Bible Contradiction? Did Paul see Jesus on the road to Damascus?

 

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Did Paul see Jesus on the road to Damascus?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

Yes

“Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?” (1 Corinthians 9:1)

“and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” (1 Corinthians 15:8)

No, he was blind and “saw no man.”

“Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.” ( Acts 9:8)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. I want to say right off the bat that Christ is ultimately the Sacrifice for all our sins, intentional and unintentional.  Old Testament sacrifices are typological, pointing to Christ’s work on the Cross to forgive us and save us.  What follows is a look at Old Testament passages in its context and Old Testament background.
4. The skeptic tries to pit 1 Corinthians 9:1 and 1 Corinthians 15:8 as affirming the claim “Paul did see Jesus on the road to Damascus” against Acts 9:8 as affirming “Paul did not see Jesus on the road to Damascus.”
5. It is always important to ask whether the skeptics interpreted a passage rightly.  I’m happy to say the skeptics rightly did interpret 1 Corinthians 9:1 and 1 Corinthians 15:8 as affirming the claim “Paul did see Jesus on the road to Damascus.”
   1. 1 Corinthians 9:1 feature Paul ask rhetorically whether or not he’s an Apostle (with the implied answer being yes in light of 1 Corinthians 1:1) and in the second half of 1 Corinthians 9:1 Paul ask rhetorically if he have not seen Christ the Lord, showing that is one of the requirement to be an Apostle.  So from this verse Paul did see Jesus.
   2. 1 Corinthians 15:8 is in the context of talking about those who have seen the resurrected Jesus and here in the end of that Paul said that He too have seen the resurrected Christ.
6. The skeptics did not accurately interpret Acts 9:8.  The verse does not affirm “Paul did not see Jesus on the road to Damascus.”
   1. Acts 9:8 record Paul unable to see after he fell (v.4) and was getting up (v.8).  Paul losing his sight after he got up does not mean Paul could not and did not see Christ when Christ appeared to him and was talking to him in verses 3-6.  
   2. The Skeptic Annotated Bible quoted the King James Version where it said Paul “saw no man.”  The Greek does not actually said “saw no man.“  The Greek phrase οὐδὲν ἔβλεπεν which literally is “saw nothing.”  The adjective οὐδὲν is nuanced, even though it is the object and appears before the verb for sight, ἔβλεπεν. οὐδὲν is declined as an accusative neuter singular.  The fact that it is neuter indicate this is not talking about only a person that Paul can’t see, but Paul can’t see anything (things and people).  Even if one does not take my textual critical decision with Acts 9:8 still the observation above in point 6.1 is sufficient to note that there’s not a contradiction.   
7. There is no contradiction here.  Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
8. I know some of you are also searching for the related question of Were the men with Paul knocked to the ground?
9. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”