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When Were the Books of the New Testament Written?

When Were the Books of the New Testament Written?

March 13, 2024 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Early dates for the New Testament books

Most liberal NT scholars believe that some of the books of the NT were written in the first half of the second century.

However, John A. T. Robinson argued in his 1976 book Redating the New Testament that all NT books were written before AD 70. See this article by Denis O’Callaghan. He discusses a trend in NT scholarship that agrees with that view.

The main point to remember is that the books of the NT are inspired and inerrant regardless of when they were written. See this article from gotquestion.org.

See this chart from Biblegateway.com, which dates most books before AD 70. UnderstandingChristianity.com has a chart (see here) with slightly earlier dates.

Here is a link to a 2022 book (Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament) by Jonathan Bernier that takes the same position as John A. T. Robinson.

I agree with the charts by Understanding Christianity and Bible Gateway, except that I would date the Apostle John’s five books before AD 70, with John’s Gospel probably in the mid-40s.

While I’m not an expert on the dates of the NT books, here is how I would date them:

AD 35-39: James

AD 40-49: John’s Gospel, Galatians

AD 50-59: Matthew, Mark, Luke,i 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Corinthians, Romans

AD 60-64: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, Acts, 1 Timothy, Titus, 1-3 John

AD 65-69: 1-2 Peter, 2 Timothy, Hebrews, Jude, Revelation.

I found this note from C. H. Dodd to John A. T. Robinson (see here) to be very astute:

“I should agree with you that much of the late dating is quite arbitrary, even wanton; the offspring not of any argument that can be presented, but rather of the critic’s prejudice that, if he appears to assent to the traditional position of the early church, he will be thought no better than a stick-in-the-mud.”

We do well to remember the words of the Apostle Paul: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17).

__________

i I believe that Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote independently of each other. I think their dates could be anywhere from AD 50-69, but I lean toward AD 50-59.

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by Bob Wilkin

Bob Wilkin (ThM, PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is the Founder and Executive Director of Grace Evangelical Society and co-host of Grace in Focus Radio. He lives in Highland Village, TX with his wife, Sharon. His latest books are Faith Alone in One Hundred Verses and Turn and Live: The Power of Repentance.

If you wish to ask a question about a given blog, email us your question at ges@faithalone.org.

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