The careful reader of Acts should be confounded by the way St. Paul is portrayed. While every astute commentator acknowledges that Paul plays an exceedingly important role in Acts, attempts to understand the portrayal and how it serves Luke's larger aim are as inconclusive as they are unsatisfying. Some, like J. Jervell, R. Maddox, R. F. O'Toole, are convinced that Luke's foremost intention is to portray Paul as a loyal Jew. While the Paul of Acts does indeed point with pride to his strict Jewish upbringing, he also is very proud of his Roman citizenship and his citizenship of the city of Tarsus. Not enough attention has been paid to this fact.

This lack of regard obscures a historical problem which is: what is the probability that a Jew of strict Pharisaic background would have held, let alone been proud of, these citizenships? This issue is important and requires careful consideration. While W. Ramsay, A. Deissmann, M. Dibelius, W. G. Kümmel, G. Bornkamm, and F. F. Bruce have offered well-known studies, their conclusions do not answer this pressing question.

It has been argued that Luke's intention was to stress Paul's Jewishness in order to highlight early Christianity's continuity with Judaism and to assuage an inner church anxiety.