How educated was Saul of Tarsus?
Saul of Tarsus was highly educated, described as the most educated Jew of his day. He sat at the feet of the greatest rabbi of that time, possessed a deep intellectual background, and was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, yet he counted that training as worthless for sufficiency in Christ.
Les emphasizes that Saul of Tarsus was highly educated—the most educated Jew of his day—having sat at the feet of the greatest rabbi of that time. He had all that intellectual background and was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. Yet Les notes that Saul never relied on that training; in Philippians he called all of it just so much dung and cast it aside as worthless so he might become the very workmanship of Christ Himself. His sufficiency was never because of his background, not because he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews or a Pharisee of the Pharisees, but because he was a humble servant of the Creator God.