His writings show an intimate knowledge of the Greek Old Testament, though there is no reason to suppose that he was ignorant of or unskilled in Hebrew.Īt the center of Paul's theology is God. His letters attest to an excellent command of Greek, while life and studies in Palestine presuppose knowledge of Hebrew and Aramaic. His exegesis of the Old Testament bears testimony to his rabbinic training. He studied under the ranking rabbi of the era, Gamaliel. It is not clear whether his family moved to Jerusalem (where both Greek and Jewish schooling was offered) while he was young, or whether Paul was simply sent there for his education.
Paul, in the New Testament known by his Hebrew name Saul until Acts 13:9, was apparently educated from boyhood in Jerusalem, not Tarsus.
Instead, as Paul himself suggests, he was a Jew in terms of his circumcision, Benjaminite lineage, Hebrew ancestry, and Pharisaic training. Yet his writings show no conscious imitation, and scarcely any significant influence, of the pagan leading lights of the era. Literary sources confirm that Paul's native city was a hotbed of Roman imperial activity and Hellenistic culture. Tarsus, modern-day Tersous in southeastern Turkey, has never been systematically excavated to first-century levels, so extensive archaeological data are lacking. Paul's birthplace was not the land Christ walked but the Hellenistic city of Tarsus, the chief city of the Roman province of Cilicia. Approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Paul's life and works. He was struck blind, but after three days his sight was renewed by Ananias of Damascus and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God. In the account of the Acts of the Apostles (often indicated simply as Acts), Paul was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus with the purpose to "arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem" when the resurrected Jesus appeared to him in a great light. He took advantage of his standing as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to counsel to both Jewish and Roman audiences.Īccording to records in the New Testament and before his conversion, Paul was committed to persecuting the early followers of Jesus in the region of Jerusalem. He founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Paul is commonly regarded as one of the most influential figures of the Apostolic Age. Paul the Apostle, commonly known as Saint Paul, was an eventual follower of Jesus (though not one of the Twelve Apostles) who professed the gospel of Christ to the first-century world.
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