The Nugget:
Acts 9:7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
My Comment:
I have encountered individuals from the Hebrew Roots movement as well as Muslims who find a contradiction between what is stated in Acts 9:7 compared to the parallel account found in Acts 22:9. They use this alleged contradiction to deny the validity of the conversion and ministry of the Apostle Paul. In so doing, they reveal they have not read carefully the rest of the chapter, where the record is given of our Lord Jesus Christ himself directly commissioning the Apostle Paul (see Acts 9:15 and context).
Acts 9:7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
Acts 22:9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
The Muslim Challenge:
Contradiction 1:
When Paul experienced the vision of Jesus Christ; did the companions with him also saw the light and hear the voice?
And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. Acts 9:7
And they that were with me (Paul) saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice. Acts 22:9
Did the men with Paul hear the voice or not?
I ANSWER:
In English translation Acts 9:7 appears to contradict Acts 22:9, as you carefully state.
The New Testament was originally written in Greek. There are distinctions evident in the Greek text that are often not translated into English.
In Acts 9:4 the word “voice” is in the accusative case, which in Greek is an idiom which means to hear and understand the particular words spoken, said of Saul (later called Paul).
In Acts 9:7 the word “voice” is in the genitive case, showing that Paul’s companions heard the sound but did not hear the words clearly enough to understand them. All they heard was a noise.
In Acts 22:9, “but they heard not the voice of him that spoke to me” is in the genitive case, an idiom which means to understand, to receive, to believe what is said, having regard not to the speaker but the subject matter.
Paul’s companions heard the voice, but not clearly enough to understand what was said, expressed by the genitive case in Greek.
Paul (or Saul) heard the voice and understood what was said, expressed by the accusative case in Greek.
The presence of these idioms in the Greek text removes the apparent contradiction seen in our English translations.