Acts 26:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He then confirms his words by pointing to his own sect: “I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest teaching of our religion.” And since someone might again say, “The sect is worthy of respect, but you are not good,” see how he anticipates this objection. He calls as witnesses all the Jews who know his life and conduct. That sect is respected among them. According to it they pray and ask God that the hopes placed in it may be fulfilled. This hope I also proclaim, and for this I am accused.

“All the Jews know me, knowing me from the beginning.” This means: the Jews know the truth, but they do not wish to testify to it. Instead, they deliberately lie and sin against me. “According to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.” It is noteworthy that the Pharisees too were heretics, although they examined and understood the Scriptures better than all the other Jewish sects. They understood better, but not truly, for they did not possess the true understanding of the Scriptures. Thus diligence can investigate and examine a matter with subtlety. Yet it cannot fully grasp its essence. On the contrary, a man is sometimes deceived by his own mind.

The speech of the Apostle Paul at this trial, in the presence of King Agrippa, is likewise a defense, as was his speech before the Jews on the steps of the Jerusalem fortress. But because the Apostle now spoke with greater freedom than he had then before a crowd of fanatics, and because he was not interrupted in his speech and could express himself fully. He defends himself here in such a way that at the same time he gives solemn witness to Christ, dead and risen, according to the prophecy of Moses and the other ancient prophets. He also summons his hearers to repentance and conversion to God.

Therefore he asked to be heard patiently and once more set forth the familiar history of his conversion from a strict and fanatical Pharisee to the faith. He declared that the messianic hope of his people had already truly been fulfilled in the person of that Jesus of Nazareth.

At first Paul had fiercely persecuted His followers. But Jesus personally revealed His glory to him and brought him to the knowledge that He had risen from the dead. Why could this faith seem improbable even to his hearers?

At first it had been such even for him. But how could he resist the personal testimony of Christ Himself? And how could he disobey the heavenly voice, which sent him to open the eyes of Jews and Gentiles?

The Apostle properly begins his speech in self-defense by appealing to the testimony of Jews who knew him. They knew his way of thinking and his life before his conversion to Christianity. He indicates how long the Jews have known him, where they came to know him, and what they know him to be.

They know him from long ago, from the beginning, from youth. These expressions show that Paul moved to Jerusalem at a very young age, perhaps as soon as the time came for a boy's education.

He lived from youth in Jerusalem, not somewhere remote, but in the capital of Judea. There all the Jews, an emphatic expression, could correctly understand and evaluate his way of life.

The Apostle briefly testifies about himself that he lived for a long time in Jerusalem and held to the strictest teaching, that of the Pharisees. In this he appeals to the testimony of all who knew him, and there were very many of them. Thus the accusation of his enemies that he did not honor the law is, at the very least, strange.

According to Saint John Chrysostom's explanation, the Apostle spoke as though saying, "How could I have become a disturber if, while still young, I had a good reputation among all?" Then he confirms his words by pointing to his sect.

And since someone again might say, "Although the sect is worthy of respect, you are not good," see how he forestalls such an objection. He calls as witnesses all the Jews who knew his life and conversion.