NLT Illustrated Study Bible - Book of Acts - Flipbook - Page 7
Gospels & Acts | ACTS
1963
Paul then left Corinth not long afterward, probably
in the summer or autumn of ad 52. Paul had spent
eighteen months in Corinth (18:11), so he probably
arrived in early ad 50. That arrival date is confirmed
by 18:2. When Paul came to Corinth, Aquila and Priscilla had recently been exiled from Rome. Claudius
expelled Jews from Rome in ad 49.
Events from ad 50 to 70. Festus replaced Felix as governor of Judea during Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea
(24:27), probably in the summer of ad 59. This event
helps us date events in the rest of the book of Acts.
Paul’s arrest (21:33) was about two years beforehand
(ad 57). Earlier that spring, Paul had celebrated Passover in Philippi (20:6; April ad 57). Paul had just spent
three months in Greece (20:3), probably the winter of
ad 56–57 (see 1 Cor 16:6). Previously Paul had spent
three years in Ephesus (Acts 20:31; ad 53~56).
After Festus arrived in the summer of ad 59, Paul
quickly stood trial and appealed to Caesar (25:112).
The voyage to Rome most likely began in the fall of
ad 59 (27:2) and ended early in ad 60 (28:1116). Paul
stayed in Rome “for the next two years” (28:30). The
NT does not report the outcome of Paul’s trial, but he
was probably released and then recaptured and martyred in Rome along with Peter and many others during Nero’s persecution (about ad 64~65).
In Jerusalem, James the brother of Jesus was stoned
to death by the Jewish authorities in ad 62 (Josephus,
Antiquities 20.9.1). Not long afterward, the church in
Jerusalem left that doomed city and settled in Pella,
one of the cities of the Decapolis east of the Jordan.
Thus, when war broke out between the Jews and the
Romans in ad 66, the Christians for the most part
escaped its fury. That war ended in ad 70, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.
AD 55
DARRELL BOCK, Acts (2007)
F. F. BRUCE, The Book of the Acts (1988)
CRAIG S. KEENER, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary (2012)
WILLIAM J. LARKIN, Acts in Cornerstone Biblical
Commentary, vol. 12 (2006)
I. HOWARD MARSHALL, Acts (1980)
I. HOWARD MARSHALL AND DAVID PETERSON, eds.,
Witness to the Gospel: The Theology of Acts (1998)
DAVID G. PETERSON, The Acts of the Apostles (2009)
JOHN STOTT, The Spirit, the Church, and the World
(1990)
BEN WITHERINGTON III, The Acts of the Apostles (1998)
AD 53–57
Paul’s third
Paul’s second
missionary
missionary journey journey
AD 57–59
Paul is
imprisoned
in Caesarea
(Acts 18:23–21:17)
AD 65
about AD 62
James the brother
of Jesus is stoned to
death in Jerusalem
(Acts 21:1-17)
(Acts 15:36–18:22)
FURTHER READING
AD 60
AD 57
Paul travels to Jerusalem
AD 50–52
Events from ad 70 to 100. The NT and early Christians left few records of the period following the
destruction of Jerusalem. It is possible that both
Matthew and Luke wrote after ad 70, but they did
not write about the developments after ad 70. Similarly, the apostle John probably wrote his Gospel
and three letters during the period before ad 90, but
we learn few specifics about the l ate-first-century
church from those writings. If Revelation was written in the early 90s ad, then it gives us a glimpse of
what the churches in Asia Minor were facing during
that time (see Revelation Introduction, “Date of
Writing”).
As the apostolic age came to a close, the church
around the Mediterranean grew and developed, as
it would continue to do after the last of the apostles
had died and the leadership of the church passed on
to the following generations (see “After the Apostles,”
p. 2378).
AD 60–62
Paul in prison in Rome,
Peter writes 1 Peter
AD 64~65
July AD 64 Peter is crucified in Rome
Fire destroys about AD 64~65?
Rome
Paul is imprisoned in
Rome, writes 2 Timothy,
is martyred
AD 62–64
AD 59–60
AD 53~56
Paul is released,
Paul’s journey to Rome
Paul writes
travels freely
(Acts 27:1–28:16)
1 Corinthians
about AD 56 about AD 57
about AD 63 before AD 64
Paul writes Paul writes
Paul writes Peter writes
2 Corinthians Romans
1 Timothy, Titus 2 Peter
AD 54–68:
AD 51–52
Gallio governs
Achaia
AD 52–59
Felix is governor
of Judea
Nero as Emperor of Rome
about AD 59
Festus becomes governor
of Judea (Acts 24:27)
AD 50–100
Herod Agrippa II rules in Palestine
AD 70
