The author describes educational methods, educational ideals and literary education in the Hellenistic period based on an analysis of ancient ideas and concepts of teachers, pupils and students. Paul s education is discussed against this wide background and in view of his ancestry. Analyses of his letters (especially 1 Cor. 7 and2 Cor. 10 13) prove Paul had great compositional skills, so it must be assumed that he had literary and rhetorical training.