A Chronological Harmony of the Book of Acts and the Letters of Paul

Understanding Paul’s letters is greatly enhanced when we read them in the order he wrote them.

In about 300 A.D. Paul’s epistles were arranged in the order of how long the letter was. As a result, Romans came first because it was Paul’s longest letter. Philemon came last because it was his shortest letter. As a result, for 1700 years we have been reading Paul’s letters in a chaotic order.

Here is the traditional order of Paul’s thirteen letters: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon. This is not the way Paul’s letters were written.

For you comparison, here is the order in which Paul actually wrote his letters: Galatians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Romans, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, Philippians, 1 Timothy, Titus, 2 Timothy.

In which way would you rather study Paul’s letters? In this order: 6,4,5,1,8,10,7,2,3,11,13,12,9 that is, the order in your New Testament index, or in the order Paul wrote them: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13.

Now let’s look at the dates.

The dates Paul actually wrote his thirteen letters:
A.D.50,51,51,56,57,58,63,63,63,64,65,65,68.

But the order of dates in you New Testament is:
A.D.58,56,57,50,63,64,63,51,51,65,68,65,63.

As we read in the book of Acts, it would be well to stop at certain times to interweave the epistles into the storyline.

Stop after Acts 2:36 and read the book of Hebrews (authorship uncertain, probably Paul) to get the flavor of Israel’s law pointing to Paul’s gospel of grace.

Stop after Acts 12:2 and read the epistles of James and Jude, brothers of Jesus.

Stop after Acts 15:23 and read Galatians.

Stop after Acts 17:9 and read 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians.

Stop after Acts 18:17 and read 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians and Romans. STUDY Romans. Paul explains as best he can the process of conversion and new birth in Christ.

Stop after Acts 19:41 and read Colossians and Ephesians.

Stop after Acts 20:6 and read Philemon and Philippians.

Stop after Acts 20:28 and read 1 Timothy, Titus and 2 Timothy.

Then stop after the end of the book of Acts and read 1 and 2 Peter and 1, 2 and 3 John which were written in the 60’s A.D.

You will get a greater understanding of the context of the epistles when read in chronological order.

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