But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law highly regarded by all the people, got up in the council and ordered the men to be removed for a while,

But some members of the Pharisees' party who had become believers got up and said that such converts ought to be circumcised and told to obey the Law of Moses.

Knowing that part of them were Sadducees and part of them Pharisees, Paul called out in the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, and the son of Pharisees! It is for my hope for the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial!"

When he said that, a dispute arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the meeting was divided.

For the Sadducees hold that there is no resurrection and that there are no angels or spirits, while the Pharisees believe in all three.

So there was a great uproar, and some scribes of the Pharisees' party got up and insisted, "We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose some spirit or angel really spoke to him!"

for they have known from the first, if they are willing to give evidence, that I was a Pharisee and my life was that of the strictest sect of our religion.