ContradictionsReading order 533Bible context 2 min read
Did Paul go to Jerusalem immediately after his conversion?
Acts reports an arrival in Jerusalem without dating it, while Paul explicitly denies going there immediately after his revelation.
- Textual conflict
- Weak contradiction
- The supplied passages do not establish incompatible claims. Different events, meanings, or conditions may account for the difference.
- Importance
- Major
- A major event or claim with wider implications.
Acts' undated eventual Jerusalem arrival does not contradict Paul's initial travel to Arabia and Damascus.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Acts describes Saul arriving in Jerusalem
And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.
Acts 9:26
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Acts 9
Paul says he first went to Arabia and returned to Damascus
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.
Galatians 1:16-17
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)