Acts 23:1

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 23:1-5

Perhaps when Paul was brought, as he often was (corpus cum causa?the person and the cause together), before heathen magistrates and councils, where he and his cause were slighted, because not at all understood, he thought, if he were brought before the sanhedrim at Jerusalem, he should be able to deal with them to some good purpose, and yet we do not find that he works at all upon them. Here we have, I. Paul's protestation of his own integrity. Whether the chief priest put any question to him,... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 23:1-10

23:1-10 Paul fixed his gaze on the Sanhedrin and said, "Brethren, I have lived before God with a completely pure conscience up to this day." The high priest Ananias ordered those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you white-washed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Law and do you order me to be struck and so break the Law?" Those who were standing beside him said, "Are you insulting God's high priest?" Paul said, "I did not... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 23:1

And Paul earnestly beholding the council ,.... Fastening his eyes upon them, looking wistly and intently at them, and thereby discovering a modest cheerfulness, and a becoming boldness, confidence, and intrepidity, as being not conscious of any guilt, and well assured of the goodness of his cause: said, men and brethren ; see Acts 22:1 . I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day ; not only from the time of his conversion, but throughout the whole of his life;... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 23:1

I have lived in all good conscience - Some people seem to have been unnecessarily stumbled with this expression. What does the apostle mean by it? Why, that, while he was a Jew, he was one from principle of conscience; that what he did, while he continued Jew, he did from the same principle; that, when God opened his eyes to see the nature of Christianity, he became a Christian, because God persuaded his conscience that it was right for him to become one; that, in a word, he was sincere... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 23:1

Verse 1− 1.Looking earnestly. Paul beginneth with the testimony of a good conscience, that all the whole multitude may understand that he is unjustly charged with such an heinous offense, as if he had gone about to overthrow the worship of God. It may be, indeed, that a man may offend of ignorance, who will not otherwise be a contemner either of God or of religion; but Paul meant at the first, only with this excuse, to mollify their nettled minds, that he might the better be heard; for it had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 23:1

Looking steadfastly on for earnestly beholding, A.V.; brethren for men and brethren, A.V. ; I have lived before God, etc., for I have lived, etc., before God, A.V. Looking steadfastly ; ἀτενίσας , as in Acts 1:10 ; Acts 3:4 , Acts 3:12 ; Acts 6:15 ; Acts 7:55 ; Acts 10:4 ; Acts 11:6 ; Acts 13:9 ; Acts 14:9 . It governs a dative here, as in Acts 3:12 ; Acts 10:1 ; Acts 14:9 ; Luke 4:20 ; Luke 22:56 ; elsewhere it is followed by εἰς . ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 23:1

Good conscience before God? Those first words of Paul's defense, which so greatly excited and angered the high priest, are capable of being taken in more senses than one. We may regard them in— I. THE SENSE IN WHICH THEY MUST BE FALSE . It is certain that Paul did not intend to say that he had never been conscious of defect and guilt in his relation to God. The time had been when he might have said so. As a scrupulous Pharisee, who was, "touching the righteousness which... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 23:1

A good conscience. Joubert says, "The trick of personifying words is a fatal source of mischief in theology." The personifying has been mischievously applied to the word "conscience," and we make it into a kind of separate, being, by' whom, apart from our own judgment and will, our conduct is regulated. Having m mind the descent of Minerva, in the form of an aged man, to accompany young Telemachus in the search for his father, we speak of "conscience" as an inward Mentor. The philosophical... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 23:1-5

A threefold example of true greatness. Every careful reader of the Testament is aware that there is obscurity present to a certain degree in this passage. The obscurity is of a nature not very likely to yield to timid treatment. It does not seem likely that there remain facts of history which would clear it up, for instance. Rather would it seem the preferable course to face at once the difficulty, to narrow its dimensions to the smallest compass, and to admit that it is not evident how it... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 23:1-10

Paul before the Sanhedrim. I. A SUGGESTIVE CONTRAST between corrupt ecclesiasticism and secular power. The bigotry, intolerance, personal animosity, unfairness, fanatical cruelty, all finding abundant confirmation in the history of the persecutions emanating from the papacy. Lysias was cruel because he was reckless and followed bad customs, but Ananias was cruel because he was spiteful and tyrannical. II. THE MASTER 'S PREDICTION FULFILLLED . Such a scene was what the... read more

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