When Was Saul (Paul) Converted?

I have just a short post today to debunk one of the commonly held Christian traditions that is erroneous. Many believe that Saul of Tarsus, who became the apostle Paul, was born again on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9. The mindset is that because Jesus appeared to him and spoke to him, this constituted him being converted to Christ, which is to say born again. Well, that brings me back to the fact that this will be a short post, because it takes very little scripture to flatly show that he could not possibly have been born again on the road to Damascus. So let’s look at the account of this event in the scripture: “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:3-6). Friend, I really have to say, Where is the born again experience there? But let’s find out what Jesus meant when he said that it would be told to him what he must do. “And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord… And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 9:10,17).

It’s the last part of that passage that really tells the story, the part about Ananias praying for Saul that he would be “filled with the holy Ghost.” What that tells us is that Saul did not ALREADY HAVE the holy Ghost. And that’s the same holy Ghost of which the scriptures plainly say it washes us from sin, justifies us, sanctifies us, and makes us a member of the one body of Christ (I Cor. 6:11, I Cor. 12:13). And regarding this same holy Ghost that Ananias prayed for Saul [Paul] to receive, the Bible also tells us clearly that without it we are “none of his” (Rom. 8:9). Not to mention Jesus said that we are not born again unless and until we receive it (Jn. 3:5). And the same apostle Paul of whom we speak here, himself said that it is that same holy Ghost that alone can make us free from sin (Rom. 8:2). So it is more than evident that Saul of Tarsus could not possibly have experienced the new birth while on the road to Damascus. What he experienced there was real, it just wasn’t the born again experience. He was born again the same way that anyone else has ever been born again, and that is by receiving the Spirit of God, which is the same thing as being baptized with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues (Jn. 7:38,39; Jn. 16:7; Acts 1:4,5; Acts 2:4; Acts 10:44-46). As I said, it doesn't take a whole lot of scripture to plainly show that Saul, or Paul, was not born again on the road to Damascus; and it's certain that the remainder of scripture that we can look into is not going to contradict the reality of what we've seen in short order here. Amen.