Why did Paul, despite his education under Gamaliel, have to begin as a nobody in serving God's grace to the Gentiles?
Paul had to begin as a nobody because God's service requires the servant to recognize he is nothing in himself. Worldly education, talents, and inheritance cannot be brought into God's work, for He cannot use them. Humbled like Moses, Paul could serve God's grace to the Gentiles only through weakness and Christ crucified.
Les explains that Moses, after 40 years as a sheepherder, became in his own eyes nothing and a nobody, but in God's eyes he was everything. That, Les says, is the requirement for service even today. He points out that this is why Paul refers to it in Corinthians. Anyone wanting to be a Sunday school teacher, a missionary, or anything in God's service must first understand that in themselves they are nothing. You can bring nothing of this world's education, talents, or inheritance, because God cannot use any of that. Paul, though educated at the feet of Gamaliel, had to learn that as a servant of God's grace, especially to the Gentiles, he had to begin as a nobody. Les then points to 1 Corinthians 2, where Paul says he did not come with excellency of speech as a smooth orator, not like Apollos, and not with wisdom. Paul determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and he was with them in weakness and fear.