Chronology of the Early Church
This article is an attempt to define approximate dates for events in the book of Acts, to facilitate study of the life and times of the early church, and in particular to highlight the impact of the Judaising Controversy.
There are five key dates, from which other dates can be calculated:
For details of the last four key dates, 41, 46, 52 and 59AD, see the New Bible Commentary, Davidson, Stibbs & Kevan, Inter-Varsity Fellowship, London, 1954.
Note: The abbreviation AD means "Anno Domini" or "Year of our Lord". Jewish people use the alternative abbreviation CE, meaning "Common Era".
When Paul and Barnabas went out on their first evangelistic journey, there was no general agreement among the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem about the question of circumcision of the Gentiles. Their work was constantly hindered by this vexed question, leading to Paul's heated letter to the Galatians. He returned to Jerusalem to discuss it with the Council, an event that is described in detail in Acts 15. Then he set out on his second journey and revisited the Galatian churches with the encouraging news that there was no requirement for the Gentiles to be circumcised, but a minimal observance would be required, particularly with regard to the food laws so that the Jewish and Gentile Believers could continue their communal meals together.
The first and second journeys probably took about two or three years each. There are six years between the key dates 46 to 52, so the Jerusalem Council must have been somewhere near the mid-point, around 49. The New Bible Commentary suggests the year 50AD.
One thing we learn from this date is the time it took for the Judaising Controversy to be resolved. When the Church first began in 30AD, it was entirely Jewish, and evangelisation of the Gentiles was not considered. It took 20 years for them to accept the Gentiles into the church without requiring them to fully convert to Judaism.
This can be derived from Galatians 2:1 where he says:
Fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.
Paul had already been to Jerusalem, three years after his conversion, an event which is mentioned in Galatians 1:18. He is counting 14 years after his conversion, not 14 years after his previous visit, since his conversion was the event that made his life worthwhile. If the two periods are added together we get 17 years, giving the impossible result that Paul was converted before Yeshua had been executed and risen again.
The question is - which visit to Jerusalem is Paul referring to, from which he counts 14 years back to his conversion? Was it the Jerusalem Council of 50AD, or was it the earlier visit, in 46AD when he went with relief for those stricken by the famine?
The heated letter to the Galatians, about circumcision, might lead us to believe that he was referring to the Jerusalem Council of 50AD, but there is something here that doesn't make sense. In Galatians 2:7-14, Paul speaks disparagingly of Peter because he was still vacillating over the question of circumcision of the Gentiles. This means the Jerusalem Council had not yet taken place, because at that Council everybody was agreed that circumcision of the Gentiles was unnecessary, including Peter. (Acts 15:7-11).
Paul must therefore have been referring to the earlier visit to Jerusalem in 46AD when Peter was still not convinced. Subtracting 14 years from 46AD we get 32AD as the date for the conversion of Paul. This is a very early date, only two years after the church was founded, but it is quite feasible.
From 30 to 32 AD there was rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem followed by persecution. Stephen, along with others, was appointed as a church leader and had a powerful ministry, but he was stoned while the yet unconverted Sha'ul (Paul) looked on with approval. (Acts 6, 7 and 8:1). The persecution continued, with the active involvement of Sha'ul, causing the Believers in Jerusalem to be scattered throughout Samaria, but wherever they went they preached the Word. (Acts 8:1-4).
Sha'ul purs