The Epistles of Paul

The New Testament translated from the original Greek, with chronological arrangement of the Sacred Books, and improved division of chapters and Verses by Leicester Ambrose Sawyer, Boston: John P. Jewett and Company 1858 divided the new testament into three divisions, namely;
 

• The historical books of the new testament
• The epistles of Paul and
• The Catholic Epistles
• And of course, last but not the least, the Book of Revelation on its own.
   

The gospels are categorised under the historical books of the new testament, namely;
 

• The Gospel of Matthew
• The Gospel of Mark
• The Gospel of Luke
• The Gospel of John
• Acts of the Apostles
   

The epistles of Paul, in a more chronological order are;
 

• First Epistle to the Thessalonians
• Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
• The Epistle to the Galatians
• First Epistle to the Corinthians
• Second Epistle to the Corinthians
• The Epistle to the Romans
• The Epistle to Philemon
• The Epistle to the Colossians
• The Epistle to the Ephesians [Laodiceans]
• The Epistle to the Philippians
• The Epistle to Titus
• First Epistle to Timothy
• Second Epistle to Timothy
   

The Catholic Epistles are;
 

• The Epistle of James
• First Epistle of Peter
• Second Epistle of Peter
• The Epistle of Judas
• First Epistle of John
• Second Epistle of John
• Third Epistle of John
• The Epistle to the Hebrews
   

The Book of Acts ends in such a way that the reader might wonder what had happened with the apostle Paul?  We can answer these questions when we have a more logical understanding of the chronological order of the Pauline Epistles. The following table might enlighten our understanding in this regard.
 

The Chronological order of the Pauline Epistles
 

Epistle	Time of Writing	Scriptural Proof
Galatians	Shortly after Acts 16:23	Gal 6:17, Acts 16:6, 16:23, 18:23
1 Thessalonians	Acts 18:5 – 18:18	1 Thes 1:1, Acts 18:5, 18:18, 1 Thes 3:6
2 Thessalonians	Acts 18:5 – 18:18	2 Thes 1:1, Acts 18:5, 18:18, 1 Thes 3:6
1 Corinthians	Acts 19:22	Acts 19:1, 19:21-22, 20:1, 1 Cor 4:17
Romans	Acts 20:3	Acts 20:1-3, 21:7, 2 Cor 9:1, Rom 15:22, 25-26, Rom 16:1-2, 23, § Cor 1:14, 2 Tim 4:20

 

While Paul was in prison (Acts 28:16) in Rome, he wrote his first imprisonment epistles.  However, the ordering of these epistles relative to one another is uncertain.
 

First Imprisonment Epistles of Apostle Paul
 

Epistle	Time of Writing	Scriptural Proof
Philemon	1st Imprisonment	Phm 1, 2, 23-24
Colossians	1st Imprisonment	Col 1:1, 4:7-11, 4:16-18
Philippians	1st Imprisonment	Php 1:1, 2:23-24, 4:22

 

Liberty Epistles (the ordering of these epistles relative to one another is uncertain)
 

Epistle	Time of Writing	Scriptural Proof
Titus	Liberty	Tit 3:12
1 Timothy	Liberty	1 Tim 3:14-15, 4:13

 

Second Imprisonment Epistles of Apostle Paul
 

Epistle	Time of Writing	Scriptural Proof
Ephesians	2st Imprisonment	Eph 6:20-22, 2 Tim 4:12, 4:19
2 Timothy	2st Imprisonment	2 Tim 4:16

 

Many scholars originally believed that the apostle Paul was the author of The Epistle to the Hebrews, but after the 1800’s more evidence indicate that he might not be the author after all.  Many disputes from Bible scholars only confirms that to date, we do not know the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
 

The following statements are for the apostle Paul as the author The Epistle to the Hebrews;
 

• Chapter 13 of Hebrews mentions Timothy as a missionary partner with Paul (Jesus had sent disciples to go in groups of two)
• Same Chapter also says the words were from “Italy” – this matches Paul’s location
• The different ways of writing is to focus attention to a different people
• The King James Bible clearly states Paul as the author
• The author was a JEs, so was Paul
• Paul didn’t want to include his name in the book of Hebrews since his relationship with the Gentiles making him unpopular with native people.
   

These are statements that Paul did not write the Book of Hebrews;
 

• The “style” of writing, the theological view, and religious memories are different.
• The author was probably a student or a friend of Paul’s from the different way of writing
• The author was probably a leader of a largely Jewish society for which they were writing
• The author had to have been Priscilla, and the name was taken out to conceal its female origins or to prevent the writing from begin suppressed.  “The lack of any firm data concerning the identity of the author in the extant writings of the church suggests a deliberate blackout more than a case of collective loss of memory.”
• No salutation – Paul always has come from of “salutation”, it would only be logical to say that the anonymous writing was not his.
• Although Paul was an educated writer, he had personally declared that he did not write with a superior air of which Hebrews is written.
• Paul often branched out from one subject to another whereas Hebrews stays on concept from beginning to end.
• Paul used personal pronouns such as “I”, “me”, “my” and “mine” more than a hundred times per section.  Hebrews only does that 7 times in the whole book.
   

It is for these reasons that it was decided to follow this chronological order of the epistles of the apostle Paul, after which the so-called Catholic Epistles and the Book of Revelation will be dealt with.
 

References
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Hebrews
http://www.fpcr.org/blue_banner_articles/Who-Wrote-Hebrews.htm
http://www.gotquestions.org/author-Hebrews.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorship_of_the_Epistle_to_the_Hebrews
http://www.judaismvschristianity.com/hebrews.htm
http://www.kjv1611.org.uk/WHO%20WROTE%20THE%20BOOK%20OF%20HEBREWS.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bartolomeo_Montagna_-_Saint_Paul_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

 

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