Acts 23:6-8 ⁶Now when Paul noticed that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Men Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees, about the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” ⁷And when he had said this, a discord arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

Even though in a threatening context among the leaders of the Jewish people, Paul was alert to his options. Although the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in this passage, Paul must have been guided by the Spirit in fulfillment of Jesus’ words in Luke 12:10-12 where he promised that the Holy Spirit would give the disciples the words to say. Paul noticed somehow that the two major religious and political parties of the Jews were present. As a Pharisee himself, Paul could tell who were Pharisees and who were not. There may have been clues, such as the way each group dressed.

Paul strategically claimed his own Pharisee background. Little is known of his family background, but here he mentioned that his father was a Pharisee. His father may have been a significant influence on why Paul went to Jerusalem as a young man. His family was a model Jewish family, and Paul carried on that heritage. The implication is that he was one of them, not a heretic or troublemaker. He stirred the discussion towards the topic of the resurrection of the dead, which was a trigger debate between the Pharisees, who believed in it, and the Sadducees, who did not.

The resurrection of Jesus was crucial and central to Paul’s message, as evidenced by the other speeches he gave in the following chapters and in his letters, as he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus’ resurrection was the theological foundation for all other aspects of Christian theology. Paul used the topic to divide the Sanhedrin to his advantage. Verse 8 gives important clues in the New Testament about what the Sadducees believed. This verse is the only place where it is mentioned that they did not believe in angels or spirits. Since the Scripture for the Sadducees was the Pentateuch, and since it mentions angels, the Sadducees must have had some form of belief in them. What Luke may be describing is the disagreement between the Pharisees and Sadducees regarding the spirit world, eschatology, and what happens to a person upon death. Paul had defended himself and put the Pharisees on his side with only one statement.