in a similar way, we may understand Paul’s use of oral traditions and familiar rabbinic concepts from his day, along with the Hebrew Scriptures, which were baptized “unto Christ.”19 In the preceding paragraphs we have sought to show that the world of the Bible embraced a variety of cultures and peoples. The Greek, Roman, Canaanite, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian cultural backgrounds are important in understanding certain aspects of the biblical text. By the findings of archeology we know that throughout