This explanation is offered in Catholic Encyclopedia ;
Acts of the Apostles - you have to scroll almost all the way down the page to read it (the second to last paragraph located under the subtitle **Objections Against the Authenticity **).
They also include in their explanation , together with the two quotes from scripture whhich the OP is referring to (Acts 9:7 , 22:9), a third passage - from Acts 26:14.
Hmmm . . .
. . . So , do you think maybe they all heard the
phone , but only Paul answered it ?
Hold the phone!
In the first passage, Acts 9:7, all of them were blinded, and all of them heard a sound.
But there is no discussion of intelligible speech.
That can mean they all heard a non-intelligible sound, and could see nothing at all.
Similar instances occur, where God speaks, and some people will hear the voice of God, and others will only hear thunder. See for example: John 12:27-31 which is very explicit about the nature of this kind of contradiction.
Don’t forget that Paul can only record from the other men what they tell him, not what they actually saw or heard. He depends on their honesty and memory at various times, in order to record what they told him. If their story changes, Paul’s would too. That doesn’t reflect on scripture’s inerrancy at all. It merely reflects human memory of un-inspired witnesses.
So, I take Acts 9:7 to be describing the equivalent of a near lightning strike as it would be interpreted at that time. Something that came from heaven, and which was like the stars (AstrE) or the sun (Heli), eg: a heavenly luminary. In Saul/Paul’s second account he uses a word which has stars as it’s root meaning, and in the third he says “of the sun”. So, he clearly isn’t sure of the source. (But then he was blinded…)
But, don’t forget, no one says that human speech was the first thing they heard; Still, the effect was so strong that they all fell down and no one could see anything at first.
So they are all blind, and that generally means that the light was so bright and intense that it momentarily depleted the eye of the chemicals needed to see. They needed to acclimate again in order to be able to see. All of them did, except Saul.
Likewise, a very loud bang can make a person momentarily deaf to quieter sounds.
eg: Phone means “sound”, and does not always mean clear and intelligent speech.
The idea of actual intelligible speech is not discussed in Acts 9:7.
Not to mention that there are minor variations in Greek manuscripts about the final words in the sentence of Acts 9:7. Therefore: I’m not absolutely sure the sentence as we have it in the Textus Receptus is genuine and not a copyist mistake.
But, in any event, when we get to Acts 22:9 and 26:14; I think we are talking about what happened after the initial clap of lightning and thunder (or something equivalent to that).
Saul did not regain his sight, but everyone else did.
Saul began to hear an intelligible voice, but no one else did.
The theme is a reversal of conditions. Saul gets the opposite of what all his peers do.
One other point to note: These were all the enemies of the church. If Paul’s testimony was false, then his companions who were persecutors of the church would have had every reason to condemn him in court. Paul would have no defense if he had lied.
Yet his companions clearly did not contradict him. That’s additional proof that what we have is an issue of interpretation, and not of falsehood on Paul’s part.
