I've written more on Paul below. I think Paul was a Hellenistic Jew. He was one of many who were interested in retheorizing the Jewish scriptures in terms set by Greek philosophy and the mystery religions. Early Christianity was just a Jewish mystery religion.

https://medium.com/interfaith-now/pauls-epistles-epitomes-of-christian-obnoxiousness-b38de481a398?sk=a95f5463832f23cc5d713d34139f5396

https://medium.com/interfaith-now/the-maker-of-billions-of-galaxies-has-a-grudge-against-gays-a3dcf5410262?sk=7168c0b93c6f0722b1b758db2bdfc174