Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 22:3

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day:" — Acts 22:3 (ASV)

Brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel.—His education may have begun shortly after he became a child of the Law, at the age of twelve. (See Note on Luke 2:42.) He, too, had sat in the midst of the doctors, hearing and asking questions. The Rabbis sat in a high chair, and their scholars on the ground, and so they were literally at their master’s feet.

Taught according to the perfect manner . .—The two last words are expressed in the Greek by a single noun, meaning “accuracy,” exactness. In the most straitest sect of our religion, of Acts 26:5, we have the corresponding adjective.

Was zealous toward God.—The Apostle (see Note on Acts 21:20) claims their sympathy as having at one time shared all their dearest convictions. There is, perhaps, a touch of higher enthusiasm in the Apostle’s language. He was a zealot for God: they were zealots for the Law.