Meet the Apostle Paul—Part Four
I have been compiling my notes to preach on the life and letters of the Apostle Paul at Christ’s Community Church. I will be uploading some of them in preparation.
Paul was obviously well educated (Acts 26:24). For example, scholars have long noted how he effortlessly drops little quotes (or “echoes”) from the Old Testament throughout his letters[1] and structured his epistles according to the valued rules of ancient rhetoric.[2]
How did he acquire such an education? The New Testament does not depict Paul hanging out in libraries all day. He was too busy making and selling textile goods to support himself (Acts 18:2-3; 2 Thess 3:7-8, etc.)!
The Jewish people were probably the most literate group in the ancient Roman Empire. How? Few people could afford “books” (really scrolls at the time) as they had to be hand copied and were very expensive.
All Jewish boys around the age of five were expected, if possible and available, to attend “…beth sepher (or sopher)—“house of reading” or “of the scribe.” The boys would study the Hebrew Scriptures under a “scribe” or “synagogue assistant” (more on all that later) until the age of twelve or thirteen.
Those who were capable and could afford it would go on to study the “traditions” or interpretations of the Hebrew Bible by noted rabbis that had been passed on orally over the years. This secondary training was known as beth midrash (“house of instruction”) or beth talmud (“house of learning [oral law]”). This mode of training would continue until the student was seventeen or eighteen and then he would attempt to be a “disciple” of a rabbi. Training under a rabbi/teacher could last up to twelve years![3]
Paul would have worked through all of these stages culminating in his studying “at the feet’ (a saying meaning training as a disciple) under the noted teacher Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). That means Paul had up to twenty-five years of education/training!
Not to sound like a late night informercial, “…but that’s not all!”
Wealthy Romans often hired a “guardian” for their child as he went through school (it was, unfortunately, rare for a woman in ancient Rome to receive a formal education outside of the home). The guardian (this concept will come up in our study of Galatians), was typically empowered by the parents to be strict, to protect the child from danger (robbers and child molesters were a real threat in ancient Rome) and, often, to tutor the young person. It is possible, if not likely, that Paul had such a guardian who tutored the young Jewish boy in the standard curriculum of the day. The guardian may even have been a graduate of the prominent university in Paul’s hometown of Tarsus.
Paul also would have been expected to have learned the family business (textiles) while he studied at home. The boy who would become the “Apostle to the Gentiles” may have been tutored while assisting his father in the family workshop after school each day (except for the Sabbath, of course).
A lot more to come so tune back in.
[1] See Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989).
[2] See Ben Witherington, New Testament Rhetoric: An Introductory Guide to the Art of Persuasion in and of the New Testament 2nd ed. (Eugene, OR: WIPF & Stock, 2022).
[3] See Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 112.