What happened to those who were with Paul when he saw Jesus?

Answer 1

A:The most famous story about St Paul is of his conversion on the road to Damascus, when he was blinded by a light and heard the heavenly voice of Jesus. This is an account that comes only from Acts, with no hint of it in Paul's own writings. Paul gave us his own account of his conversion in Galatians 1:15-17. He says nothing of a blinding light or a voice from heaven, and was quite able to travel unassisted to Arabia before going on to Damascus:

"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus."

Acts has three mutually incompatible versions, that theologists and scholars have struggled to reconcile.

• At 9:3-8, Paul was blinded by a light and fell down, then heard Jesus, who told Paul that he would be told what to do when he was in the city. His men did not see the light, but heard the voice. They remained standing.
• At 22:6-11, Paul told the people he was blinded by a light and fell down, then heard Jesus, who again told Paul that he would be told what to do when he was in Damascus. This time, his men saw the light but, unlike Paul, were not blinded, and did not hear the voice.
• At 26.13-19, Paul told Agrippa that he saw a brilliant light and heard Jesus, who gave him his mission, but did not command him to go to Damascus. He fell down, but there is no mention of blindness, nor is there any mention of the men seeing or hearing anything, although for some reason they also fell down.