the missing man

Following his conversion, Saul is led by hand into the city of Damascus where he awaits further revelation, which comes in the form of a disciple named Ananias. In obedience, Ananias goes to Saul and invites him to “be filled with the Holy Spirit” and to regain his sight (Acts 9:17).

I don't know if you've ever been present when someone regains their sight, seeing spiritually for the first time by coming to faith in Christ, but I pray you get the opportunity soon! It's a treasured experience that every believer ought to desire and many get to witness. 

Ananias does a brave thing: he goes to a known enemy and embraces him as a brother. He’s not ashamed of the Gospel, knowing that by its power salvation comes to any and all who believe… even to the most obstinate!

The story goes on in Acts 9 with Paul preaching in Damascus (verses 19-22), then an overnight over-the-wall basket-escape (verses 23-25), followed by a trip to Jerusalem in which is described a fearful visit subdued by the faithful Barnabas and another harrowing escape (verses 26-30). The storyline of Acts moves on to Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10-11), before circling back around to reincorporate Saul, who is discovered then in Tarsus by the same faithful Barnabas and is brought to Antioch for missions work: first a famine in the land, then a church-planting journey (the first of three missionary journeys by the Apostle Paul).

However, in Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, he describes a slightly different story than what is conveyed in Acts 9. In Galatians 1:11-12 Paul writes, “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul is making a case for his apostleship equivalent to the original Twelve, and one of the key arguments he employs is that it came to him by direct revelation from Jesus Himself –the same as the Twelve received during Jesus’s earthly ministry and shortly after His resurrection.

He goes on a few verses later, saying, “I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus” (Galatians 1:16-17).

In effort to safeguard his calling as an apostle, Paul stresses that he was not coached what to say as a new recruit; instead, he receives his commissioning directly from the Lord Jesus Himself. He does not consult with anyone, nor does he go to the apostles in Jerusalem. He also does not say anything about preaching immediately in Damascus, and in doing so, he illuminates the method by which Luke records events in the book of Acts.

Luke records in Acts 9 that Paul began preaching in Damascus as if on the heels of his conversion, and then he went to Jerusalem to connect with the disciples there, only to be met by Barnabas. Luke doesn’t record anything about Arabia or a return trip back to Damascus with a three-year hiatus in between! Instead, Luke dials our focus upon the changed man who now preaches for Jesus rather than persecuting the followers of Jesus.

Within a singular chapter of Acts, even in a single verse within that one chapter (Acts 9:19), three years of Paul’s life are evidently skipped. Paul goes from receiving his sight and eating a little food… to debating with the Jews in the synagogues and proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. However, these events are separated by a trip to Arabia first (most likely the time when Paul meets with Jesus directly to receive his apostolic training. Some hypothesize he does this on Mount Sinai.), followed by a return trip to Damascus, the entirety of which is three years.

Added to that, Paul says in Acts 22 that he was back in Jerusalem in the Temple praying where he fell into a trance in which Jesus tells him to flee the city, “because they will not accept your testimony about Me” (Acts 22:18). But when does Paul go back to Jerusalem? In Galatians 1:18-19, Paul mentions a private meeting that took place in Jerusalem and included only Cephas (Peter) and James the Lord’s brother. At that point, he claims, “And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ” (Galatians 1:22). So, when did that awkward introduction to the disciples in Jerusalem actually happen, then, the one in which Barnabas comes to his side and testifies of his conversion that Luke describes in Acts 9:26-30?

It would seem that even more time in Paul’s life is skipped intentionally by Luke within the same chapter, bringing the focus on the mission of the Gospel rather than the man with a mission. But still, inquiring minds want to know… or at least, they want to make an educated guess as to Paul’s whereabouts and when-abouts all this took place (knowing full-well this is speculative and unrecorded biblical history).

One more nugget of info comes from Acts 15:41 when Paul and Silas are embarking upon their missionary journey, and Luke records that they started in Syria and Cilicia “strengthening the churches.” But when were these churches planted, and who planted them? Juxtapose that with Barnabas’s search to find Saul in Acts 11:25-26; Barnabas goes to Tarsus (which is in Cilicia!), Saul’s hometown, the very same place to which Saul sails away when threats against his life rise up in Jerusalem as described in Acts 9:26-30.

Okay, so here’s my contribution to an endless debate, a plausible Pauline timeline:

• Saul gets saved (Acts 9:4-19a).
• Upon receiving his sight, Saul the devout Jew rides back to Jerusalem to consult with God alone in prayer in the Temple, avoiding the high priest and his fellow Pharisees, where he reencounters the living Lord Jesus in a trance, telling him to flee the city for they aren’t ready to hear his report (Acts 22:17-18).
• He leaves Jerusalem, heading south to the desert of Arabia where he’ll receive training from the Lord Jesus directly, securing his apostleship and preparing for Gentile missionary work in years to come. He then returns to Damascus, the place of his conversion and begins to preach (Acts 22:21; Galatians 1:17).
• This is the time when he must be safely lowered in a basket away from Damascus due to threats upon his life (Acts 9:19b-25).
• He leaves from there and makes his way to Jerusalem to visit with Peter and James, staying only 15 days and seeing no one else, but he makes himself known to them as a comrade in the gospel and a fellow apostle of the Lord Jesus. He then departs for Syria and Cilicia in order to carry on his mission to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:18-21).
• During this period, Saul returns to Jerusalem a third time (perhaps during one of the Jewish Festivals) and now intends to connect with the Judean churches. This is the time when Barnabas comes to his aide in testifying of his conversion, most likely because of previous conversations with Peter and James regarding Saul (Acts 9:26-27).
• Thanks to Barnabas’s intervention, Saul becomes a trusted member of the church in Jerusalem, preaching boldly and disputing against the Hellenists, until at some point it’s apparent that he must leave the city in order to protect his life. They take him to Caesarea and put him aboard a ship, sailing back to Tarsus (Acts 9:28-30).
• Saul picks up where he left off and continues preaching and ministering in Tarsus and the surrounding regions of Cilicia and Syria for many years. Churches are planted and Gentiles are coming to faith as a result of his ministry. Barnabas will soon come to collect him for work to be done in Antioch (Acts 11:25-26).
• They will be there in Antioch for one year, teaching and seeing many become disciples of the Lord, before having to participate in bringing provisions from Antioch to Jerusalem due to a severe famine in the days of Claudius, circa A.D. 46-47 (Acts 11:27-30).
• Saul and Barnabas return to Antioch with John-Mark, from where they will all venture together on the first missionary journey, circa A.D. 47-48 (Acts 13:1-3).

One last thought…

The Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 is generally believed to have taken place in A.D. 49. Paul references a 14-year period in Galatians 2:1, and the verses following overlay nicely with the debate in Acts 15, suggesting the two chapters are reflecting upon the same conversation surrounding Gentiles coming to faith. This puts Paul’s conversion in A.D. 35 (possibly two years after Jesus’s death and resurrection). Subtract his three-year stint in Arabia and Damascus (Galatians 1:17), minus another year of teaching with Barnabas in Antioch (Acts 11:26) before attending to the needs due to the severe famine, and we’re left with about a decade of few breadcrumbs and mostly unknown travels before his first missionary journey in Acts 13.

What a decade of few details! It would appear that several churches were planted by Paul in Tarsus and the surrounding regions. Indeed, he was zealous for his new commissioning by the Lord, and his fervency guides him all the way to Rome, stabilizing him for his own martyrdom under Nero, circa A.D. 66-67.