John Calvin Commentary Acts 24:12

"and neither in the temple did they find me disputing with any man or stirring up a crowd, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city." — Acts 24:12 (ASV)

Disputing with any man. Paul had no need to deny any of these things if he had done them, because he could have answered for himself that it was well done. He had been one of the scribes who disputed daily; nor were they forbidden either by the law or by custom from assembling to be taught.

Indeed, for this purpose there were synagogues in various places of the city, where they met. Moreover, he knew that Christ and his apostles had done the same thing. He also could easily have turned back upon his adversaries the crime they charged him with, since they themselves daily did the very same things.

But because he aims at nothing else at present than to refute the false accusations of his adversaries, and to prove that persistent men had rashly troubled him without cause, he does not deal with the lawfulness of the action (as they say), but only with the action itself.

And he chiefly insists on this point to refute that slander, because he was burdened with the charge of being a raiser of tumults. Therefore, he concludes that he was falsely and unjustly accused, because the adversaries had never proved what they had alleged. This ought to have been sufficient to acquit him, since he was thus burdened with wicked lies, whereas not even the slightest conceivable suspicion attached to him.