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THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION
16
year not later than A.D. 60. We have already seen that somewhere between A.D. 57 and 58 must be placed the latest
date of his arrest.
Many expositors of note have unhesitatingly placed the date of Paul's embarkation for Rome as A.D. 60. One
later testimony, however, must be heard before we reach our conclusion. The testimony of Eusebius must not be
lightly set aside; and Harnack, accepting his dates, places the embarkation of Paul at A.D. 56. C.H. Turner
subjected the problem to a careful examination, and brings the date forward to A.D. 58. The solution he suggests is
that Eusebius, in making out his calendar, could not be continually commencing a fresh year at the month in which
each new king ascended the throne; and as he commenced his year with September, the first regnal year of an
Emperor was dated from the September next after his actual succession. C.H. Turner reckons A.D. 58 for Paul's
trial before Festus and Agrippa.
It will be seen that while there is a little uncertainty as to the precise date, there are certain limits beyond which it
cannot be placed. If we accept A.D. 60 for the embarkation for Rome, this will mean that Paul was liberated in the
spring of A.D. 63, and was therefore free of Rome before the fierce persecution broke out. If we accept the earlier
date A.D. 58, Paul would have been liberated in A.D. 61, and would have had time to revisit the churches, and to
*,
have written the epistle to the Hebrews 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus; and upon the outbreak of the persecution under
Nero he would have become involved, and would have been apprehended, this time to seal his testimony with his
blood.
We have therefore the following approximate dates:
Acts 1,2
A.D. 29-31
The date of the Crucifixion and of Pentecost.
Acts 3 to 11
Acts 12
A.D. 44
The date of Herod's death.
Acts 13 to 20
A.D. 56
Acts 21
or
The date of Paul's arrest at
Acts 22 to 27 A.D. 58
Jerusalem.
A.D. 59
Acts 28
or
The date of Paul's arrival at Rome.
A.D. 61
A.D. 61
Acts 28
or
The date of the conclusion of the
A.D. 63
`two years'.
One or two details will suffice to fill in the spaces. Aquilla and Priscilla were banished from Rome by the edict
of Claudius, who reigned A.D. 41-54, and these dates are the extreme boundaries of Aquilla's visit to Corinth.
Tacitus tells us that in A.D. 52 the Jews were commanded to leave Rome. Suetonius says, `Judâeos impulsore
Chresto assidue tumultuantes Româ expulit'. Chrestos is by some considered as a reading for Christos. If Aquilla
*
reached Corinth at the beginning of February A.D. 52, Paul would have arrived a little later in the same year. Acts
18:11 tells us that the apostle remained in Corinth for one year and six months; hence his departure from Corinth
would be August A.D. 53.
Luke passes on to tell us of an incident that occurred `certain days' (Acts 18:18, A.V. `a good while') before Paul
left Corinth, `when Gallio was the deputy (proconsul) of Achaia'. Incidentally, we remark the exactness of Luke's
language. Achaia had been proconsular under Augustus, but had changed to an Imperial Province under Tiberius
(Tacit. Ann. I. 76). It was restored again by Claudius to the Senate, became proconsular after A.D. 44, and became
free under Nero. Luke never makes a mistake amid all these political changes. He had indeed `perfect
*
But see p. 15 Steps Through Scripture by Charles H. Welch, for a later understanding about the date of Hebrews.
*
Much evidence as to this and other details has been omitted as too bulky and non essential.