The Conversion of Saul of Tarsus (3 of 5 notes)

Part Two
Bibliology: 9 BIBLE EVIDENCES
A DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY

By Charles F Baker

Critics have tried to discredit the conversion of Saul by claiming that he suffered sunstroke on the Damascus road and saw hallucinations which he interpreted to be the resurrected Christ. They further argue that the Jesus of Paul was a different Jesus from that of the Gospels. All such attempts to discredit this apparent miracle of Saul’s conversion are adequately answered from the Scripture itself. Paul is accused of being an epileptic, but epilepsy was a wellknown disorder in Bible times (see Matthew 4:24 and 17:15, where “lunatick” should be “epileptic”) and surely Dr. Luke was familiar with it. He gives no indication in the book of Acts that Paul had any such affliction. And surely there is no indication in his epistles to substantiate such a charge. Critics who deny that Paul saw the resurrected Christ on the Damascus road, deny this because they deny the resurrection of Christ. But there were over five hundred eye-witnesses to the resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:6) and it is impossible that all of these could have suffered sunstroke or could have been given to epileptic fits or were subject to hallucinations.

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