Did any of the companions of Jesus consider Rabbi Saul/St. Paul to be an imposter ? Did Barnabas ?

Question

When Paul was on the road to Damascus he saw a light and heard a voice. Did those who were with him hear the voice?
(a) Yes(Acts9:7)
(b) No(Acts22:9)

When Paul saw the light he fell to the ground. Did his traveling companions also fall to the ground?
(a) Yes (Acts 26:14)
(b) No (Acts 9:7)

Did the voice spell out on the spot what Paul’s duties were to be?
(a) Yes (Acts 26:16-18)
(b) No. The voice commanded Paul to go into the city of Damascus and there he will be told what he must do. (Acts9:7;22: 10)

Answer 1

as a Jew I'd like to say that JEW4MESSIAH is speaking on behalf of a very very small fracture of Jews who are very very OFF THEIR ROCKERS

you cant be a Jew and believe that jesus was, is and will ever be the messiah. the two religions cannot coexist together.

I respect Christians opinions and views and think that as long as they believe in a higher power and want to lead a moral life then that's super. But I will not stand by as this JEW4MESSIAH tarnishes the name of Jews everywhere.

I hope no one here thinks that his skewed views hold any weight at all here or in the Jewish religion.

Answer 2

These should have been asked as separate questions, but I'll cut you some slack.

1) "Literally, that clause in 22:9 may be translated, “They did not hear the sound.” The NIV correctly translates the verse, because the verb “to hear” with the genitive case may mean “to hear a sound” and with the accusative case “to hear with understanding.” The genitive case is employed in 9:7, and the accusative is used in 22:9. So the travelers with Saul heard the sound (9:7) but did not understand what Christ said (22:9)." (Walvoord, John F., and Zuck, Roy B., The Bible Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, Inc.) 1983, 1985.)

Thus in Acts 9:7, “hearing the voice,” the noun “voice” is in the partitive genitive case [i.e., hearing (something) of], whereas in 22:9, “they heard not the voice,” the construction is with the accusative. This removes the idea of any contradiction. The former indicates a hearing of the sound, the latter indicates the meaning or message of the voice (this they did not hear). “The former denotes the sensational perception, the latter (the accusative case) the thing perceived” (Cremer). Vine, W. E., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell) 1981.

2) There is no contradiction here at all. If ALL fell to the ground, then Paul who was WITH the group of men, fell to the ground also. Just because one verse says ALL and the other mentions only Paul does not mean there is a problem!

3) Acts 26:16-18 is a portion of one of Paul's speaches. Paul makes no claim he's providing ALL details within one narrative. There are no contradictions here -- they're ALL correct. Jesus BOTH told Paul some details AND told him he'd receive further information later.

Nice try.

Answer 3

Some believed that he was an impostor at first, but Barnabas did not, for he welcomed him, and even trained him to do his work.

Of course gaining others trust after all the things that he had done would have been difficult. But through his sufferings for the church, more than likely they would have allowed their distrust to dissipate.

Now, let's look at your passages that you "quote:"

1. Acts 9.7: "Men heard the voice." Did not say that they comprehended or understood the voice.
2. Acts 22.9: "Men with me did not understand the voice." The "hearing" would have been on the level of comprehension. So, they heard just likes 9.7 says, just did not understand - same thing the former verse says, too.
3. Acts 9.7 and 26.14. I wasn't there, (neither was anyone else, but those men, Saul, and Jesus), so I can't say for sure. However, it is likely that at first they fell, and then Saul stayed on the ground longer seeing that he realized his persecution was against Christ/God and not just Christians. The men didn't understand, so they may have stood up once the light went away. We are looking at two different stories - which may have included things that the others left out. I truly don't know for sure.
4. I think you actually meant 9.6. Again I don't know why the difference. Certainly what we have in 26 is not exhaustive list, but a condensed form. He would have learned more in Damascus about what he needed to do to seal his conversion and to work in the Kingdom. I don't know.

Good question.

Answer 4

Following Paul's conversion, there was concern that his conversion may not be legitamate, but rather a trick to get in amoung the Christians so that he could identify and then arrest them. But over the 30 years of ministry that followed, he pretty much proved that idea was wrong.

There were also some who claimed that Paul was not a real apostle because he did not know Christ personally during the time of his earthly ministry. If you read Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, he answers those critics, and presents the proof of his apostleship.

There is no evidence that any of the 12 disciples disputed Paul's claim. Rather they were amoung the people who commissioned him as an apostle. As Barnabas was the one who first believed in Paul's conversion, and brought him into the church. He was appointed to apostleship with Paul and traveled with him on his first preaching tour.

Answer 5

Barnabas was a close working associate with Paul early in their missions. As a matter of fact, it was Barnabas who introduced Paul to the apostles after hsi conversion! They apparently had a falling out over Barnabas' cousin, John Mark, who abandoned them. But later in Paul's life, he came to forgive Mark, as shown in Colossions and, I believe, in an earlier letter.

Answer 6

Saul was one of the biggest persecutors of the disciples; he actually stood by and watched the pharisees stone Stephan. I'm sure some of them had their doubts when Saul/Paul had a change of heart.

Answer 7

Rabbi saul helped kill believers in Jesus-why would one addmitting to that be an imposter? He had issues on trips and went with Barnabas doing mission work =book of Acts.

Romans 9-11 chapters Saul now Paul said he would be willing to go to hell to see his people saved.

as a Jew this is how I believed Messiah Jesus and Paul= a covenant is a formal agreement made between two
Judaism began a covenant with God

God due to our rejection of the covenant made a new covenant -Jeremiah 31:31 ff verse 31 and following
"I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel not like the one I made with Moses.. and you will personally be my people and I will be your God."

how we get the new covenant=

simply believe in the Messiah as promised in Isaiah too.


in a triunity -like h2o -water steam & ice but always h2o God is always God he just has 3 forms
"Let us make man in our image" Genesis-plurality of the God head -Echod is a compound one. Elohim =God is plural

Messianic Jews -are Jews that have come to know the Messiah-as promised in the Jewish scriptures, Isaiah 9:6 Unto us a child is born a son is given, and he will be mighty God, and the prince of peace.

we believe the Jewish scriptures that God would manifest himself in a person, and also as Spirit two as our Scriptures tell.

Other Jewish people reject Isaiah and Moses too required blood sacrifice to make atonement for sins Leviticus 17:11

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 " He will be exalted. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He will lay down his life to make atonement for our sins."

with the temple gone and no way other than the promised messiah to be forgiven from sins-some made new religions, based on the teachings of men and still called some of them Judaism. pray for me and them.

now Yeshua/Jesus is my Messiah, and best friend-because I believed Moses, Isaiah and Him. Messiah says, "I love you and knock on your heart door to come in, deliver from sin (even one lie) and be your friend when you ask me in." Revelation 1:1 & 3:19&20th verses

I prayed "Show me the truth."
then "I believe you Messiah, I am sorry for my sins, come into my heart and help me, be my friend, amen."

Life is wonderfull now having the Messiah in my heart-I searched after my bar Mitzvah and finally believed my Jewish Scriptures and the Messiah.

have a great day and good question. yes we believe, David

Answer 8

Paul and Peter didn't always get along. (Paul once rebuked Peter for some of his actions, referring to him as a hypocrite in one of his letters...)

But I'm not aware of anyone referring to Paul as an imposter...

Answer 9

If people knew anything, they would know there was a hassle between the followers of John the Baptist and Jesus.

Answer 10

Paul was not an imposter. He was one of Jesus' disciples.