Saul's Conversion
The three accounts do not agree precisely in every detail, and it is clear that Luke used them to build up a composite picture, exploring the different nuances of the experience that would be specially relevant to the concerns of the different circumstances depicted in his narrative.
In all essential points, the three accounts tell the same story. Paul was travelling along the road to Damascus, intent on wiping out the Christians there, when ‘a light from heaven, brighter than the sun’ (Acts 26:13) shone down on him, and he was challenged by the voice of the risen Christ asking, ‘why do you persecute me?’ (Acts 9:4; Acts 22:7; Acts 26:14). Paul’s life was to take a radical about-turn, as he was presented with the possibility of understanding the world in a way more different than he had ever imagined. His inherited assumptions were not only challenged, but also shown to be false, as he realized that what was happening was, in his own words, ‘a revelation of Jesus Christ’ (Galatians 1:12). The one whom Paul had so despised, and whose followers he was bent on punishing, was standing before him, thereby revealing his identity as Messiah, and inviting Paul to believe in him.
Though the narratives are unclear as to the precise moment of Paul’s conversion, they leave no doubt that he became a new person as a result of what happened both on the roadside and, subsequently, in Damascus itself. From this moment onwards, the Pharisee who had hated the Christian faith was to be one of its greatest advocates, and he was to place his traditional faith in a different perspective altogether as a result of what happened that day.
Like most notable events, Paul’s conversion did not spring from nowhere. Unquestionably, he already knew a great deal about the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth—indeed, on the basis of what he later wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:16, some have concluded that he might have been personally acquainted with Jesus during his lifetime. That seems unlikely, but what is certain is that he must have taken a considerable interest in the kind of interpretation that was being placed on the scriptures by Hellenist Jewish Christians like Stephen. By depicting him as a bystander, watching the coats at the stoning of Stephen, Luke was probably intending to suggest that, even at that time, Paul had a hesitating sympathy with what was being said. Either way, there can be little doubt that such thinking had an enormous and profound influence on his own life for, in many respects, the later teaching of Paul on the place of Old Testament Law and covenants in the Christian life was but a logical extension of the teaching of those Hellenist Jews who were Christians before him. Though Paul’s letters show him to have been mostly concerned about the Law as a source of morality, and not much interested at all in its ritual and ceremonial aspects, much of what he later wrote about the temporary and passing nature of the Law bore a striking similarity to Stephen’s arguments about the Law and the temple (Galatians 3:1–25).
When Paul arrived in Damascus after his remarkable experience, he was unable to see, and was overwhelmed by it all for three days, during which he neither ate nor drank. But when Ananias, a Christian living in Damascus, went to visit Paul his sight was restored, Paul was baptized, and then introduced to the Christians in the city (Acts 9:10–19; Acts 22:12–16). Like Peter at the household of Cornelius, Paul discovered that, within the community of the church, he would find acceptance among people who, on any other ground, would have been abhorrent to him. In many ways, his experience was even more radical than that of Peter, for the people who welcomed him so generously were the very ones he had been intent on hounding to death. In the light of this, it is hardly surprising that, when he wrote to advise the Galatian Christians, who were struggling with the consequences of ethnic diversity, he should have emphasized his conviction that people of different social and religious backgrounds could come together only through living a shared commitment to Jesus Christ: ‘there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free men, between men and women; you are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3:28).
It was this burning conviction that inspired Paul to carry the Christian message not only to the cities of Palestine—places like Damascus itself, Antioch, and even Jerusalem—but also to the furthest corners of the world as it was known to him. In doing so he displayed an amazing vitality and, through his many letters, he has provided an invaluable series of snapshots of what it was like to be a Christian in the wider Roman world of the first century A.D. It was not all easy going, even for an apostle, and Paul’s long journeys must have been physically exhausting and highly dangerous. But Paul was undaunted for, from the time of his conversion, he was quite convinced that he was not alone in his endeavours, but the Christ whom he had encountered on the Damascus road was living within him and empowering him for this work. Paul’s references to his achievements in Judaism show him to have been a fanatical believer, and, from that moment onwards, all his energy was redirected into serving Christ. Writing towards the end of his life, he put it like this: ‘I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’ (Philippians 3:8).
Paul did not forget his original purpose in coming to Damascus, which had been to visit the Jewish synagogues of the city. He went straight to the Jewish community, where his arrival was undoubtedly expected. But his message was not what they expected, for instead of denouncing the Christian faith he proclaimed it, and made known his new allegiance to Jesus the Messiah (Acts 9:20–25). In Galatians 1:17 Paul mentions a brief visit to a place he refers to as ‘Arabia’ (probably an area near Damascus) before returning to Damascus for three years. Though Luke never mentions it, this is not inconsistent with the narrative of Acts, where it is stated that he remained in Damascus for ‘many days’ (Acts 9:23). He might have retreated to ‘Arabia’ immediately after meeting Ananias, or he might have gone there after some initial teaching in the synagogues.
Eventually, Paul found it impossible to stay any longer in the city of Damascus. Religious and civil authorities were both eager to get rid of him, so his friends secretly let him down over the city wall in a basket (Acts 9:23–25; 2 Corinthians 11:32–33).
Drane, John William. Introducing the New Testament. Completely rev. and updated. Oxford: Lion Publishing plc, 2000. Print.
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