new testament chronology

1. New Testament Chronology Implications for Missionary Strategy

2. Acts 13�14 The First Missionary Journey

5. The amount of time required just for traveling . . . . Realizing that rates of travel depend on variables such as road and weather conditions, terrain, and mode of transportation, what would be a reasonable approximation of how long it would have taken Paul and Barnabas to have covered the entire 1400-mile circuit?

7. The amount of time required just for traveling . . . . How long would it have taken Paul and Barnabas to journey from Syrian Antioch, through Cyprus and southern Galatia (across the Taurus mountain range), as far east as Derbe, and then back again? A conservative estimate of travel by foot would be around 15-20 miles (20-30 km) per day. Under favorable conditions a sea voyage would cover 112-168 miles (180-270 km) per day. Assuming the missionaries made optimal time as they journeyed by land and by sea, the amount of time required merely to travel this distance would have been approximately two months.

9. The amount of time required for evangelizing . . . . The frequently asserted less-than-two-year estimation, minus two months of travel and minus the time spent evangelizing other areas, then divided among the three Pisidian and Lycaonian cities, seems to squeeze the allotted time (only a few months in each place) beyond realistic possibilities. Further complication: an elder is not to be a neophutos [�novice,� �recent convert�] (1 Tim. 3:6). The problem has been created not by the biblical record but by narrow human �guesstimations.� The apparent dilemma crumbles if the hypothetical two-year threshold is seen as an uwarranted and unfortunate miscalculation.

10. Luke�s Historical Markers . . . . Acts 12 ends with the death of Herod Agrippa I. According to secular history, this occurred in early March 44 (Josephus, Antiquities 19.8.2). This provides a relatively sure starting point for the departure of Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary campaign (Acts 12:25�13:3). After the evangelistic tour, the next major event was the gathering of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem to discuss the circumcision controversy (Acts 15). But when was the Jerusalem conference?

11. When was the Jerusalem conference? Most commentators suggest 48 or 49, although few attempt to explain why these particular dates are given. By proceeding further in the biblical text and noting more of Luke�s historical information and then calculating in reverse, the Jerusalem conference should actually be dated later than what is commonly proposed.

12. Paul in Corinth Acts 18:11, eighteen months in Corinth. Acts 18:2, the edict of Claudius expelling Jews from Rome. Acts 18:12, Gallio is proconsul before Paul�s departure.

13. Paul in Corinth The edict of Claudius was during his 9th year in office, i.e. the year 49 (Orosius, Historiae 7.6.15-16), therefore Paul�s arrival in Corinth was after this. Gallio began his one-year office in Achaia in the summer of 51 (based on an inscription discovered at Delphi and published in 1905), therefore Paul did not depart from Corinth before this.

14. Paul in Corinth (Acts 8:2, 11, 12) It can be determined that Paul arrived in Corinth by late autumn in the year 50 and departed in late spring 52.

15. Counting backwards from late autumn 50, how much time would be necessary to get Paul back to where he started?

16. Retracing Paul�s steps from Corinth back to Jerusalem: Note that he appears to have been in Athens, Berea, Thessalonica, and Philippi only briefly, not due to planned strategy but because of a general lack of receptivity in Athens and forced departures from the other places (Acts 16:12�18:1). Although we do not know exactly how long the apostle spent in these locations, allowing up to a month in each of the above cities, estimating travel time from Jerusalem via Syrian Antioch, and including preaching stops along the way, the Jerusalem council can readily be dated in early 50.

17. A proposed breakdown of the journey . . . . Jerusalem council late-Feb. 50; travel to Antioch seventeen days (mid-March); in Antioch ca. one month (mid-April); to Troas two months (mid-June); to Philippi three days (mid-June); in Philippi one month (mid-July); to Thessalonica six days (late-July); in Thessalonica one month (late-August); to Berea two days (late-August); in Berea one month (late-Sept.); to Athens two days (late-Sept.); in Athens one month (late-Nov.); to Corinth three days (late-Nov.) = late autumn 50.

18. A More Realistic Timeframe for the 1st Missionary Journey . . . . Acts 12 closes with events that occurred in the spring of 44. The opening of Acts 15 can reasonably be dated early 50. Therefore Acts 13�14 accounts for about six years.

19. Conclusions: Obvious implications for Pauline chronology. The alleged discrepancy between Acts 14:23 and 1 Timothy 3:6 is more apparent than real. That a new convert could realistically acquire the qualifications of an elder in just a few months is unlikely (cf. Hebrews 5:13-14), but a few years (as seems to have been the case in Acts 13�14) is evidently possible. Implications for Missions Strategy.

21. Sufficient time, hard work, follow up . . . �strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, �We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God�� (Acts 14:21-22). �when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed� (v. 23). Six years of preaching the gospel, making disciples, and establishing autonomous churches: this sums up the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas. And the report given to their sending congregation did not focus on what the missionaries themselves had accomplished but on �all that God had done with them . . .� (Acts 14:27).

22. Biblical Methodology The Great Commission is not fulfilled when people are insufficiently taught, prematurely baptized, and then left to fend for themselves because short-sighted workers are in too much of a hurry to get back to the comforts of home. Realizing that missionary work has never been easy, let us avoid the allure of short cuts that only produce the temporary appearance of �success.� The missionary�s aim: faithful, growing, indigenous communities of the saved.