Did Paul go to Jerusalem soon after his conversion, or only after three years?

Hard question · Acts and the letters · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate

A summary and a fuller account

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The passages

Acts 9:19–28

Saul spends “certain days” and then “many days” in Damascus, escapes by night, and in Jerusalem Barnabas brings him to the apostles.

And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. …

Galatians 1:15–19

Paul went first to Arabia, returned to Damascus, and after three years went up to see Peter for fifteen days, seeing only James besides.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.

2 Corinthians 11:32–33

Paul’s own account of being let down from the wall of Damascus in a basket.

In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

Acts 22:17–18

Praying in the temple, Paul is told to leave Jerusalem quickly.

And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

The objection

Acts seems to send Saul to Jerusalem soon after his conversion, where Barnabas brings him “to the apostles”. In Galatians Paul swears that he did not go up to Jerusalem at once but went to Arabia, returned to Damascus, and only after three years went up to see Peter for fifteen days, meeting no other apostle except James.

The answer

Acts does not say that Saul went to Jerusalem straight away. Luke marks two stages in Damascus: “certain days with the disciples” (9:19), and then, after Saul had been preaching there, “many days” (9:23; Greek hēmerai hikanai, ‘a considerable time’) before the plot that drove him out. Galatians fills in what Luke leaves out: a stay in Arabia, the Nabataean kingdom that bordered Damascus, and a return to Damascus. Luke’s ‘many days’ has room for that, and Paul’s ‘three years’ probably counts from his conversion and may include parts of years, as was usual. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown compare Luke’s Gospel, which passes over the flight into Egypt that Matthew records. Where both writers give details, they agree: the escape over the wall of Damascus in a basket (Acts 9:25; 2 Corinthians 11:32–33), and a short stay in Jerusalem cut off by danger (Acts 9:29–30; 22:17–18; Galatians 1:18, “fifteen days”).

As for whom he met, Luke says Barnabas brought him “to the apostles”, and Paul names the two he saw: Peter, and James the Lord’s brother, whom he seems to count with the apostles (Galatians 1:19). Luke’s plural need mean no more than the apostolic leaders who were in the city; the others may well have been away. Paul’s aim in Galatians is to show that he did not receive his gospel from the Jerusalem leaders, so he states exactly how little contact he had, and swears to it (1:20).

Still open

Which later visit Galatians 2:1–10 describes is still debated. Many identify it with the council of Acts 15; others with the famine-relief visit of Acts 11:30, which would make Galatians one of Paul’s earliest letters. Both views hold that Galatians and Acts agree.

From the classic commentators

That such a blank should occur in the Acts, and be filled up in Galatians, is not more remarkable than that the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, their stay there, and their return thence, recorded only by Matthew, should be so entirely passed over by LukeJamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on Acts 9:23 (1871)

But Barnabas … brought him to the apostles—that is, to Peter and James; for ‘other of the apostles saw I none,’ says he fourteen years after (Ga 1:18, 19). Probably none of the other apostles were there at the timeJamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on Acts 9:27 (1871)

Did Paul go to Jerusalem soon after his conversion, or only after three years?

The passages

The objection

The answer

Other answers Christians give

Arabia before the preaching

Still open

From the classic commentators

Sources

Further reading