CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS CONNECTED WITH
THE LIFE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL.
Certainty in these dates is not to be had. The notes of time in the Acts are few and vague. It is only by connecting those events of secular history which it records, and the dates of which are otherwise known to us--such as the famine under Claudius Cæsar (
Acts 11:28), the expulsion of the Jews from Rome by the same emperor (Acts 18:2), and the entrance of Porcius Festus upon his procuratorship (Acts 24:27), with the intervals specified between some occurrences in the apostle's life and others (such as Acts 20:31 24:27 28:30; and Galatians 1:1-2:21)--that we can thread our way through the difficulties that surround the chronology of the apostle's life. Every year has been fixed upon as the probable date of the apostle's conversion from A.D. 31 [Bengel] to A.D. 42 [Eusebius]. But the weight of authority is in favor of A.D. 33. Hopefully, the following table will be useful to the student of Apostle Paul's history:
|
A.D. 28-30 |
Public Ministry of Jesus Christ |
|
| A.D. 33 |
PAUL'S CONVERSION |
Acts 9:1. |
|
A.D. 35 |
First Visit to Jerusalem |
Acts 9:26 Galatians 1:18. |
|
A.D. 35-44 |
Paul in Cilicia and Syria |
Acts 9:30 Galatians 1:21 |
|
A.D. 44-46 |
First Residence at Antioch |
Acts 11:25-30. |
|
A.D. 46 |
Second Visit to Jerusalem to clarify the mission to the Gentiles. |
Acts 11:30 12:25 Galatians 2:1-10 |
|
A.D. 47-48 |
FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Paul and Barnabas in Cyrus and Galatia. |
Acts 13:2 14:26. |
|
A.D. 48? |
Letter to the Galatians |
|
|
A.D. 48-49 |
Second Residence at Antioch |
Acts 14:28. |
|
A.D. 49 |
Third Visit to Jerusalem:Council of Jerusalem |
Acts 15:2-30 Galatians 2:1-10. |
|
A.D. 49-50 |
SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Paul and Silas travel from Antioch to Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia |
Acts 15:36,40 18:22, Acts 16 -17. |
|
A.D. 50 |
Letters to the Thessalonians |
|
|
A.D. 50-52 |
Paul in Corinth |
Acts 18:1-18: . |
|
A.D. 52 |
Fourth Visit to Jerusalem |
Acts 18:21,22. |
|
A.D. 52-55 |
Third Residence at Antioch, Ephesus |
Acts 18:22,23. Acts 19. |
|
A.D. 55-56 |
Letters to the Corinthians |
|
|
A.D. 55-57 |
THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Paul travels to Macedonia, Dalmatia, and Achaia |
Acts 16:23 21:15, Acts 20. |
|
Early A.D. 57 |
Letters to the Romans |
|
|
A.D. May 57 |
Fifth Visit to Jerusalem |
Acts 21:1 - Acts 23:22 |
|
A.D. 57-59 |
Arrest and Imprisonment at Cæsarea |
Acts 23:23- Acts 26:32 |
|
A.D. 59-62 |
Paul sent to house arrest in Rome |
Acts 27:1- Acts 28:31 |
|
A.D. 60? - 62 |
Letters to Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon |
|
|
A.D. 63 Release from Imprisonment |
At Crete, Colosse, Macedonia, Corinth, Nicopolis, Dalmatia, Troas First and Second Timothy and Titus |
Acts 28:30. |
|
A.D. 65? |
Martyrdom at Rome |