Paul claims that his conversion was not simply an event of his own choosing made at a moment of adult deliberation but that his calling was the result of a divine plan beyond and before his very birth. Paul declares Jesus was revealed to him even from Paul's conception.
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace,was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles...
Furthermore, even in his adult life, this inspiration was such that it filled Paul with all he needed to know. Paul asserts that because of his special election he did not need to confer with any living persons for further information. Instead he went abroad, for reasons that he does not explain.
I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas[1], and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!
Galatians 1: 15-20
Earlier in the same Epistle Paul sets out quite indisputably that his knowledge of Jesus does not come from any gospel
For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1: 11- 12
There is another curious element in this passage. What exactly does Paul mean by "gospel" (evanagelion) When Paul is writing his epistle, the "gospels" have not yet been written. Could he be referring to versions of a written gospel that are now lost. Or, is the reference to some primitive form of the synoptics forms that have come down to us? This is not the only time that Paul hints at such a text. He mentions it again when he speaks of the genealogy of Jesus, a topic that we will treat later.
While Galatians presents the above version of Paul's source of inspiration, the later epistle, Corinthians, presents a different version.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul does not claim to have some kind of pre-destined, innate knowledge of Jesus. In this account, he makes himself part of the resurrection story.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
1 Corinthians 15: 3- 8
Here again we find an account that seems to have some relation to at least one of the gospel stories. In Mark's account, Jesus, after his resurrection, appeared to his disciples.
Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
Mark 16:14
Still, the two references above are not all there is to Paul's conversion. There is yet another , a third account again by Paul himself. The following passage from 2 Corinthians is particularly striking. Here, Paul not only claims some sort of divine inspiration but couches the event in a kind of mystical physical (or metaphysical) experience. In this version, Paul is lifted into the ethers where he partakes of a divine vision.
In addition to the contrasting versions of Paul's conversion and as further supplement that Paul received his knowledge of Jesus through some kind of inspiration, we read the very ambiguous passage in
I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise-[2]-whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. 2 Corinthians 12: 1-7.
At first reading the passage appears somewhat confused or even cryptic. Who is this man? Clearly, it is himself. as the subsequent verses suggest by noting that he has been given "thorn... in the flesh" to keep him humble.
Why these three accounts by Paul himself? How, if any one of these event actually took place, would the event not be so significant as to be unalterable and unforgettable. Would it not be more likely that Paul, in his often bombastic pronouncements, is inventing.
