Note 4 at Acts 23:6: Paul had been imprisoned and tried before. He could tell that this trial was not going well. Therefore, he cleverly changed the focus of the trial from an issue of Christianity vs. Judaism to a debate of whether of not there was a bodily resurrection. This pitted the Pharisees who believed there was a resurrection against the Sadducees who did not believe in a resurrection (v. 8). He got them fighting among themselves and got himself "off the hook" temporarily.

These Pharisees who had been so violently opposed to Paul just minutes before now found no evil in him (v. 9). This reveals their hypocrisy and once again illustrates that persecution is really motivated by pride (see note 2 at Acts 4:17, p. 590; note 1 at Acts 5:17, p. 597; and note 11 at Acts 20:30, p. 700).