introduction to "a possible chronology of the apostle paul's life and teaching"

Faith Seeking Understanding

A Possible Chronology of the Apostle Paul’s Life and Teaching: Introduction

© Ken McDuff, 2008

The historical record has more to say about the life of the Apostle Paul than any other early Christian leader. In combination, the sources available provide clues into Paul’s theological thought, his pastoral concerns, and even his personality. Of no other figure in early Christianity do we learn so many biographical details and receive so clear a character sketch, and yet there is much about the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul that remains hidden and obscure. His activity as an apostle spans thirty years, but historical accounts detail relatively small, fragmentary portions of his career, focusing on his missionary work in Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia during the late 40’s and 50’s C.E.

An understanding of the chronological order of Paul's life and ministry can be a valuable tool for the study of Paul’s teaching. Unfortunately, accurately dating the events in Paul’s life is not a simple task, and many attempts have been made to reconcile the data. Many of the conclusions regarding Pauline chronology come by inference: this is why scholarly opinion is so divergent. A full and certain chronological account is just not possible. C.J. Cadoux's comment more than seventy years ago remains true today:

When we try to marshal the arguments [for a comprehensive chronology of the New Testament story], we find so many of them to involve an element of uncertainty that it is difficult to feel much confidence in any construction.1

So I have not sought to create a definitive chronology, but a possible chronology based on a variety of sources, with notes regarding areas of disputed sequence and dating.

Though the primary source is the first-hand account of Paul’s letters,2 it must be remembered that they are occasional letters, falling far short of providing a comprehensive view of Paul’s career. A secondary source, Luke’s account of the early church (Acts), provides a fuller and more detailed account of major portions of Paul’s life, but the validity of the Acts account in regards to chronological accuracy is often challenged by contemporary scholars. For my purposes, I have chosen to trust the Acts account, although I have noted some areas of concern related to Lukan chronology. It is also necessary to draw from the limited historical records that tie to the Biblical accounts.

In this introduction, I summarize the primary data (historical anchors and timeframes) that contribute to the compilation of a chronology of Paul's life. I will begin with a few comments about the structure of the chronology before moving into an identification of the pertinent data. The chronology itself is located in a separate document.


ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF THE CHRONOLOGY

The chronology is presented in outline form. In addition to the basic chronological outline, six additional columns are included: Timeframe, Date, People, Acts Source, Epistles Source, and Notes & Reference. The chronology includes four types of events, indicated by color:

1. the bulk of the outline, outlining the specific events in Paul's life, are indicated by black text;

2. the writing of Paul's letters are highlighted in red;

3. historical anchors (events related to the life of Paul which can be accurately dated and, therefore, assist in determining the dating of the events of Paul's life) are indicated using blue text;

4. observations that fit into a particular timeframe but are unrelated to specific events are indicated with a green text.

The chronology was created with an outlining program (OmniOutliner) that allows each level of the outline to be expanded or collapsed, providing freedom to present the chronology in a variety of ways. Two appendices are attached. The first, a “Comparison of Selected Pauline Chronologies,” show the dates assigned to various events in the life of Paul by six different sources for the purpose of comparison. I used this information to help analyze the data from the perspective of timeframes. The second appendix is a “List of Sources Used.” In the chronology, I reference sources based on the numbers shown in this appendix.

HISTORICAL ANCHORS

Accurately placing the life of Paul in history depends on anchoring historically-dated events to events in the Apostle's life that are not often easily datable. The following seven pieces are data are the glue that holds a Pauline chronology together:

Datum 1: Paul's3 Conversion

Paul's conversion is dated in reference to two other events. The conversion event took place three years before his first visit to Jerusalem to meet with Peter and James, and fourteen years4 before the second visit to Jerusalem, which I take to be the famine visit (Acts 11:29-30; 12:24-25; Gal. 1:18; 2:1). So accurately dating the famine visit (see Datum 3) helps to identify both the time of conversion and the time of the first Jerusalem visit.

Datum 2: Paul's escape from Damascus

In 2 Corinthians 11:32-33,5 Paul briefly recounts his escape from a hostile governor6 in Damascus responsible to King Aretas IV of Nabataea by means of being lowered from an opening in the city’s wall by basket; Luke describes the incident in Acts 9:23-25.7 A variety of possibilities have been offered as to when this event may have occurred: my chronology adopts Douglas Campbell’s proposal regarding the timing of Aretas’ control of Damascus: “Aretas seized Damascus in the immediate aftermath of his successful war with Herod Agrippa and appointed an ethnarch to govern it, although he did not long enjoy his control of the city."8 Josephus provides a detailed account of relevant events, beginning with Antipas’

A Possible Chronology of the Apostle Paul’s Life and Teaching 2


divorce of his first wife, the daughter of Aretas, in favor of Herodias. Eventually, territorial disputes with Antipas and Aretas’ desire to avenge the insult of his daughter’s rejection resulted in an open war, with Aretas’ troops prevailing in battle.9 Working backwards from subsequent events, Campbell dates the battle to around October 36 C.E., concluding that “it is therefore most likely that Aretas’ control over Damascus coincided with his successful defeat of Antipas and probable annexation of the Decapolis region,” including Damascus.10

It is reasonable to assume that Aretas’ desire to seize Paul was connected to a conflict caused by Paul’s evangelistic efforts in Nabataea, and that efforts to do so began soon after Aretas gained control of the city in late 36 C.E. Campbell suggests that the terminus ad quem for Paul's flight was not long after Passover in 37 C.E., when King Agrippa’s rule over Decapolis had taken effect.11 Therefore, Paul’s flight from Damascus can be dated from late 36 to mid 37 C.E.—likely sooner rather than later. Campbell offers a skeleton chronology from this datum, as follows:

1. Paul's conversion/call on the road to Damacus — 33 (mid to late) to 34 C.E. (mid)

2. first visit to Jerusalem "after three years" (Gal. 1:18) — 36 (late) to 37 C.E. (mid)

3. second visit to Jerusalem "after fourteen years" (Gal. 2:1) — 50 (late) to 51 C.E.

Obviously, Campbell is dating the second visit fourteen years from the date of the first visit, but I understand Paul to be saying that the second visit occurred fourteen years after his

conversion and call, and I believe this is justifiable and fits better with subsequent data. So, the second visit would have taken place in 47-48 C.E.

Datum 3: The death of Herod Agrippa

Luke and Josephus12 describe the death of Herod Agrippa 1. They agree that that he was wearing a brilliant robe and cheered by the people in Ceasarea before sudden death came upon him. Josephus states that the death occurred in the seventh year of his reign and in the third year of his rule over Judea. His reign began soon after the accession of Caligula and Agrippa’s subsequent release from prison. He was given the tetrarchies of Phillip and Lysanius (c.f. Luke 3:1) in 37 C.E., and he received Judea and Samaria after the accession of Claudius in 41 C.E. His death and the events of Acts 12, then, can be dated to spring or summer 44 C.E.. This piece of data does not fit well with the other details of Luke’s account related to Paul. We must consider that Agrippa’s death is loosely related to a story about Peter that interrupts the account of Paul’s famine visit (Acts 11:31-12:24), and that it is likely that Luke did not intend to present it chronologically.

Datum 4: The great famine in Judea

In Acts 11:28, Luke recounts the prophesy of Agabus regarding a great famine during the reign of Claudius. The church in Antioch determined to send aid to the churches in Judea, and Barnabus and Saul were selected to head up the initiative, leading to Paul’s second visit to Jerusalem (anticipated in Acts 11:29-30 and concluded in Acts 12:25, with the



story of Peter’s arrest and Agrippa’s death in between). Dating of this famine serves as one of the primary historical anchors on which to determine a Pauline chronology.

Pliny gives evidence to conditions conducive to a famine: an unusually high Nile during Claudius’ reign (46-48 C.E.) flooded the fields far beyond the customary planting season, leading to a poor harvest.13 Josephus notes as well that Queen Helena of Adiabene sought to provide relief for famine-stricken Jews following a visit to Jerusalem during the time of Claudius, purchasing dried figs and grain in Cyprus and Egypt. Josephus places the famine during the years that Alexander was procurator of Judea (46-48 C.E.).14 Cadoux dates the famine of Acts 11 as beginning in late 47 and continuing through Spring 49,15 and Bruce places the date not later than 48 C.E.

Datum 5: The Edict of Claudius

We are told by Seutonius that the Jews were expelled from Rome because of disturbances caused by their leader, Chrestus.16 A later Christian historian, Orosius, dates the expulsion to the ninth year of Claudius’ reign, or 49 C.E. According to Luke’s account, Aquila and Pricilla traveled to Corinth following the expulsion and met Paul there (Acts 18:1-2). Combined with information about Gallio's proconsulship, this datum places Paul in Corinth in 50 C.E.

Datum 6: The Gallio Inscription

The Jews brought Paul before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, during Paul's extended stay in Corinth (Acts 18). We learn from an inscription discovered in the 1880’s that Gallio

was in Achaia as proconsul from May 51 to May 52 C.E. Following this event, Luke tells us that Paul stayed “many days longer” (Acts 18:18). To what length of time might “many days” refer? “[A]ll we can say with confidence is that Gallio was not proconsul when Paul began his work in Corinth, and that it is probable that [“many days”] does not mean more than a month or two, and that the scene before Gallio probably occurred toward the end of Paul's total stay.”17 Cadoux concludes that Paul arrived in Corinth in the summer of 50 C.E., was brought before Gallio late in 51 C.E., and left Corinth in Spring 52 C.E.

Datum 6: The Procuratorship of Festus

The date Festus succeeded Felix as procurator is important for determining Pauline chronology since we learn from Luke that it occurred two years after Paul’s arrest (Acts 24:27). The date is disputed, but it seems likely that Festus arrived in Caesarea as proconsul in the summer of 59 C.E., indicating that Paul’s trouble in Jerusalem likely took place in the summer of 57 C.E., and his voyage to Rome occurred in the winter of 57/58 C.E.

COMMENTS ABOUT THE YEARS AFTER PAUL'S RELEASE

Luke's account of the early church ends abruptly with a brief comment about Paul’s final two years under house arrest in Rome. Some scholars suggest that Paul was executed at that point, but early church tradition and the fact that Paul mentions travels in his pastoral letters that cannot be accounted for within Luke’s chronology lead to the conclusion that Paul was indeed released and spent at least the next two years traveling the



Roman empire before meeting his death at the hand of Nero. The fact of his release is attested, even though the events following the release are confused and obscured.

Based on reports from Dionysius of Corinth, Eusebius infers that both Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome,18 but neither he nor Clement link Paul’s death directly to Nero's persecution of 64 C.E. following the great fire. Both Eusebius and Jerome date Paul’s martyrdom to the fourteenth year of Nero’s reign, which puts it between October 67 and June 68 C.E.. Scholars are agreed that an accurate chronology of the years following Paul's release is not possible, but I have attempted to construct a possible scenario based on the following assumptions:

1. Paul was indeed released from prison after two years, either because the Jews failed to appear to press their charges against him or because Paul was exiled and released on account of time served;

2. Paul fulfilled his desire to evangelize Spain, as Clement suggests, and

3. Paul's death did not come in connection with Nero's persecution related to the fire in Rome, but three to four years later.

The details of this later chronology are purely speculative, but attempt to take into account (and make some sense of) Paul's comments in his prison and pastoral epistles—perhaps not helpful, but a fun exercise anyway! _____________________


1 C.J. Cadoux, “A Tentative Synthetic Chronology of the Apostolic Age” in Journal of Biblical Literature 56:3 (September 1937), p.177.

2 I assume all canonical Pauline epistles to be truly from Paul's hand.

3 I will refer to Paul throughout, rather than using Saul, although the chronology uses Saul until the period of time that his Greek name came into common use.

4 Due to the ancients’ tendency to reckon odd portions of years as whole years, it is possible that the actual lengths of time are closer to two years and thirteen years, respectively.

5 “At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.” (ESV)

6 Literally, “ethnarch.”

7 “When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.” (ESV)

8 Douglas A. Campbell, “An Anchor for Pauline Chronology: Paul's Flight from ‘The Ethnarch of King Aretas’ (2 Corinthians 11:32-33)” in Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 121, no. 2 (Summer 2002), pp. 279-302.

9 Josephus, Antiquities 18,109-125.

10 C.J. Cadoux agrees with this dating (“A Tentative Synthetic Chronology of the Apostolic Age” in Journal of Biblical Literature 65:3 (September 1937), p. 181.

11 Campbell, p. 299.

12 Josephus, Antiquities 19.8.2.

13 Pliny, Natural History, v. 58; English translation by H. Rackman (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938), xviii. 167- 169.

14 Josephus, Antiquities, xx. 2. 5; xx. 5. 2.

15 Cadoux, p. 185.

16 Seutonius, Divus Claudius 25.4.



17 Cadoux, p. 187.

18 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History ii. 25; iii. 1.

introduction to "a possible chronology of the apostle paul's life and teaching"

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