When were Paul's epistles written?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Romans AD 57

1 Corinthians AD 56-57

2 Corinthians AD 56-57

Galatians AD 48-49 or 55-57

Ephesians AD 60-63

Philippians AD 60-63

Colossians AD 60-63

1 Thessalonians AD 51-52

2 Thessalonians AD 51-52

1 Timothy AD 62-66

2 Timothy AD 66-67

Titus AD 63-66

Philemon AD 60-63

Source: Nelson's Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts.Thomas Nelson 1993. p 375

Answer 2

AnswerIn Galatians 5:11 Paul tells us that he had once preached circumcision, suggesting that he was not only an intellectual but a Jewish priest, so he was probably not a young man when he commenced his Christian ministry. He seems to have spent up to twenty years preaching Christianity before he wrote Galatians, so he would probably have been in his fifties or sixties when he wrote the epistles that we now have. On the other hand, Acts of the Apostles seems to suggest a much younger age. Given this apparent discrepancy, we do not really know how old Paul was at the time.

Answer 3

Forget about what scholars say: Paul wrote all the letters mentioned in italics in the above answer, and probably wrote Hebrews as well but did not attribute it to himself due to political reasons.

Answer 4

Of the thirteen epistles which say that they were written by Paul, critical scholars have reached a near consensus that only seven are definitely Paul's: 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon and Romans. Three different opinions of the likely dates of Paul's epistles are provided here.

Conservative Christians attribute all thirteen epistles that bear Paul's name to him, and believe they would have been written between about 48 and 62 CE.

A liberal Christian opinion accepts the scholarly view that no more than seven epistles were written by Paul and also dates these to the period 48 to 62 CE, but is less certain than conservative Christians about the date for each epistle.

Another view would place the genuine epistles of Paul somewhat earlier. In Galatians 2:10, 'Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do', Paul seems to be passing on and supporting a request by the Jerusalem brethren to send relief to the Judeans. 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 refers to the support of the Galatians for a collection to assist the poor of Judea, and asks very directly that the Corinthians contribute as well. The Corinthians may have needed some prompting, since the request was repeated at some length in 2 Corinthians. There is no suggestion that the collection was an ongoing tithe, in fact there is a sense of some urgency and a recognition that the congregations would face difficulty in meeting what was demanded of them. So, Paul invested considerable effort and goodwill in solving a specific problem for the Jerusalem brethren. He mentioned the collection in Romans, listing only Macedonia and Achaia as contributing, to the obvious exclusion of the Galatians, as well as other churches with which he must have been in contact. Either the Galatians and others were unable to assist, having their own problems, or we need to devise a leadership issue to explain their unwillingness to have anything further to do with Paul. A reasonable inference is that Judea faced an economic crisis, and that the crisis affected all of the world in which Paul worked. Such a crisis was the famine that occurred between 44 and 48 CE. This famine would explain the Jerusalem brethren seeking assistance, the importance Paul placed on the collection and his comparative lack of success, particularly in Galatia. If Galatians, the two epistles to the Corinthians and the Epistle to the Romans really are related to the Great Famine, then they would have been written around 44 to 48 CE.

The epistles written in Paul's name but now generally regarded as pseudoepigraphical were written from about 80 CE to the second century.

Answer 5

Another answer from our community:

Many ascribe 14 Epistles or Letters to the Apostle Paul beginning with the Book to the Romans and ending with the Book to the Hebrews.

It is easier to list those NT works that are not attributed to the Apostle Paul:

The four(4) Gospels and the Book of Acts. The three(3) letters of John and Revelation. The two(2) Books of Peter. The Books of James and of Jude. The rest are Paul's which totals 27 NT books.

Answer 6

Unfortunately, the majority of New Testament scholars say that the two epistles called the First Epistle of Peter and the Second Epistle of Peter are actually pseudepigraphical, meaning that they were not written during the lifetime of Peter.

The First Epistle mentions Babylon, apparently as a reference to Rome. Bart D. Ehrman says (Forged) that by the end of the first century Christians and Jews had started using the word Babylon as a code word for Rome, because Rome destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple in the year 70 just as Babylon had done centuries earlier. Even the most careful authors sometimes leave unintended clues, and this is one of the clues that point to authorship no earlier than the latter part of the first century.

Scholars also point out that the Second Epistle appears to have copied much of the Epistle of Jude, which self-identifies as a work written in the second century.

Everett Ferguson points out that (Backgrounds of Early Christianity) Acts 4:13 says both Peter and his companion John were agrammatoi, a Greek word that literally means 'unlettered', that is, illiterate. In other words, the real Peter could never have written an epistle.

More information on the Epistles of Peter can be read here.

Answer 7

Of the epistles generally considered to have actually been written by Paul:

• Romans is generally dated to the second half of the 50s in the first century CE;
• 1 Corinthians around 55 CE;
• 2 Corinthians shortly afterwards;
• Galatians in the late forties, although some place it much later;
• 1 Thessalonians around 50-51 CE;
• Philippians around 62 CE, although some place it much earlier;
• Philemon around 60 CE.

Many of these dates are, in part, based on evidence in Acts of the Apostles. In the absence of this link, there could be good reason to date the genuine Pauline epistles somewhat earlier.

Of the epistles generally regarded by scholars as being pseudo-Pauline:

• Ephesians is dated around 61 by conservative Christians who regard it as written by Paul himself, and by scholars as sometime in the 80s;
• Colossians is also dated around 61 by conservative Christians, but scholars say it was actually written in the 70s
• 2 Thessalonians is dated around 51 CE by conservative Christians, and between 75 and 90 CE by scholars;
• 1 Timothy is dated around 62 by conservative Christians and otherwise in the early part of the second century;
• 2 Timothy is dated around 64 by conservative Christians and otherwise in the early part of the second century;
• Titus is dated around 63 by conservative Christians and otherwise in the early part of the second century.

Answer 8

The Pauline epistles are the thirteen epistles have been attributed to the apostle Paul. He certainly wrote five of the Pauline epistles, and probably as many as seven. New Testament scholars say that the remaining epistles were written in his name, long after his death.

The epistles generally regarded as having been written by Paul are: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philemon, Galatians, 1 Thessalonians and Philippians. Based on a computer analysis of the epistles attributed to Paul, A.Q. Morton believes that Philippians and 1 Thessalonians are not genuine.

The epistles nearly all scholars regard as being pseudonymous are: 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus.

Answer 9

Thirteen epistles have been attributed to Paul: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon. Hebrewswas also at one stage attributed to him, but that is clearly not the case. It was never attributed to him until late in the second century.

At least seven Pauline epistles are widely considered to be genuine, and of these five have been shown by computer analysis to contain exactly the same writing or dictation style: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Philemon and Galatians. The two that may, with some confidence, have been written by Paul, but do not match the style of Galatians are Philippiansand 1 Thessalonians.

It is reported that about ninety percent of scholars believe that 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus were written after 90 CE by an unknown author. Ephesians and Colossians are also considered undoubtedly to have been written in Paul's name later in the first century.

Answer 10

Pauls letters were written from around 34 A.D to sometime around 67 A.D.