5.12.4.
The following characteristics indicate that Paul was a freedman (continued):

4. Paul transferred the freedman’s duty of loyalty to his former master to Jesus, whose message gave his life meaning.

5. Paul referred to himself as a slave, Romans 1:1 – but only in the metaphorical sense.

6. His modesty: 1 Cor. 15:8.

7. The lack of confidence shown in his personal behaviour, in complete contrast to his letters where he is extremely convincing.

8. His name, Paul: Paulus is a Roman name, strange for a Jew in Asia Minor. In the case of a slave, the Apostle’s name has an natural explanation:

Paul took his former master’s name: compare Josephus the historian’s surname. Josephus, a prisoner of war, called himself after the family of his Roman master Flavius. Luke refers to Saul as Paul in Acts only after the Cyprus pericope (Acts 13:9).