CHRONOLOGY

ACTS

EPISTLES

OF

EPHESIANS.

The revelation of the Mystery.

PHILIPPIANS.

Bishops and Deacons.

The Prize.

PHILEMON.

Truth in practice.

COLOSSIANS.

The revelation of the Mystery.

1 TIMOTHY.

Bishops and Deacons.

TITUS.

2 TIMOTHY.

The Crown.

The evidences for the exact dating of these Prison and Pastoral Epistles are not sufficient to enable anyone to

dogmatize. All that we feel can be said with some measure of confidence is, that 1 Timothy and Titus were written

in the interval of freedom that intervened between the two years at Rome (Acts 28:30), when Paul was treated as a

military prisoner and allowed some measure of liberty, and the subsequent imprisonment when he was treated as an

`evil doer', and from which there was no hope entertained of release, except by death.

Most students know that it is necessary to antedate the birth of Christ by a few years, some say three, some four,

some five. The Companion Bible makes the date of the Nativity 4 B.C., and the date of the Crucifixion A.D. 29. The

Lord commenced His public ministry when He was `about thirty years old' and this ministry continued for a space

of three years and a half. This means that the date of the Crucifixion must be somewhere round about A.D. 29, but

the reader will see from the following chronology that, working back from the settled date of Acts 12, 13, A.D. 44,

we have felt obliged to adopt A.D. 30. We do not attempt to supply actual details, until we arrive at A.D. 36, the date

of Saul's conversion. The calendar travels beyond the end of the Acts which we have put as A.D. 63, adding two

more years to complete the apostle's ministry. To this we add five more years to bring us to the date of the

destruction of Jerusalem. It will be observed that from A.D. 30 to A.D. 65 we have a period of thirty-five years, or

five sets of seven years, each seventh year being marked by a Divinely expressed comment. Thirtythree whole years

of the Saviour's life are balanced by thirtythree whole years of His ascended ministry `The Lord working with

them', which period also is the length of time which David reigned over all Israel (2 Sam. 5:5). The dates of the

epistles are indicated, together with the several journeys of the apostle to Jerusalem, and other matters of interest

concerning the dates of which some measure of exactness is possible are tabulated:

EVENT

CHAPTER

YEAR

EVENT

EPISTLE

31

32

33

34

35

9

36

Paul converted

7. `Rest'

37

ARETAS

38

1st Jerusalem

39

40

42

43

44

HEROD 7. `Growth' 12:24

44

45

2nd Jerusalem

46

1st Mission

Cyprus (April)

47

Antioch (Nov.?)

Return (July?)

48