Understanding the New Testament · Back of the book
A Simple Timeline
Every date in Understanding the New Testament, in order, with the chapter that tells each part of the story.
Read down the left column only, if that is easier. The dates are there so you can check them.
Rome comes to the Holy Land
- 63 BCThe Roman general Pompey takes Jerusalem, and Rome begins to rule the Jewish homeland.
- 40–4 BCRome names Herod king of Judea, and he rules until his death. (Luke 1)
- about 4 BC
- 4 BC
- AD 6Rome removes Herod’s son Archelaus and takes over Judea, and a census provokes a revolt. (Acts 5:37; compare Luke 2:1–2)
Jesus
- AD 26–36Pontius Pilate governs Judea. (Luke 3)
- about AD 28–29John the Baptist begins to preach by the Jordan, in the fifteenth year of Emperor Tiberius. (Luke 3)
- about AD 28–30Jesus teaches and heals in Galilee, and then goes up to Jerusalem. (Mark 1–11)
- about AD 30Pilate has Jesus crucified in Jerusalem, and his followers say he is alive again. (Luke 23–24)
The first followers
Paul’s journeys and letters
- about AD 46–48Paul and Barnabas carry the message to Cyprus and Galatia. (Acts 13–14)
- about AD 48–49The leaders of the church meet in Jerusalem and decide that non-Jewish believers do not have to be circumcised. (Acts 15; Galatians 2)
- about AD 48–55Paul writes an angry letter to the churches of Galatia about circumcision. (Galatians 1)
- about AD 49Emperor Claudius expels the Jews from Rome. (Acts 18)
- about AD 49–52On his second journey, Paul takes the message to Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens and Corinth. (Acts 16–18)
- about AD 50From Corinth, Paul writes 1 Thessalonians to the young church in Thessalonica, probably the oldest writing in the New Testament. (1 Thessalonians 1)
- about AD 50–51, or AD 80–100Paul, or someone writing in his name, sends a second letter to Thessalonica. (2 Thessalonians 1)
- about AD 51–52The Roman governor Gallio throws out the case against Paul in Corinth, and a stone at Delphi fixes the date. (Acts 18)
- about AD 53–57On his third journey, Paul spends years in Ephesus and then travels on through Macedonia and Greece. (Acts 19–20)
- about AD 53–55From Ephesus, Paul writes to the quarreling church in Corinth. (1 Corinthians 1)
- about AD 54–62Paul writes to his friends in Philippi from prison. (Philippians 1)
- about AD 54–62Paul writes from prison and asks Philemon to welcome Onesimus as a brother. (Philemon 1)
- about AD 55–56From Macedonia, Paul writes again to Corinth. (2 Corinthians 1)
- about AD 55–62, or the AD 70s or 80sPaul, or a follower writing in his name, sends a letter to the church in Colossae. (Colossians 1)
- about AD 57From Corinth, Paul writes to the house churches in Rome, a city he has never visited. (Romans 1)
- about AD 60–62Paul waits in Rome under guard for two years, preaching “without hindrance.” (Acts 28)
Nero, the fire, and the war with Rome
- about AD 60–62, or AD 80–100Paul, or a follower writing in his name, writes a letter about Jews and Gentiles becoming one people. (Ephesians 2)
- about AD 60–95An unknown writer sends a letter to believers who are under pressure. (Hebrews 1)
- the early AD 60s, or about AD 100Paul, or a later follower, writes to Timothy about running a church. (1 Timothy 1)
- the early AD 60s, or about AD 100Paul, or a later follower, writes to Titus about the churches on Crete. (Titus 1)
- before AD 62, or about AD 70–100A letter is written in the name of James, whom tradition says is the brother of Jesus. (James 1)
- about AD 62James, the brother of Jesus, is stoned in Jerusalem.
- AD 64A great fire burns much of Rome, and Emperor Nero blames the Christians.
- traditionally the mid-AD 60sEarly tradition says Paul is beheaded and Peter is crucified in Rome under Nero.
- the mid-AD 60s, or about AD 100Paul, or a later follower, writes a last letter to Timothy from a Roman prison. (2 Timothy 4)
- the AD 60s, or about AD 70–95Peter, or his followers, writes to believers who are suffering, and calls Rome “Babylon.” (1 Peter 5)
- AD 66The Jews of Judea rise in revolt against Rome.
- about AD 70Mark writes the first gospel as Rome destroys Jerusalem. (Mark 13)
- AD 70Rome takes Jerusalem and burns the Temple. (Luke 21)
- AD 73 or 74Masada, the last fortress of the Jewish rebels, falls to Rome.
The last books are written
- about AD 80–90Matthew’s gospel is written, with Mark’s gospel in front of its writer. (Matthew 1)
- about AD 80–90Luke’s gospel is written by a man who says he collected what the eyewitnesses passed down. (Luke 1)
- the AD 80s or 90sActs, the second volume of Luke, is written, telling the story from Jerusalem to Rome. (Acts 1)
- about AD 80–150A letter in Peter’s name, 2 Peter, is written, and many think it is the last book of the New Testament to be written. (2 Peter 1)
- the AD 90sJohn’s gospel, the last of the four gospels, is written. (John 1)
- uncertain, the AD 50s to the early AD 100sA short letter in the name of Jude, “brother of James,” warns believers about people who have slipped in among them. (Jude 1)
- about AD 95A prophet named John writes Revelation to seven churches in Asia, most likely under Emperor Domitian. (Revelation 1)
- about AD 100The three letters of John, 1 John, 2 John and 3 John, are written some years after John’s gospel. (1 John 1; 2 John 1; 3 John 1)
Chapter 23: 1 John →Chapter 24: 2 John →Chapter 25: 3 John →
How the New Testament was gathered
- the AD 100sA scrap of John’s gospel, about the size of a credit card, is copied, and it is the oldest piece of the New Testament that survives. (John 18)
- the early AD 100sPapias, a bishop in Asia Minor, writes that Mark wrote down what Peter remembered and that Matthew collected the sayings of Jesus.
- about AD 140Marcion, a shipowner, makes the first known list of New Testament books, with one gospel and ten letters of Paul.
- about AD 180The bishop Irenaeus is the first writer known to name all four gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
- about AD 200A papyrus book of Paul’s letters, Papyrus 46, is copied, and copies of Luke and John carry the titles “according to Luke” and “according to John.”
- about AD 325The church historian Eusebius sorts the books into the accepted, the disputed and the rejected.
- the AD 300sCodex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, the two oldest nearly complete Bibles, are copied.
- AD 367Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, lists exactly the twenty-seven books of the New Testament in his Easter letter.
- about AD 382–405Jerome makes the Latin Bible called the Vulgate.
- 1516The scholar Erasmus prints his Greek New Testament.
- 1522Erasmus adds a sentence about the Trinity to 1 John in his third edition, though no early Greek copy has it. (1 John 5)
- 1522Martin Luther publishes his German New Testament.
- 1526William Tyndale’s English New Testament is printed.
- 1611The King James Version of the Bible is published.
- 1844The German scholar Tischendorf finds the first pages of Codex Sinaiticus at a monastery on Mount Sinai.
- 1859Tischendorf returns to the monastery and is shown most of the rest of the codex, including the whole New Testament.