The Concersion of St Paul: its Nature, Antecedents and Consequences

Abstract

The character of Paul's conversion as it appeared to the convert is clear from his references in his letters. He experienced a sudden conversion which was effected, or at least accompanied, by a vision of the risen Christ, or, as he might have preferred to say, by an encounter with Jesus, alive, exalted and glorified. He had no doubt that the initiative was God's initiative. ‘God revealed His Son in my case’: in view of this phrase in Gal. i. 16, Goguel would take the earlier reference in v. 12, where Paul claims to have been taught his gospel ‘through the revelation of Jesus Christ’ as meaning that Jesus Christ was the object of the revelation.