---
title: "Timeline of Paul’s life and letters"
canonical: "https://paulineletters.com/explore/timeline"
published: "2026-07-19"
updated: "2026-08-02"
license: "https://paulineletters.com/explore/license"
source: "Pauline Letters"
---

# Timeline of Paul’s life and letters

> Almost nothing in Paul’s life carries a date in the sources themselves. The whole chronology hangs outward from one Roman proconsul’s term, fixed by an inscription at Delphi.

**Which events are securely anchored, and where do interpreters reconstruct the sequence differently?**

One point is fixed from outside the New Testament: Paul stood before Gallio at Corinth while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, about AD 51 to 52. Every other date is reasoned outward from that one using the intervals Paul gives in his own letters, so most entries here are ranges rather than years.

## How this chronology is anchored

Almost nothing in Paul’s life carries a date in the sources themselves. The chronology is built outward from one external fixed point: Paul’s appearance before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, whose term is dated to roughly AD 51–52 by an inscription found at Delphi. That anchor fixes the long stay in Corinth, and the rest is reasoned from it using the intervals Paul gives in his own letters.

Those intervals are less precise than they look. When Galatians says after three years and after fourteen years, ancient inclusive counting may mean parts of years rather than whole ones, so a stated fourteen can behave like twelve. Travel also moved with the sailing season rather than the calendar. Dates here are given as ranges and marked approximate rather than rounded into false precision.

## What the confidence labels mean

Each of the sixty-seven entries carries a confidence label, and the label describes the placement rather than the event. A high-confidence row means the sequence is secure, not that the underlying episode is beyond dispute. A debated row means responsible interpreters order it differently, usually because Acts and a letter can be harmonised in more than one way.

Letters sit on the same line as events on purpose. A letter written from Corinth in the early fifties reads differently once you can see what Paul had just done and where he was going next. Where a letter’s setting is itself reconstructed, the entry says so rather than quietly inheriting the confidence of the events around it.

## Common questions

### What is the Gallio inscription?

A stone found at Delphi carrying a letter from the emperor Claudius that names Gallio as proconsul of Achaia. Proconsuls served a single year, and the letter can be dated within a narrow window, so Gallio’s term lands around AD 51 to 52. Acts 18 puts Paul before Gallio at Corinth, which converts a story into a date.

### Why are the dates given as ranges?

Because the sources give intervals rather than years, and ancient counting was inclusive. When Galatians says after three years and after fourteen years, part of a year could be counted as a whole one, so a stated fourteen may behave like twelve. Travel also followed the sailing season rather than the calendar. A range is the honest width of what the evidence supports.

### What does a confidence label describe?

The placement, not the event. A high-confidence row means the sequence is secure, not that the episode is beyond dispute. A debated row means responsible interpreters order it differently, usually because Acts and one of the letters can be harmonised in more than one way.

### Why are the letters on the same line as the events?

Because a letter written from Corinth in the early fifties reads differently once you can see what Paul had just done and where he was going next. Where a letter’s own setting is reconstructed rather than stated, the entry says so instead of quietly borrowing the confidence of the events around it.

---

Canonical: https://paulineletters.com/explore/timeline