Acts 23:1-11 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brothers, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.… Remark how the apostle describes his early life in Philippians 3:4-6. Those who attribute to Christianity a gloomy condemnation of, and a certain injustice towards, the natural man, and that which is good in him; or even those real devotees who, going beyond the truth, think badly of and inveigh against themselves and their former life, may learn here from Paul's example that a regenerate man may rejoice before God and man, even in his former relatively good conscience, when in a position of error and sin, if his present conscience in Christ bears him witness that he has not been a hypocrite. When a warrior, honourable in his vocation, is taunted after his conversion as a devotee and a hypocrite, he may boldly say, "Sirs, I have always been an honest and good comrade to you; trust me that I shall be so now." (R. Stier, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. |
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