Acts 26:9

I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Having already shown that he was one with Agrippa in the hope of the resurrection which he supposedly held, Paul here moved to find further common ground with him, as having been, like Agrippa's whole family, a persecutor of the church.

I verily thought ... means that Paul truly believed, "proving that a man may be conscientious even when engaged in enormous wickedness."[14]

With myself ... "All thinking with self is self-centered ... It is only when we center our thinking in Christ that we think correctly."[15]

Here, as McGarvey said, it is clear that "Paul thought he was doing God service; but this must not prevent us from interpreting the remark about kicking against the goad as referring to the goadings of conscience."[16]

[14] Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 350.

[15] W. R. Walker, Studies in Acts (Joplin, Missouri: College Press), p. 89.

[16] J. W. McGarvey, op. cit., p. 254.