Did Paul have a near-death experience on the road to Damascus?

What does Paul himself tell us: two descriptions of this experience

Paul writes twice about his extraordinary experience. The first partial description is found in the letter to the Galatians (1:15–16). In that letter Paul recounts how he suddenly transformed from a fanatical persecutor of Jesus’ followers into a preacher of the Gospel. Paul attributes this change to God’s plan to “reveal his Son in me” (Gal 1:16). Exegetes usually interpret Paul’s transformation as a prophetic calling in which Jesus was revealed to him as God’s Son. That Paul meant “Jesus” by “his Son” can be inferred from the two times he briefly refers to the revelation in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” (1 Cor 9:1) and “Last of all, he appeared also to me” (1 Cor 15:8).

The second partial description of Paul’s experience is found in the second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 12:2–4). There, however, Paul makes it seem as though it was somebody else’s experience. This person, he writes, “was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.” In this text Paul does not speak of the revelation of Jesus, but he does speak of being taken into paradisal, heavenly realms, whether embodied or not. 

What do others say?

In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s extraordinary experience is described three times (Acts 9:3–8; 22:6–11; 26:12–16). The details of the accounts differ. Yet when the texts are read in conjuction, also similarities become apparent. In Acts, the following elements play a central role:

1. it is a sudden event
2. the event causes Saul to fall to the ground
3. there is a bright light
4. a divine figure, Jesus, speaks to Paul

Biblical commentators explain the story as a divine manifestation. They connect this appearance of Jesus with other divine manifestations involving a voice and light or fire. Examples are the calling of Moses at the burning bush (Exod. 3) and the calling of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 1). I wondered whether Paul’s experience including  the appearance of Jesus also may be interpreted as a near-death experience.

What is a near-death experience?

In recent years, a great deal has been written about near-death experiences. For those who want to know more about the neuroscientific background, I gladly refer to a more detailed paper. Here I will limit myself to the main points. A near-death experience is a special state of consciousness. Common features include:

1. a feeling of dying and/or being dead
2. being surrounded by bright light
3. a sense of being out off the body
4. reliving the past
5. being addressed by a familiar or divine person, and
6. receiving an instruction to return. No two near-death experiences are identical

Each experience has its own combination of elements. Near-death experiences occur especially in the case of cardiac arrest, that is, when people are indeed on the brink of death. But near-death experiences can also occur after an accident, or under the influence of medication or psychedelics. Near-death experiences usually have two long-term effects. First, people hardly dare to talk about them, or do so only with great reluctance. The experience is so extraordinary that they fear being considered crazy. Second, the experience has a lifelong impact. Many people are no longer afraid of death and, after such an experience, often believe in an existence after death. Moreover, they pay more attention to other people and become less interested in money and possessions.

Did Paul have a near-death experience?

We will never know for certain whether Paul had a near-death experience. But the reported phenomena do suggest it. The texts produce the following picture. Paul suddenly felt seriously unwell, causing him to fall down. Perhaps he had an epileptic seizure, a sudden cardiac arrhythmia, or fainted because he was not fit and was overworked. The sudden situation of being unwell was followed by an experience of being in heavenly realms, perhaps even a sense of leaving the body, and a prophetic vision of seeing Jesus as the Son of God. It is striking that he does not encounter God, but Jesus. Yet it is precisely through this divine revelation that Paul realizes that Jesus is God’s Son. The event induces an immense transition in Paul’s life. After the revelation by Jesus, he feels called and supported by Jesus. All the phenomena described here indicate that Paul had a near-death experience. An experience he probably did not talk about much. This would explain why he only refers to it sporadically and fragmentarily in his letters. Later, Paul probably did speak with a few friends about the impressive event. That fits the course of most near-death experiences. In this way, the author of Acts may well have known the story. He considered it important enough to mention. At the same time, he was aware that he did not know the details. I think that is why he wrote the story in three versions (Acts 9:3–8; 22:6–11; 26:12–16). The author was not interested in the details, but in the essence of the event. The core was Paul’s calling by Jesus himself. From my medical and neuroscientific background, when I look at the sequence of events in Acts, I also notice something else. According to Acts, the dazzling light comes first and only then does Paul fall down. From a neuroscientific perspective an opposite order would be more logical: becoming unwell, falling down, and next, seeing the light.

Paul and life after death

After the event on the road to Damascus, Paul became a zealous apostle. With unprecedented zeal he proclaimed the Gospel. In addition, we also know from his letters that he believed in the resurrection from the dead and in a life after death in which he would be with Christ (including 1 Cor. 15 and Phil. 1:21–23). In Paul’s time, the resurrection from the dead was a matter of debate. The Pharisees expected such a resurrection, but the Sadducees did not (see Luke 20:27). As a Pharisee, Paul probably already believed in this resurrection and in a life after death before his transformation. But this belief may have been strengthened by his experience on the road to Damascus. In the first letter to the Corinthians, especially 1 Cor. 15, Paul discusses this theme at length. He compares the transition from life before death to life after death with the cycle of a grain of wheat. It is characterized by continuity and change. Paul is not troubled by the fact that he does not know the details of existence after death. He trusts that such an existence is real. Perhaps because he was allowed to look briefly beyond the boundary of death...