A Roman, Jew, or Both

Over the years in Sunday School or listening to sermons about the apostle Paul I have developed an idea of who Paul was. I have always considered Paul to be a teacher of the law and considered him to be Jewish in every aspect culturally. Therefore I have linked him to the Jews who lived in Palestine instead of the Hellenistic culture he actually grew up in. I knew Paul was a Roman citizen and he was from Tarsus but never fully understood the cultural differences between Israel and Tarsus. I never fully realized that Paul is a totally diffent kind of person culturally than the twelve disciples. The fact that someone could be a Jewish Roman citizenship and be well versed in Hellenistic culture never occured to me before and therefore I limited Paul's abilities and have misunderstood Paul as being arrogant at times rather than intelligent. Paul's possible Greek education, cultural exposure, and Roman citizenship has glimmered a whole new light upon Paul and his being chosen to the task God chose him to do. Once again even a small amount of historal culture knowledge has influenced my understanding.