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CHRONOLOGY
ACTS
EPISTLES
88
OF
AND
ACTS. `Therefore ... remember ... night and day' (Acts 20.31).
EPISTLE. `With labour and travail night and day' (2 Thess. 3:8).
The association of night and day as an indication of continuance is a characteristic expression of Paul. He
uses the combination seven times (Acts 26.7; 1 Thess. 2:9; 3:10; 2 Thess. 3:8; 1 Tim. 5:5; 2 Tim. 1:3).
The other epistles do not use the expression.
ACTS. `I ceased not to warn every one' (Acts 20:31).
EPISTLE. `Warning every man, and teaching every man' (Col. 1:28). This word noutheteo, `to warn', occurs in
seven passages, all of them in Paul's epistles. It occurs nowhere else except in Acts 20:31, where it is
Paul who is speaking.
ACTS. `An inheritance among all them which are sanctified' (Acts 20:32).
EPISTLE. `The inheritance of the saints in light' (Col. 1:12).
ACTS.
`I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel'
(Acts 20:33).
EPISTLE. `Neither ... used we ... a cloke of covetousness' (1 Thess. 2:5).
This is a characteristic attitude of the apostle Paul.
ACTS.
`These hands have ministered unto my necessities'
(Acts 20:34).
EPISTLE. `We labour, working with our own hands' (1 Cor. 4:12).
ACTS. `These hands have ministered unto my necessities' (Acts 20:34).
EPISTLE. `Distributing to the necessity of saints' (Rom. 12:13).
ACTS.
`These hands'; `These bonds' (Acts 20:34; 26:29).
`How that so labouring ye ought to support the weak' (Acts 20:35).
EPISTLE. `We both labour and suffer reproach' (1 Tim. 4:10).
Kopiao, `to labour' is a word much used by the apostle. He employs it fourteen times in his epistles.
None of the other apostles use the word except John (Rev. 2:3).
Here, within the compass of eighteen verses, we have eighteen instances of the usage of words peculiarly
Pauline. Could there be more convincing proof that Luke is a faithful eye-witness, and a trustworthy historian?
We conclude this analysis by setting out the chronological order of the fourteen epistles of Paul.
Chronological Order of Paul's Epistles
Seven Epistles before Acts 28
GALATIANS. `The just shall live by FAITH' (Gal. 3:11).
1 THESSALONIANS. `Faith, Hope and Love'.
2 THESSALONIANS.
Written to correct erroneous views arising out of first epistle and emphasizing Satanic
counterfeit (2 Thess. 2).
HEBREWS.
`The just shall LIVE by faith' (Heb. 10:38).
1 CORINTHIANS.
`Faith, Hope and Charity' - these `abide'.
2 CORINTHIANS.
Written to correct erroneous views arising out of the first epistle, and emphasizing Satanic
counterfeit (2 Cor. 11).
ROMANS.
`The JUST shall live by faith' (Rom. 1:17).
The hope of Israel is in view from Acts 1:6 to Acts 28:20. It appears in Acts 26:6,7, Romans 15:12,13 and
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. All reference to `The twelve tribes', `The reign over the Gentiles' and the `Archangel'
cease at Acts 28:28. With the setting aside of Israel a new dispensation comes into operation, and a new set of
epistles.