But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
Ver. 6. But when Paul perceived] Paul lacked not human prudence; wise as serpents we should be to improve all advantages that we may with the safety of our consciences. Religion doth not call us to a weak simplicity; but allows us as much of the serpent as of the dove. The dove without the serpent is easily caught; the serpent without the dove stings deadly. Their match makes themselves secure, and many happy.
Of the hope and resurrection] For fiducia Christianorum est resurrectio mortuorum, the faith of the Christians is the resurection from the dead, saith Tertullian. Christians look for great things at that great day, and in that other world, which the Hebrews call saeculum mercedis, the world of wages.