Question:

The question I have is about Matthew 24:26. People who reject Paul as an apostle say that this is proof that Paul saw a false Christ on the road to Damascus because Jesus was warning us about anyone who has a vision specifically in the desert is having a false vision. Is there any scriptural evidence that this is not what Jesus was talking about? I can see that the main point was about His second coming, something Paul said had not happened yet. But what if it had two meanings and maybe this was a warning? Can we know for sure?

Answer:

An interesting question.  I had not thought of that possibility.  What we know is that the other apostles, including Peter, as well as James, the brother of Jesus gave Paul the right hand of fellowship and accepted that his apostleship was legitimate based on his vision on the road to Damascus.  Galatians 2:6-16 and Acts 15:1-21 demonstrate clearly that those who would have known, the apostles themselves,  believed Paul’s vision to be legitimate.This tells me two things.  First, they believed that what happened to Paul had nothing to do with the second coming of Christ, which is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 24:26.  Second, they did in fact believe that Paul’s vision was of Christ himself.  We can speculate all we want, but given the clear and unambiguous fact that the apostles and other inspired church leaders accepted Paul’s testimony, then it is foolish for us to question it at this point.

John Oakes