<p>23:6- see on Acts 22:3; Acts 22:6.&nbsp;</p><p><i>But when Paul noticed that one part was Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council</i><i>- </i>Paul had to cry out or &quot;shriek&quot; over the noise of anger at his having cursed the high priest.</p><p><i>I am a Pharisee</i><i>, son of a Pharisee Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question</i>- He says things like &ldquo;I am a Pharisee&rdquo; (Acts 23:6), not &ldquo;I was a Pharisee and now repudiate their false doctrines&rdquo;. Paul&rsquo;s general attitude was akin to that of his Lord, in that he was not hyper careful to close off any opportunities to criticize him. This fear of and sensitivity to criticism is something which seems to have stymied parts of the body of Christ. Paul here was behaving very humanly; the Pharisees present did not believe the Lord had risen, but Paul expressed his faith in this fact in terms of his being a Pharisee. And of course Paul was now no longer a Pharisee. But in a few nanoseconds, his sharp mind thought up a way out of his problem by hinting that he was victim of a Sadducee plot because of his previous Pharisee connections. This was untrue, but Paul was desperate for a way out.</p><p>Paul saw himself as two people. Consider how this dualism is to be found in many places:</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=12 cellpadding=0 width=80%>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p><b>The Natural Paul </b></p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p><b>The Spiritual Paul </b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p>Paul   could say: &ldquo;I am a Pharisee...I am a man which am a Jew&rdquo; (Acts 23:6;   21:13,39; 22:3; 2 Cor. 11:22)&nbsp;Circumcision and being Jewish has &lsquo;much   advantage&rsquo; (Rom. 3:1,2). &ldquo;Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel&rdquo;   (Phil. 3:5). He argues that all Jews are &ldquo;the seed of Abraham&rdquo;, including   himself, by birth (2 Cor. 11:22).</p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p>But he   also stresses that &ldquo;they are not all Israel who are of Israel&rdquo; because only   &ldquo;the children of the promise&rdquo;, those baptized into Christ, are counted as the   seed (Gal. 3:16,27-29; Rom. 9:8). The spiritual Paul is neither Jew nor   Gentile.&nbsp; The &lsquo;gain&rsquo; of being personally Jewish Paul counted as loss   (Phil. 3:3-7). His circumcision meant nothing (Rom. 2:29; 1 Cor. 7:19). &ldquo;We   are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit... and have no   confidence in the flesh i.e. the fact of literal circumcision, see context&rdquo;   (Phil. 3:7)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;We who   are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles&rdquo; (Gal. 2:15)</p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p>This   contrasts sharply with Paul&rsquo;s whole message that in Christ, there is neither   Jew nor Gentile, and both groups are all equally sinners (Rom. 3:9,23). He   speaks of &ldquo;theirs is the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple   worship&hellip; theirs are the patriarchs&rdquo; (Rom. 9:4,5). He clearly dissociates   himself from Jewry. He had to <i>become like a Jew</i> in order to save them,   although he was Jewish (2 Cor. 9:20). He carefully kept parts of the law   (Acts 18:18; 21:26; 1 Cor. 8:13). To the Jew he became again as a Jew; and   to the Gentiles he became as a Gentile (1 Cor. 9:20).&nbsp; He acted &ldquo;To them   that are without law, as without law...&rdquo;. He was &ldquo;dead to the law&rdquo; (Gal. 2:19)&nbsp;He   was a Jew but considered he had renounced it, but he became as a Jew to them   to help them. He saw no difference between Jew and Gentile (Gal. 3:27-29) but   he consciously acted in a Jewish or Gentile way to help those who still   perceived themselves after the flesh. &ldquo;...(being not without law to God, but   under the law to Christ)&rdquo; (1 Cor. 9:21).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p>I am   carnal (Rom. 7:14)</p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p>But in   Christ he was not carnal (1 Cor. 3:1 s.w.)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p>No   flesh may glory before God (1 Cor. 1:29)</p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p>Paul,   in his spiritual man, as counted righteous before God, could glory (Rom.   15:17).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;Not as   though I had already attained, either were already perfect&rdquo;</p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;Let us   therefore, as many as be perfect&hellip;&rdquo; (Phil. 3:12,15). In 1 Cor. 13:10, he   considers he is &lsquo;perfect&rsquo;, and has put away the things of childhood. Thus he   saw his spiritual maturity only on account of his being in Christ; for he   himself was not &ldquo;already perfect&rdquo;, he admitted.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;I   laboured more abundantly than they all...</p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p>... <i>yet   not I</i>, but the grace of God which was with me&rdquo; (1 Cor. 15:10)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p>God set   the apostles <i>first</i> in the ecclesia (1 Cor. 12:28)</p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p>God set   the apostles <i>last</i> in the ecclesia (1 Cor. 4:9)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;I   live...</p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p>... <i>yet   not I</i>, but Christ liveth in me the new &lsquo;me&rsquo;... I the old &lsquo;me&rsquo; am   crucified with Christ&rdquo; (Gal 2:20)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=265 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;I am   the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office&rdquo; (Rom. 11:13). He   considered himself rightfully amongst the very chiefest apostles (2 Cor.   12:11).</p>            </td>            <td width=427 valign=top>            <p>He   &ldquo;supposed&rdquo;, the same word translated &ldquo;impute&rdquo; as in &lsquo;imputed righteousness&rsquo;,   that he was amongst the chiefest apostles (2 Cor. 11:5). He knew this was how   his Lord counted him. But he felt himself as less than the least of all   saints (Eph. 3:8). &ldquo;For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to   be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the   grace of God I am what I am&rdquo; (1 Cor. 15:9-10).</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div>