Acts 22:3
I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
Paul was a Jew born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, an eminent rabbi, where he was taught according to the perfect and exact manner of the law and traditions of the fathers, and was zealous toward God just as his hearers were that day. Many of those present knew him and his zeal and could not deny his account but could confirm it, and people still living in Jerusalem knew his history and background. His training at Jerusalem included Hebrew education and advanced education in literary science, and together with the privileges of Roman citizenship that protected him from degrading violence, it fitted him to speak before kings and the great and learned men of Athens.
He was a diligent student who also learned a trade and became an educated tentmaker, for Jewish custom required sons and daughters of both the wealthy and the poor, even when instructed in literary lines, to be trained to some useful employment and craft as an indispensable part of education so that in adversity they could support themselves rather than depend on others. While preaching the gospel he and Aquila, who were tentmakers by occupation, worked at their trade to obtain support, and by so working could give a more thorough knowledge of Christ to those who heard them. His Jewish identity and lifelong religious training shaped his pride in his nation and his defense of its ancient faith.
His zeal was bigoted religious zealotry, exceedingly mad against the truth concerning Jesus and bitterly prejudiced against Christ's disciples and followers of the Way, going through the country seizing men and women, committing them to prison, and persecuting them unto death. Belief of a falsehood did not make him kind, tender, and compassionate, and his bigoted zeal is the same spirit as those who held that the Gentiles were not to have the light of truth and cried out against his mission to the Gentiles, which is the inspiration of Satan, not of God. The verse introduces his account of his former life before conversion, telling how his former zeal led him to persecute Christ's disciples, how he was converted, and how God afterward directed him to carry his work to the Gentiles.
After his conversion his knowledge of Scripture was illuminated so he could explain the prophecies about Jesus and show that they were fulfilled in Jesus' first coming, suffering, death, and resurrection. Remembering the place of his education in Jerusalem at Gamaliel's school recalled the life he had lived before conversion, and his former blind wrath and bitter prejudice against Christ's followers helps explain his pity for his countrymen, whose hostility toward him resembled what had once burned in his own heart. All this intellectual development did not enable him to reach the highest standard, and with it he was in as complete darkness as many are now, showing that what is called higher education today is merely human and knows no more than Paul knew before Christ was revealed to him.
The Spirit must come into the work and sanctify every intellectual development in order to convict and convert sinners, and above the wisdom of the world power must be received from a higher source by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, for professedly learned men of the world who do not know the truth as it is in Jesus will never see the kingdom of heaven but will lose eternal life. Trained in the schools of the world with truth wrought into his very being, Paul with Daniel, and with Joseph in Egypt, gives the pattern for believers who are established, rooted and grounded and have the Spirit of God to enter institutions of learning and colleges as students and live out the truth without sacrificing principle. They are to respect all rules and regulations, study the situation to see the best way to represent the truth so the light shines forth, keep the living principles of the truth and observe the Sabbath, depend on the power of God manifested in the life more than on spoken words as leaven, and in simple language tell inquirers of Bible doctrines and drop seeds of truth in minds and hearts that under the Holy Spirit will spring up to bear fruit for the glory of God in the saving of souls, without entering into open controversies but giving opportunity for questions and investigation. This work of entering schools must be done but only by those led and taught of God, lest those with no connection with God be led astray.