What happened to Saul and why did he become Paul?

Answer 1

(Acts 9:3-22) 3 Now as he was traveling he approached Damascus, when suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him, 4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" 5 He said: "Who are you, Lord?" He said: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 Nevertheless, rise and enter into the city, and what you must do will be told you." 7 Now the men that were journeying with him were standing speechless, hearing, indeed, the sound of a voice, but not beholding any man. 8 But Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were opened he was seeing nothing. So they led him by the hand and conducted him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he did not see anything, and he neither ate nor drank. 10 There was in Damascus a certain disciple named An‧a‧ni′as, and the Lord said to him in a vision: "An‧a‧ni′as!" He said: "Here I am, Lord." 11 The Lord said to him: "Rise, go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man named Saul, from Tarsus. For, look! he is praying, 12 and in a vision he has seen a man named An‧a‧ni′as come in and lay his hands upon him that he might recover sight." 13 But An‧a‧ni′as answered: "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how many injurious things he did to your holy ones in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to put in bonds all those calling upon your name." 15 But the Lord said to him: "Be on your way, because this man is a chosen vessel to me to bear my name to the nations as well as to kings and the sons of Israel. 16 For I shall show him plainly how many things he must suffer for my name." 17 So An‧a‧ni′as went off and entered into the house, and he laid his hands upon him and said: "Saul, brother, the Lord, the Jesus that appeared to you on the road over which you were coming, has sent me forth, in order that you may recover sight and be filled with holy spirit." 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes what looked like scales, and he recovered sight; and he rose and was baptized, 19 and he took food and gained strength. He got to be for some days with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately in the synagogues he began to preach Jesus, that this One is the Son of God. 21 But all those hearing him gave way to astonishment and would say: "Is this not the man that ravaged those in Jerusalem who call upon this name, and that had come here for this very purpose, that he might lead them bound to the chief priests?" 22 But Saul kept on acquiring power all the more and was confounding the Jews that dwelt in Damascus as he proved logically that this is the Christ.

Answer 2

A:Acts of the Apostles, written decades after Paul's death, provides a miraculous account of Paul's conversion, with three parallel but different stories in which Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. In each story there was a blinding light, which appeared only to Paul in the version at Acts 9:3-8 and probably at Acts 26.13-19, but appeared to both Paul and his men at Acts 22:6-11. Paul alone heard a voice from heaven at Acts 22:6-11 and probably at Acts 26.13-19, but both Paul and his men heard the voice at Acts 9:3-8. Each of these stories says that the voice from heaven said it was Jesus, and from this one could believe that Paul did accept that it was really Jesus.

The account of Paul's conversion in Acts actually appears to have been based on the ancient play of Euripedes called the Bacchae. This alone would be enough to cast serious doubts on the explanation in Acts. Paul himself provides very little information about how he came to believe that he was called to be the apostle to the gentiles, but he never mentions any divine vision that led to his conversion; in fact his epistles seem to have ruled this out.

In Acts of the Apostles, Paul was originally named Saul, which is certainly possible, although Paul himself never mentions this name. Acts tells us that Saul travelled to Cyprus, where he blinded Elymas (Bar-jesus) the sorcerer, for trying to frustrate his attempts to convert Sergius Paulus. Afterwards, he became known as Paul.

In his Epistle to the Galatians, Paul said that after his conversion, he travelled to Arabia, and only then went to Damascus (bypassing Jerusalem), then Jerusalem, Syria and Cilicia, and, after a period of fourteen years, back to Jerusalem (Galatians 1:17-2:1). On this evidence, we could reasonably say that Jesus did not meet Paul on the road to Damascus at the time of his conversion, Paul was not taken blind and helpless to Damascus where he was taught the gospel, and he probably never went to Cyprus.