What were Luke's sources for his account of Paul?

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Luke Used Sources for His Story of Paul, but Not the Ones You Think

Luke’s account of Paul in Acts is best understood as drawing on multiple eyewitness sources within the Pauline circle rather than on Paul’s letters or Luke’s constant companionship with Paul. Barnabas, Silas, and possibly Timothy supplied information about different stages of Paul’s ministry, while Luke himself became an eyewitness only during Paul’s later years.

See also The Puzzle of Paul in Acts: A Historical and Linguistic Interpretation (Routledge, 2026).

By Nathan Nadeau
Toronto Baptist Seminary
Professor of Hellenistic Greek and New Testament
McMaster Divinity College
Research Fellow
August 2026

I'm going with "too many 'may haves,'" as the author puts it. But I agree that the other solutions are not short of them. I don't think we have enough information to solve the question of Luke's sources, let alone the relationship of Luke's Paul to an historical Paul.

Cross-file under New Book.

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