Event · New Testament

The conversion of Paul

Also known as The Damascus road, Saul becomes Paul

Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who had approved Stephen's death, set out to arrest believers in Damascus. Near the city a light from heaven threw him down and the risen Jesus spoke to him. Blind for three days, he was healed and baptized by a disciple named Ananias and began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues.

Why it matters. The church's fiercest opponent becomes its most traveled apostle, and Paul counts this meeting as the last of the resurrection appearances.

Primary passages

• Acts 9:1-19
• Acts 22:3-16
• 1 Corinthians 15:8

Dates

AD 33 to 36 (approximate) (low confidence, Galatians 1:18 and 2:1 intervals counted back from the Jerusalem council)

Paul says he went to Jerusalem three years after his call and again fourteen years later; counting back from a council usually placed near AD 48 to 50 gives a range in the mid 30s. The arithmetic is inclusive and debated, so confidence is low.

Witnesses

• Acts 9:1-31
• Acts 22:3-21
• Acts 26:9-23

Chronology confidence: medium

Acts tells the story three times, once as narrative and twice in Paul's own speeches, with small differences in detail that FaithGraph reports rather than harmonizes. Paul's own letters (Galatians 1) give the sequence after Damascus.

Last reviewed

2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team