Approximately one third of the New Testament consists of letters, or epistles, written by the apostle Paul and addressed to the Christian churches of his day. Because these letters are older than any of the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus, they constitute the most reliable source that we have today for information concerning the early history of the Christian movement. With few exceptions, these letters were written in response to conditions that existed in the particular churches with which Paul was associated. Not until some time passed after Paul's death were these letters circulated among the churches and read along with the Old Testament Scriptures as a part of regular worship services. Still later, they came to be regarded as inspired writings comparable to the sacred Scriptures of Judaism.
To understand the contents of these letters, it is necessary to know something about the man who wrote them, as well as about the particular circumstances under which they were written. Fortunately for us, considerable information along these lines is available within the letters themselves and can be supplemented by biographical accounts written by Luke, who was a companion of Paul, and included in the Book of Acts.
Paul was a native of Tarsus, a city of considerable importance in the Greco-Roman world. He was a descendant of the Hebrew tribe of Benjamin and originally was named Saul, after Israel's first king. Raised in a Jewish home, he was taught the Old Testament Scriptures and brought up in strict accordance with the beliefs and practices of the Pharisee sect. As he grew older, he was sent to the city of Jerusalem, where he studied under Gamaliel, one of the leading Jewish rabbis of that day. Later, he returned to Tarsus and probably attended the Greek university located in that city, although we have no direct information about this.
