Acts 23:1-11
Paul Before the Sanhedrin
1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.” 2 At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”
4 Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!”
5 Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’[a]”
6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee,descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)
9 There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10 The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.
11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
Paul was on trial and the Sanhedrin was the political/religious group that Paul had to face...Paul was a Pharisee...And Paul knew much about the Sanhedrin and their members...The group was made us of Pharisees, Sadducees, and former High Priests...
It seems the Pharisees often opposed Jesus in the gospels…Paul originally opposed Jesus...Yet, before Jesus came the Pharisees were popular among the common people of Israel…Pharisee meant Separate One…They wanted to protect the Law of Moses and were strict in following these laws…The Pharisees helped establish different synagogue and arranged for the people to meet and learn about the Old Testament…It was common for the Jewish people to meet with the Pharisees in their own homes to learn about the Bible…It seems like what I might describe it as a Bible Study, as they studied in the people’s homes…The Pharisees would interpret the Laws of Moses and were strict in following closely no work on the Sabbath, strict about the purity of food, and strict on fasting…The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, and life after death…They believed in angels and demons...And they believed that the righteous were rewarded in the after life and there were punishments for the non-righteous…The Pharisees believed in the Talmud and the Mishnah...
The other religious group in Jesus’ time was the Sanhedrin…They may have came from Zadok, the High Priest at the time of King David…The Sadducees were close to the priestly families and were much interested in the Temple of God and the rituals around the Temple…The Sadducees believed in following the Law of Moses and did not accept the Pharisees' interpretation or any interpretation of Mosaic Law…The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, or in angels, or in demons…It is believed this group no longer existed after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 a. d….
The Sanhedrin was made of these two groups and former High Priests which totaled seventy one, who Paul was now in front of…
Paul knew what would happen when he brought up the subject of the resurrection...So Paul, knowing that some of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees...I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”...When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided...(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)...There was a great uproar among the two groups, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously...“We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said...“What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”...The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them...The commander ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks...