Acts 23:1-10 Paul's defense before the Sanhedrin

Acts 23:1-5 Paul begins his defense to the Sanhedrin. The Holy Spirit's purpose in this talk has to be inferred. Paul began with a simple statement that his conscience is clear before God, which caused the high priest to have him struck on the mouth. This was a violation of judicial procedure (Lev 19:15), which Paul immediately pointed out. And then there was a little flurry of discussion about Paul's response. In calling the high priest a white-washed wall, Paul seemed to be paraphrasing some words Jesus had said. (Matthew 23:27) However, when the bystanders pointed out that he had just reviled the high priest, he recognized that was also a violation of the Law of Moses. (Exodus 22:28).

          This all occurred 20-30 years after Jesus had been crucified by the plans and purposes of the High Priest at that time, so doubtless this was a whole new generation of Jewish leaders. However, it appears that their approach to ruling was pretty much unchanged. Lacking the authority to implement capital punishment on those they believed to be heretics, they sought to get the Romans to do their dirty work. It is not clear (and never becomes clear in the Biblical account) whether their biggest issue was that Paul was bringing the Gospel to Gentiles successfully, or that he was successfully evangelizing the Jews and getting them to turn to Jesus, or that he was a threat to their privileged position. There is even the possibility that his words were bringing conviction because of their own sin and their recognition that their own belief system offered them no real release from it. (The fact that Paul looked them in the eye and stated that his conscience was clean before God could easily have made anyone who was still in their sin uncomfortable.) Acts 24:5 suggests that is the conversion of Jews to Christ-followers that was their primary problem with Paul, but that could simply have been the legal argument they presented to the Romans.

Act 23:6-10 At this point, the Holy Spirit led Paul to change tactics, although it is not clear why. Perhaps there was some hope for those who were Pharisees, as Paul had once been, that they might encounter Christ and become converted. The Sadducees were as unspiritual as modern ‘liberal’ Christians, denying  angels, spirits, and life after death. In any event, Paul appealed to one of the core doctrines of the Pharisees that were consistent with Christianity. In a brief statement, he re-opened the dispute within what was probably an uneasy coalition between Pharisees and Sadducees in leading the Jewish faith. As the parties warmed to their respective positions in the dispute, the Roman commander, who was probably mystified by the fervor of this religious debate, took Paul into protective custody again. Having established that Paul was a Roman citizen, he knew he could be held responsible if something happened to him at the hands of the mob.