“In My Own Hand”: Grapho-Literacy and the Apostle Paul 41 Paul, write in my hand: I will repay” (ejgw; Pau'lo" e[graya th/' ejmh/' ceiriv ejgw; ajpotivsw). Before proceeding, some preliminary observations on these five passages are in order. First, Paul’s use of his own handwriting implicitly highlights his use of an amanuensis for the rest of the writing task (7). Though perhaps at first glance insignificant, this detail concerning Paul may reveal information about his Greek education and social status (8). Second, these passages demonstrate that Paul’s Greek education was (in the very least) sufficient enough that he could write formulaic greetings and short phrases in his text. Scholars have debated, however, whether Paul’s writing activity is limited to these passages specifically and I here mention two examples. First, there is disagreement over the precise content of the e[graya of Gal 6,11. Bahr and Deissmann posit that Paul began writing at Gal 5,2 rather than 6,11(9) while Guthrie and Turner suggest that the verb may refer to the full epistle (10). Numerous scholars are against the idea that Gal 6,11 refers to the entire epistle (11), however, and Richards argues persuasively that one should not consider Paul’s handwriting to begin prior to his stating that he is now writing in his own hand (12). A second example of disagreement over the boundaries of Paul’s writing is (7) H.Y. GAMBLE, Books and Readers in the Early Church. A History of Early Christian Texts (New Haven 1995) 95-96; MURPHY-O’CONNOR, Paul, 7; RICHARDS, Secretary, 172; STIREWALT, Paul, 9. P.J. ACHTEMEIER, “Omne verbum sonat: The New Testament and the Oral Environment of Late Western Antiquity”, JBL 109.1 (1990) 12, describes dictation as “the normal mode of composition of any writing”. (8) The present study thus focuses upon Paul’s Greek education and leaves questions of Paul’s Hebrew and/or Aramaic linguistic abilities for another occasion. See, however, the short summary in C.J. ROETZEL, Paul. The Man and the Myth (Columbia 1998) 11-12. (9) BAHR, “Subscriptions”, 35; DEISSMANN, Light, 166, n. 7 (continued on 167). (10) D. GUTHRIE, Galatians (Century Bible Commentary new series; London 1969) 158; N. TURNER, Grammatical Insights into the New Testament (Edinburgh 1965) 93. (11) Inter alia, H.D. BETZ, Galatians. A Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Churches in Galatia (Hermeneia; Philadelphia, PA 1979) 314, 314, n. 22; E. DE WITT BURTON, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (ICC; Edinburgh 1921) 347-349; J.B. LIGHTFOOT, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (London 31869) 217; A. OEPKE, Der Brief des Paulus an die Galater (THKNT 9; Berlin 21957) 157-158. (12) RICHARDS, Secretary, 172-179.