Conversion of Paul the Apostle
event that led Paul to cease persecuting early Christians and to become an apostle of Jesus
The conversion of Paul the Apostle (also the Pauline conversion, Damascene conversion, Damascus Christophany and Paul's transformation on the road to Damascus) was, according to the New Testament, an event in the life of Saul/Paul the Apostle that led him to cease persecuting early Christians and to become a follower of Jesus.
The New Testament accounts
Paul's conversion experience is discussed in both the Pauline epistles and in the Acts of the Apostles. According to both sources, Saul/Paul was not a follower of Jesus and did not know him before his crucifixion. The narrative of the Book of Acts suggests Paul's conversion occurred 4–7 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. The accounts of Paul's conversion experience describe it as miraculous, supernatural, or otherwise revelatory in nature.
Before conversion
Paul, who also went by Saul, was "a Pharisee of Pharisees" who "intensely persecuted" the followers of Jesus. Paul describes his life before conversion in his Epistle to the Galatians:
For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
Paul also discusses his pre-conversion life in his Epistle to the Philippians, 3:4–6, and his participation in the stoning of Stephen is described in Acts 7:57–8:3.
Pauline epistles
In the Pauline epistles, the description of Paul's conversion experience is brief.
“Conversion of Paul the Apostle” enters the record as event that led Paul to cease persecuting early Christians and to become an apostle of Jesus. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Conversion, Paul and Apostle can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q901397. The Library of Congress control number is sh86003466. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Conversion of Paul the Apostle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.