And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. (Acts 23:1)

In last week’s text, Paul made his defense before the Jews, but, just as they had rejected Jesus, so rejected they His message from Paul. After Paul was secured by Lysias, the chief captain, his arraignment hearing was set for the next day before the Sanhedrin. In that hearing, when Paul was given liberty to speak for himself, he mad the statement that he had “lived in all good conscience before God” until that very day.

There are some great lessons to be learned from Paul’s declaration here, of which we will consider only two. In the previous chapter of this narrative, Paul reminded the Jews that he had “persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women” (Acts 22:4). He goes on to recount a conversation he had with the Lord, saying, “When the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death” (v 20). When Paul left Jerusalem and Judea to preach to the Gentile world, some might have perceived this as Paul’s running from his bloody past, but such was not the case. The Lord Himself had chosen Paul for this particular work (vv 18, 21). During his missionary work in the distant lands, Paul made no secret of his former ways. Paul told the Galatians, “Ye heard of my communication in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it” (Gal. 1:13). He told the Corinthians of his persecution of the church of God (1 Cor. 15:9) and the Philippians also (Php. 3:6). Paul lived the rest of his life with the memories of the innocent brethren he had murdered in the name of religion. It could be that many of the widows and orphans among the Jewish saints owed their losses to Saul of Tarsus. The wounds that Saul inflicted upon Christianity left scars that Paul the apostle could never heal, and yet, he was able to live with a clear conscience, because he knew the power of the blood of Christ that washed away his sins (1 John 1:7) when he became obedient to the gospel call, being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 22:16). Those who believe that God cannot forgive their sins severely underestimate the power of the blood. The Christian needs never to feel guilty!
Another lesson to be learned here is that sincerity is not an accurate indicator of salvation. Is there any that would claim that Saul of Tarsus was acceptable to God when he was killing Christians? In his defense before Agrippa, Paul said, “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9). Truly “it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). Sadly there will be many sincere people who will lose their souls because they have never obeyed the Lord.

After reading the text listed below, see if you can answer the following questions. 

Non-trivial Questions (Acts 23:1–35)
1. Who was the high priest that commanded that Paul be smitten on the mouth?
2. What did the Sadducees believe about the resurrection?
3. Who told Paul that he would have opportunity to preach in Rome?
4. How many men were involved in the conspiracy to kill Paul?
5. Who warned Paul and the chief captain about this conspiracy?
6. To whom did the chief captain send Paul when he learned of the conspiracy to kill him?