How did Saul become Paul?
The short answer is this: Saul underwent a dramatic conversion and came to faith in Jesus Christ, but Scripture does not say that his name was miraculously changed at that moment. According to Acts, Saul encountered the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, was struck blind…
The short answer is this: Saul underwent a dramatic conversion and came to faith in Jesus Christ, but Scripture does not say that his name was miraculously changed at that moment. According to Acts, Saul encountered the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, was struck blind, regained his sight through the ministry of Ananias, and was baptized. That is the true turning point: the man who persecuted the followers of Jesus becomes a witness to Jesus.
Why, then, is he later called Paul? In Acts 13:9 the text says, "Saul, who is also called Paul." This is best understood not as two different people or a magical renaming, but as one person known by two names. "Saul" fits his Hebrew and Jewish setting, while "Paul" fits the Greek-Roman world. In that period it was not unusual, especially among diaspora Jews, to carry two names. So the most careful way to put it is not simply, "Saul later became Paul," but rather, "Saul, also known as Paul, became a believer in Christ and came to be known more publicly by the name Paul in his ministry to the Gentiles."
That distinction matters, because the center of the story is not a biographical detail but Christ's call. Saul's world, his sense of what was holy, and his way of looking at other people are all changed. A man known for persecution becomes an apostle who carries the gospel even through suffering. The same narrative shows that God not only cleanses a person's past, but can also redirect that person's future.
The heart of the change is not a new name but a new direction. Paul's letters and Acts show that he no longer trusted in his own righteousness, but in the grace of Christ. He remained the same person, yet with a new allegiance, a new mission, and a new orientation for life. Christian traditions are largely united here. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant interpretations differ less about the event itself than about how themes like grace, calling, and apostleship are systematized.
So the most honest answer is this: Saul's becoming Paul is not mainly a story of a magical name change, but of a person radically transformed by Christ.