Acts 26:5

"having knowledge of me from the first, if they be willing to testify, that after the straitest sect of our religion. lived. Pharisee"Having knowledge of me from the first" "They have always known" (TCNT). "They are fully aware" (Ber). "If they be willing to testify" "If they chose to admit it" (Mof). "As they could testify if they wanted to" (Rieu). To me this expression seems to be intended to let Agrippa know that Paul's Jewish accusers were not always completely forthcoming and honest with all the facts of the case. "Straitest" The most exact. "With the very strictest form of our religion" (TCNT). "Paul knew the rules of the Pharisees and played the game to the full (Galatians 1:14; 1 Peter 3:5 f)" (Robertson p. 444). He belonged to "one out of all the sects that was most exact and rigorous when it came to interpreting the Law and enforcing ceremonial observances" (Reese p. 874). (See Mark 7:3; Matthew 23:23; Luke 18:12). "I lived. Pharisee" Paul is letting Agrippa know that he was not some kind of malcontent, or someone who had been raised by irresponsible parents or under the influence of pagan thought. Nothing in his past could be used against him, to prove that he had been always dissatisfied with Judaism or that he had always been unorthodox in his thinking. The Jews could not accuse Paul of being. "liberal" or. "crank".