Cross & salvation

Paul’s call on the road to Damascus

Paul never met Jesus during his ministry. His authority as an apostle rests on an experience on the road to Damascus. What do the sources say happened, and how much weight can it carry?

1The question

How did Paul become an apostle, and do the accounts of his call agree?

2What Christians believe

The risen Jesus appeared to Paul, then a persecutor of the church, and called him to preach (Acts 9:3–6). Paul counts himself among the witnesses of the resurrection, “last of all” (1 Corinthians 15:8).

Christians stress that the other apostles accepted him: James, Peter and John gave him “the right hands of fellowship” (Galatians 2:9). His change from persecutor to missionary, and his willingness to suffer for it, is for Christians strong evidence that his experience was real.

3What the texts say

The accounts in Acts

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Acts 9:3–4 · KJVRead in context →
And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
Acts 9:7 · KJVRead in context →
And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
Acts 22:9 · KJVRead in context →

Paul in his own words

For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:12 · KJVRead in context →
Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Galatians 1:17–18 · KJVRead in context →
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
1 Corinthians 15:8 · KJVRead in context →
And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
Galatians 2:9 · KJVRead in context →

4What scholars say

Acts tells the story three times, in chapters 9, 22 and 26, with differences in detail. In Acts 9:7 the companions hear a voice but see no one; in Acts 22:9 they see the light but do not hear the voice.

Christian commentators, such as Craig S. Keener in his commentary on Acts, note that the Greek verb for “hear” can mean either hearing a sound or understanding speech, and some modern translations, including the NIV and ESV, render Acts 22:9 as the companions not understanding the voice. Critical scholars such as Bart D. Ehrman treat the differences as signs that the story developed as it was retold.

Scholars broadly agree that Galatians, written by Paul himself, is earlier than Acts. There Paul stresses that he did not go to the apostles in Jerusalem for three years after his call (Galatians 1:17–18), and that his gospel came by revelation rather than from any person (Galatians 1:12).

5The Islamic perspective

Islam judges a claim to revelation by whether it agrees with the message of the earlier prophets. The Qur’an honours the disciples of Jesus as “Allah’s helpers”:

O ye who believe! Be Allah's helpers, even as Jesus son of Mary said unto the disciples: Who are my helpers for Allah? They said: We are Allah's helpers. And a party of the Children of Israel believed, while a party disbelieved. Then We strengthened those who believed against their foe, and they became the uppermost.
Qur’an 61:14 · PickthallRead in context →

Muslims ask why the teaching of someone who never walked with Jesus, and who says he received his gospel by revelation rather than from those who knew Jesus (Galatians 1:12), should outweigh the words of Jesus himself and of the disciples he taught. For Muslims the test is whether Paul’s teaching agrees with Jesus’s own words in the Gospels, which the related topics explore.

6Objections and responses

“The apostles accepted Paul, so his message must be the same as theirs.”

Response: Galatians 2 shows agreement on one point: Paul would go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews (Galatians 2:9). The same chapter records Paul opposing Peter to his face in Antioch over eating with Gentiles (Galatians 2:11–14), and in Acts 21:20–21 James is worried by reports that Paul was teaching Jews to abandon the Law of Moses.

“A persecutor would not change sides unless something real happened.”

Response: Muslims can accept that Paul sincerely had a powerful experience. The question is not his sincerity but whether a private vision is enough to set aside what Jesus taught in public. Jesus himself warns that signs and wonders alone are not proof (Matthew 24:24).

7Conclusion

Both sides agree that Paul did not know Jesus during his ministry and that his authority rests on his experience on the road to Damascus. Christians see the appearance of the risen Jesus, confirmed by the welcome of the apostles. Muslims see a personal experience whose teaching must be tested against Jesus’s own words, and note the tensions between the accounts and between Paul and the Jerusalem apostles.

Read Acts 9, 22 and 26 alongside Galatians 1–2 and judge how well the accounts fit together.

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