Gamaliel was Paul’s teacher (Acts 22:3). Gamaliel was not a Hellenist.
If Paul adhered to Rabbinical teachings he *never* would’ve thought to teach that the *new* way to Gd is through faith, not works.
If he were a rabbi, he would’ve understood that faith is the heart and soul of Judaism and would never had tried to make such a discernment. (habakkuk 2:2-4- “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness”)
If Paul was taught by the rabbis, how on earth did he get the impression that the only way to salvation for Jews was through the following of Gd’s Law to perfection? He flat-out misinterpreted Deuteronomy as ‘abide by the law’ when the Hebrew translation is ‘uphold the law’ - to affirm that the law is Gd’s will. The rabbis have been very clear on this from the start.
To back up the Jewish understanding of our relationship with Gd, I offer you this. Psalms 103:10 says clearly: “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”
Gd is merciful. Every Jew knows this and they would’ve seen through Paul’s proclamation of Jewish roots in a minute.
The fact that *he* actually believed that the *Jewish people* believed that the only way to Salvation was through the perfect practice of Gd’s Law, prove that he didn’t understand Judaism at all. The man had no idea what he was talking about when it came to Judaism.
And, on top of that, he completely misunderstood the Jewish practice of the blood sacrifice. No. We can’t sacrifice an animal to make up for our deliberate sins. We were only to sacrifice animals when we made a inadvertent *mistake*. It was a teaching tool. You mess up, break a law by accident, and you lose a prize goat. You won’t do that again. You can’t offer Gd the blood of an innocent to repay *your* deliberate sins and you never could. (King David went to Gd ‘with a broken heart’ after he had that guy killed so he could marry is wife - he didn’t sacrifice a goat. And the death of his son wasn’t to punish him. It was to bring attention to the sin so David would stop making excuses and finally repent.)
If Paul was such a great rabbi, why didn’t he know these basic facts about the religion?