrinal matter is brought into their midst, it becomes a point of conflict. Paul’s statement that he is a Pharisee is not false, but it is below the level of his own words in Philippians 3 ( ). There he distances himself from this, because in the light of Who Christ is, that fact has no meaning to him. Nor does Paul speak about the resurrection from the dead, the truth connected with the glorified Christ Who returns for His own, but about the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection of the dead is confessed by every God-fearing Jew and even by God-fearing pagans ( ). The spirit, the atmosphere of the company in which Paul finds himself, asserts its influence on his testimony. Paul is in the process of proving his faithfulness to the law and this includes being a Pharisee. This includes the resurrection as the hope of Israel. As a Pharisee he speaks about the Messianic hope of Israel because the hope of Israel is the Messiah. He seeks what binds them as Jews and that is the expectation of the Messiah. The fight that ensues between the Pharisees and Sadducees is not a fight for Paul or for the truth, but for the party. Party people look at everything from the point of view of their party and not from the independent source of God’s Word. Sadducees are the liberals. What they cannot prove, they do not believe. That is why they say that there is no resurrection and also that there are no angels and spirits. That was also apparent from their lives. Life on earth was everything to them. They bathed in luxury and indulged in the crudest forms of pleasure. They lived exuberantly according to the principle: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” ( ). Yet they saw themselves as orthodox, because they believed the five books of Moses, the superior books of the Jews. They said to strictly abide by the law of Moses, which for them was the Word of God. The Pharisees did believe all the books of the Bible, i.e. the Old Testament, and thus also in the resurrection and angels and spirits. They had a Messianic expectation. However, they had added many things to God’s Word. Therefore, in the eyes of the Sadducees, they were the liberals. If we know the confession of the Sadducees, it is not surprising that in Acts especially the Sadducees reveal themselves as the enemies of the gospel. After all, in Acts the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is preached with great power. During the life of the Lord Jesus, the Pharisees revealed themselves as His adversaries, which is not surprising either, in the light of their confession connected to their unbelief. The result of Paul’s ‘dexterity’ is telling. His performance before the Sanhedrin gives a minimum of testimony and a maximum of confusion. A great shouting ensues, with the predominance of some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ part. The scribes of the Pharisees become cautious because of what Paul said. Imagine that this man had a message from the invisible world. Instead of denouncing Paul further, they now declare that they are on his side to form a front with him against the Sadducees. The commander who has watched everything so far fears for Paul’s life again. He intervenes for the second time to prevent Paul from being murdered by his own people.

‏ Acts 23:10-15

Paul Causes Division in the Council

Paul sees that there is no willingness whatsoever to listen to him. Then he uses his knowledge of both parties to play them off against each other. When they turn on each other, a unanimous condemnation of him is far away. He knows that one part of the Council consists of Pharisees and the other part of Sadducees. With a loud voice he addresses the Council again with “brethren”. Then he declares that he is a Pharisee, not because he joined this guild, but because his father was already a Pharisee, making it clear which of the two groups of the Council he is connected with. At first that group will have experienced this as anything but an honor.

Then Paul comes up with the statement which leads to division in the Council. He is a Pharisee who on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead. In the Council the two groups kept well with each other, avoiding the things that separated them. But now that this doctrinal matter is brought into their midst, it becomes a point of conflict.

Paul’s statement that he is a Pharisee is not false, but it is below the level of his own words in Philippians 3 (Phil 3:7). There he distances himself from this, because in the light of Who Christ is, that fact has no meaning to him. Nor does Paul speak about the resurrection from the dead, the truth connected with the glorified Christ Who returns for His own, but about the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection of the dead is confessed by every God-fearing Jew and even by God-fearing pagans (Job 19:25-27).

The spirit, the atmosphere of the company in which Paul finds himself, asserts its influence on his testimony. Paul is in the process of proving his faithfulness to the law and this includes being a Pharisee. This includes the resurrection as the hope of Israel. As a Pharisee he speaks about the Messianic hope of Israel because the hope of Israel is the Messiah. He seeks what binds them as Jews and that is the expectation of the Messiah.

The fight that ensues between the Pharisees and Sadducees is not a fight for Paul or for the truth, but for the party. Party people look at everything from the point of view of their party and not from the independent source of God’s Word. Sadducees are the liberals. What they cannot prove, they do not believe. That is why they say that there is no resurrection and also that there are no angels and spirits.

That was also apparent from their lives. Life on earth was everything to them. They bathed in luxury and indulged in the crudest forms of pleasure. They lived exuberantly according to the principle: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1Cor 15:32b). Yet they saw themselves as orthodox, because they believed the five books of Moses, the superior books of the Jews. They said to strictly abide by the law of Moses, which for them was the Word of God.

The Pharisees did believe all the books of the Bible, i.e. the Old Testament, and thus also in the resurrection and angels and spirits. They had a Messianic expectation. However, they had added many things to God’s Word. Therefore, in the eyes of the Sadducees, they were the liberals.

If we know the confession of the Sadducees, it is not surprising that in Acts especially the Sadducees reveal themselves as the enemies of the gospel. After all, in Acts the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is preached with great power. During the life of the Lord Jesus, the Pharisees revealed themselves as His adversaries, which is not surprising either, in the light of their confession connected to their unbelief.

The result of Paul’s ‘dexterity’ is telling. His performance before the Sanhedrin gives a minimum of testimony and a maximum of confusion. A great shouting ensues, with the predominance of some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ part. The scribes of the Pharisees become cautious because of what Paul said. Imagine that this man had a message from the invisible world. Instead of denouncing Paul further, they now declare that they are on his side to form a front with him against the Sadducees.

The commander who has watched everything so far fears for Paul’s life again. He intervenes for the second time to prevent Paul from being murdered by his own people.

Paul Is Encouraged by the Lord

Paul will not have felt happy. This is not because his ruse failed, because if he had deliberately expressed his faith in the resurrection in order to set the two parties against each other, then that ruse had succeeded. Above all, his discouragement will be that his testimony was not accepted, that he did not even have the opportunity to testify. When he is in prison, in the darkness of his cell and the darkness of the night, with despair in his heart, the Lord appears to him. He makes it light for him, so that the darkness has to depart.

The Lord does not blame Paul. This fact alone should lead us to be cautious in our judgment of the way Paul has gone. In his discouragement the Lord meets him. The Lord knows from experience what it is like when your service is rejected and you get the feeling that everything has been in vain (Isa 49:4).

The testimony Paul gave in Jerusalem did not bring him what he hoped for. He may see it as a failure, through his own fault. But hear the judgment of the Lord. The Lord judges his testimony in Jerusalem as sufficient and adds that he must also testify in Rome in the same way. Even though there are no direct results attached to a testimony, the Lord knows how to appreciate it. With the encouragement to “take courage” He cheers up Paul (cf. Acts 18:9-10 ; Acts 27:22-25; 2Tim 4:16-17).

A Conspiracy Against Paul

The Jews are furious that there has been no condemnation of Paul. Their great enemy is still alive and that is intolerable to them. That is why they decide to take the law into their own hands. More than forty Jews form a plot, a conspiracy, to kill Paul. They are so serious that they bind themselves under an oath. Their oath means that they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed Paul. They must have broken this oath or they must have died of hunger, because their conspiracy is discovered, as it turns out.

There are forty of them who go to the chief priests and the elders, who mainly belong to the party of the Sadducees. Nothing is said here about the Pharisees, to whom mainly the scribes belong. After all, they are no longer so keen on the death of Paul. The first thing they say is what they have imposed on themselves because of their boundless hatred of Paul. They are filled with only one thing, and that is his death.

They present their plan to the Council. The Council must make it clear to the commander that he must bring Paul to them again. The excuse is that they want to investigate his affairs more thoroughly. They will then lay an ambush in order to kill him from that ambush when he is on his way to the Council. With the forty of them they can easily deal with the few men who will accompany Paul.