I spent about 4 hours more than I anticipated reconciling the cronological dating of the books of the Bible to the chronological timeline of Acts. I used quite a few sources, but unfortunately didn’t note them done and completed this work a few months ago (at least one source was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Christianity).
I just realised that I’m missing a chapter by chapter comparison to Acts. That’d be the cherry on the cake. I’ll get around to it in the next few weeks.
The reason why I’m publishing this now is that I’ve recently being chatting to Jeff Gage from Free Grace Baptist Church in Boksburg. He is a fascinating guy, a real treat to chat to. He’s a Preterist; but who am I to judge :). Anyway he dates Revelation in like 30 – 60 something AD and I really wanted to bed down my own dating; hence the efforts.
Got an opinion on the dating of the books of the New Testament? I’m sure I’d love to hear them.
| The Dating of the New Testament | The Chronology of Acts | ||
| Date | Book | Date | Event Recorded in Acts |
| 44? | Saint James the Great: According to ancient local tradition, on 2 January of the year AD 40, the Virgin Mary appeared to James on a Pilar on the bank of the Ebro River at Caesaraugusta, while he was preaching the Gospel in Spain. Following that vision, St James returned to Judea, where he was beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I in the year 44 during a Passover (Nisan 15) (Acts 12:1-3). | ||
| 44 | Death of Herod Agrippa I (JA19.8.2, Acts 12:20-23) | ||
| AD 45-55 | Galatians | 45-49? | Mission of Barnabas and Paul, (Acts 13:1-14:28), to Cyprus, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe (there they were called “gods … in human form”), then return to Syrian Antioch. Map1 |
| 49 | Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus,[6] he [Claudius] expelled them from Rome. (referenced in Acts 18:2)[7] | ||
| AD 50 | 1 Thessalonians | 50? | Council of Jerusalem and the “Apostolic Decree”, Acts 15:1-35, same as Galatians 2:1-10?, which is followed by the Incident at Antioch[8] at which Paul publicly accused Peter of “Judaizing” (2:11-21), see also Circumcision controversy in early Christianity |
| AD 50 | 2 Thessalonians | 50-53? | Paul’s 2nd mission, (Acts 15:36-18:22), split with Barnabas, to Phrygia, Galatia, Macedonia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, “he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken”, then return to Antioch; 1 Thessalonians, Galatians written? Map2 |
| AD 50-200 | James | ||
| 53-57? | Paul’s 3rd mission, (Acts 18:23-22:30), to Galatia, Phrygia, Corinth, Ephesus, Macedonia, Greece, and Jerusalem where James the Just challenged him about rumor of teaching antinomianism (21:21), he addressed a crowd in their language (most likely Aramaic), Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philippians written? Map3 | ||
| 55? | Egyptian Prophet (allusion to Moses) and 30,000 unarmed Jews doing The Exodus reenactment massacred by Procurator Antonius Felix (JW2.13.5, JA20.8.6, Acts 21:38) | ||
| AD 56 | Philemon | ||
| AD 57 | Corinthians | ||
| AD 57–58 | Romans | ||
| AD 57–62 | Philippians | ||
| 58? | Paul arrested, accused of being a revolutionary, “ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes”, teaching resurrection of the dead, imprisoned in Caesarea (Acts 23-26) | ||
| 59? | Paul shipwrecked on Malta, there he was called a god (Acts 28:6) | ||
| AD 60+ | Colossians | 60? | Paul in Rome: greeted by many “brothers” (NRSV: “believers”), three days later called together the Jewish leaders, who hadn’t received any word from Judea about him, but were curious about “this sect”, which everywhere is spoken against; he tried to convince them from the “Law and Prophets”, with partial success, said the Gentiles would listen and spent two years proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching the “Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:15-31); Epistle to Philemon written? |
| AD 60-70 | Gospel of Mark | ||
| AD 60-85 | Gospel of Matthew | ||
| AD 60-90 | Gospel of Luke | ||
| AD 60-90 | Acts | ||
| AD 60-96 | First Peter | ||
| AD 60-100 | Timothy | ||
| AD 60-100 | Titus | ||
| AD 60-130 | Second Peter | ||
| AD 65 | Ephesians | ||
| AD 66-90 | Jude | ||
| AD 68-100 | Revelation | ||
| AD 80-90 | Hebrews | ||
| AD 80-95 | Gospel of John | ||
| AD 90-100 | Epistles of John | ||
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Hey Mark. I found a very detailed chronology of the entire Bible at the following site (http://bibletimeline.info/) which does chapter by chapter, end in some places even specific verses.
God bless
Darryl
Great comment. I’m checking it out now.
As far as the evidence for the date Revelation goes, the internal evidence for its being pre-fall of Jerusalem or post- basically cancels one another out. What swings the decision, for me, towards a post-90 date is the external evidence – Irenaeus in specific.
I’m Pre-Trib, Pre-Mil; so I obviously default to a later dating. It was however so interesting to listen to the arguments from the “other camp”. Added to that I really respect Jeff (do you know him? I can’t remember, are you part of Sola 5?).
My next post, as an outcome of the conversation will be related to hermeneutics. I’m preaching this week on Galatians 4:21 – 31; Jeff’s take regarding rules for interpretation – beyond just unfulfilled prophecy – were well worth pondering.
I’m with you all the way until you hit the dating of Luke. I see you really put some years in there 60-90.That gives me the impression you still investigating.
I think if you believe Peter to be the writer of Peter you can safely put it before 68AD. (I also believe 2 Peter was written by Peter.)
Your range on Timothy and Titus can also be guided by the time of Pauls death, Acts will also be able to help you with that dating. Pauls time of death(Acts does not mention the exsicusion of Paul so it was written before that) and will also be able to get to a closer cut off time for the book of Acts.
Hey Tommie, My mom just sent me a mail to query my ranged dating of Revelation. I guess I’m going to need to create a few more columns (e.g. Preterist dating, Pre-Trib/Pre-Mil dating… through to Liberal dating). May be a very interesting exercise.
Thanks for the thought provoking comment.
Mark,
I’ve been referencing a table in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Volume 2, Page 431. (occurs right after the book of Acts) For several years now, I read Acts together with the Epistles in chronological order. In other words I pause in the Book of Acts and go read the Epistle that Paul would have been writing at about that time in the storyline.
This has really helped cement in my mind the sequence of events and development of thought as the Gospel progresses from Jerusalem out and then westward towards Rome.
Hey Russ,
Thanks for dropping by.
I love that idea for reading through Acts – Scripture interprets Scripture.
How are you doing?
We are well. Going to lots of athletic events with the kids. Expecting a visitor from S. Africa next week.