Answer: After Jesus was resurrected, He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve (apostles). He then appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom were still alive at the time that Paul wrote this account. After that, He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all Jesus appeared to Paul also, (verses 5 through 8).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
Paul was among many witnesses to whom Jesus appeared after His resurrection from the dead. But Paul's witnessing of Jesus did not happen before Jesus ascended to His Father, but rather, it happened AFTER the ascension.
Paul says that he was "abnormally born" because he was not with the original followers of
Christ. Jesus Himself appeared to and chose Paul to be an apostle to do the work of taking the Gospel of Christ to the Gentiles. Having been chosen by Christ, having seen Christ and having been taught by Christ, he was therefore the "late" apostle, born out of season, or "abnormally born":
Acts 9:3-6: "As he [Saul, later to change his name to Paul] neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?' ‘Who are You, Lord?' Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting,' He replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'"
Acts 9:17: "Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord--Jesus, Who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here--has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'"
1 Corinthians 9:1: [Paul said,] "Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?"
Galatians 1:13-17: [Paul said,] "For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, Who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus."
