Paul’S Background
PAUL’S BACKGROUND
Who was this man Paul? Exploring his background will help us to understand him better and to interpret his words more accurately. Paul himself provides a rough outline of his own background, but in his epistles this material is scattered. The basic historical details are conveniently grouped in the speeches Paul gave (as reported by Luke) to a hostile crowd of Jews on the steps of the temple (Acts 22:1-21) and to King Agrippa II and the Roman procurator Festus (Acts 26:2-23). (On the historical value of such material in Acts, see below on the chronology of Pauls’s missionary career, and chap. 6 above.)