The Letters in Their Years

None of these letters is dated in the corner. A few name a place. The rest is a fitting, and some fittings are argued. "Often placed" means that. It does not mean the year is a verse.

Galatians can be sat early or late. If the churches are the south Galatian towns of the first journey, the letter may be before the meeting in Acts 15, because it does not tell that decision. If "Galatia" is the wider region, the letter sits later, often on the third journey. The letter itself does not settle the map. Both readings are still in use.

1 Thessalonians fits Corinth on the second journey. He has just left them. Timothy has come back with a report (1 Thessalonians 3:1-6, Acts 18:1-5). 2 Thessalonians reads as soon after, from the same stay, if it is next. Some readers reverse the two. The second letter does not name a city.

1 Corinthians is from Ephesus on the third journey. He says he will stay there until Pentecost (1 Corinthians 16:8). 2 Corinthians is from Macedonia after he has left, anxious until Titus comes (2 Corinthians 2:12-13, 2 Corinthians 7:5-6). The letter as we have it may gather more than one note. The road it assumes is still that stretch, before he arrives in Corinth again.

Romans is from Corinth before he takes the collection up to Jerusalem. He says he is going to Jerusalem with aid for the saints, and that he hopes then to come west, and on to Spain (Romans 15:24-26). Gaius, host of the whole church, and Erastus the city treasurer are in the greetings (Romans 16:23).

Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians are prison letters. They do not name the prison. Rome at the end of Acts is the traditional place. Philippians mentions Caesar's household (Philippians 4:22), which is why Rome is the common reading, and it is not a proof. Caesarea, the two years under Felix, is the other custody Acts actually tells. An Ephesus imprisonment is argued from his "imprisonments" in the plural (2 Corinthians 11:23) and is not a chapter of Acts. Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians share people, especially Tychicus and Onesimus, so they are usually sat in one custody together.

1 Timothy and Titus assume he is free and traveling after a captivity Acts does not narrate. Titus is left in Crete (Titus 1:5). Timothy is in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3). If the letters are his, they sit after the end of Acts. 2 Timothy is a custody he does not expect to leave (2 Timothy 4:6). Traditionally that is Rome a second time. Acts does not tell a release or a second arrest. The letter, if it is his, implies both.

1 Peter is from "Babylon," with Mark (1 Peter 5:13). Rome is the common reading of that name. It is not the only one that has been offered. 2 Peter gives no itinerary. It says death is near (2 Peter 1:14).

James, Jude, and the letters of John do not tie themselves to a stage of Acts. Revelation places its John on Patmos (Revelation 1:9). If that John is the apostle, Patmos is the one location the book itself gives. Ephesus is later memory.

Hebrews names no author and no journey. It does not belong on Paul's map unless a reader first decides it is his. The book does not say so.