MacArthur on Paul’s Credentials

(Paul) “... had impeccable Jewish credentials as a member of the elite Pharisees and a student of the greatest rabbi of the day, Gamaliel. Further, he was “advancing in Judaism beyond many of [his] contemporaries among [his] countrymen, being more extremely zealous for [his] ancestral traditions” (Gal. 1:14; cf. Phil. 3:5–6). No wonder that Paul characterized himself to the Philippians as a “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Phil. 3:5). His credentials following his dramatic conversion are no less impressive. As the “apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13; 1 Tim. 2:7), Paul spearheaded the spread of the gospel and the establishment of churches throughout the Roman world. Besides his vision on the Damascus road, he was personally visited by the resurrected, glorified Christ several other times. Paul also had the unique privilege of being “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). And his sufferings for the cause of Christ were unmatched by anyone else (2 Cor. 11:22ff.; Gal. 6:17). He had performed all the signs of an apostle (2 Cor. 12:12) and was in no sense “inferior to the most eminent apostles” (2 Cor. 11:5).”

John F. MacArthur Jr., Acts, vol. 2, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 246.