John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 26:5
Which knew me from the beginning ,.... From his youth, from his first coming to Jerusalem: if they would testify ; what they know, and speak out the truth of things, they must say, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee ; there were three sects of religion among the Jews, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes; the first of these was the most exact, and came nearest to the truth of doctrine, and was the strictest as to outward holiness of life and... read more
John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 26:4
My manner of life, from my youth ,.... That is, his conduct and deportment, his behaviour among men, from the time that he was capable of performing religious exercises, and of knowing the difference between one sect and another, and of being observed and taken notice of by men: which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem ; for though he was born in Tarsus in Cilicia, he was very early brought, or sent by his parents to Jerusalem, where he had his education under Gamaliel;... read more