“And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.”
As he said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided — Paul's statement fractures the judicial body; the Sanhedrin becomes a forum for sectarian debate rather than a tribunal. The irony is that Paul, on trial, becomes the occasion for others' theological conflict.
Church Fathers on Acts 23:7
Again he discourses simply as man, and he does not on all occasions alike enjoy the benefit of supernatural aid. I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: both in this, and in what comes after it, he wished to divide the multitude, which had an evil unanimity against him. And he does not speak a falsehood here either: for he was a Pharisee by descent from his ancestors. Of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. For since they would not say for what…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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