When were the twenty-seven New Testament documents originally written? Conservative scholars argue between AD 48–95.
The New Testament is one of the most reliable ancient texts due to the sheer number of extant manuscripts, the extra-biblical references by early church fathers and other sources, historical reference points, archaeological and epigraphical data points, and internal resonance within the corpus itself.
But when were these New Testament documents originally written?
The New Testament comes in three major segments with the following time frames:
- The Gospels (plus Acts): written between AD 40s–60s (Synoptics 40s–60s; Acts 60s–70s; John in the 90s)
- The Pauline Epistles: written between AD 48–61
- The General Epistles (plus Revelation): written between AD 40s–90s
Acts of the Apostles and Revelation don’t fit neatly into those categories. Acts is more like a first-century biography than anything else in the New Testament, and Revelation, while part of the apocalypse genre, could be grouped with the General Epistles.
Below you will find the books in both canonical order and chronological order with dates that conservative scholars assigned to them.
My data comes from my own study, general conservative consensus (in some cases), intertextual evidence, and commentaries. Dr. Fred Long particularly influenced my dates and comments during my studies at Asbury Theological Seminary (fall of 2009).
Dates for NT Books in Canonical Order
| Book | Date | Comments |
| Matthew | AD 60s | Eusebius comments that Matthew wrote his Gospel while Peter and Paul were in Rome |
| Mark | AD 40s–60s | N/A |
| Luke | AD 55–62 | Acts was written just after AD 62; 2 Timothy and Clement both reference Paul being set free and on trial again after the two-year imprisonment in Acts 28 |
| John | AD 90s | The “P52 Fragment” of John dates to AD 95–125 |
| Acts of the Apostles | AD 60s–70s | Acts was written just after AD 62; 2 Timothy and Clement both reference Paul being set free and on trial again after the two-year stint in Acts 28 |
| Romans | AD 55–59 | N. T. Wright, Romans in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, vol. 9 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015), 396. |
| 1 Corinthians | AD 55 | Correlated to Paul’s missionary trips |
| 2 Corinthians | AD 56 | Correlated to Paul’s missionary trips |
| Galatians | AD 48–49 | Possibly AD 49, depends on when the Jerusalem council happened (Acts 15) |
| Ephesians | AD 60–61 | During Paul’s first Roman imprisonment (Act 28:16–31) |
| Philippians | AD 57–59 | Written from Caesarea |
| Colossians | AD 60–61 | During Paul’s first Roman imprisonment (Act 28:16–31) |
| 1 Thessalonians | AD 51 | During Paul’s second missionary journey while at Corinth |
| 2 Thessalonians | AD 51 | During Paul’s second missionary journey while at Corinth; six months after 1 Thessalonians was written; Silas and Timothy probably rejoined Paul at Corinth and related further questions that they had about the sequence of eschatological events |
| 1 Timothy | AD 63–67 | In AD 62 after Paul’s release from two-year imprisonment (Acts 28:16–31) |
| 2 Timothy | AD 63–67 | After Titus was written, while Paul awaited his trial in Rome (2 Timothy 4:6, 9–18) |
| Titus | AD 63–67 | After 1 Timothy was written |
| Philemon | AD 60–61 | During Paul’s first Roman imprisonment (Act 28:16–31) |
| Hebrews | AD 40s–60s | The Jerusalem temple appears to still be standing due to present tense verbs in Hebrews 7–9 |
| James | AD 48 | |
| 1 Peter | AD 63 or earlier | Before Peter was martyred in AD 64–66 (2 Peter 1:14) |
| 2 Peter | AD 63 or earlier | Before Peter was martyred in AD 64–66 (2 Peter 1:14) |
| 1 John | AD 70s–90s | N/A |
| 2 John | AD 70s–90s | N/A |
| 3 John | AD 70s–90s | N/A |
| Jude | AD 50s–60s | Eusebius cites Hegesippus, who refers to the grandsons of Jude, who lived during the reign of Emperor Domitian (AD 81–96) in Eusebius Hist. Eccl. 3.19.1—3.20.7. So Jude himself may have already died by this time |
| Revelation | AD 68–95 | Depending on whether after Nero’s death or toward the end of Domitian’s reign |
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Dates for NT Books in Chronological Order
The New Testament books below are listed in chronological order using dates on the latter end of the spectrum.
| Book | Date | Comments |
| Galatians | AD 48 | Possibly AD 49, depending on when the Jerusalem council happened (Acts 15) |
| James | AD 48 | |
| Mark | AD 40s–60s | N/A |
| Hebrews | AD 40s–60s | The Jerusalem temple appears to still be standing due to present tense verbs in Hebrews 7–9 |
| 1 Thessalonians | AD 51 | During Paul’s second missionary journey while at Corinth |
| 2 Thessalonians | AD 51 | During Paul’s second missionary journey while at Corinth; six months after 1 Thessalonians was written; Silas and Timothy probably rejoined Paul at Corinth and related further questions that they had about the sequence of eschatological events |
| 1 Corinthians | AD 55 | Correlated to Paul’s missionary trips |
| Romans | AD 55–59 | N. T. Wright, Romans in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, vol. 9 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015), 396. |
| Luke | AD 55–62 | Acts was written just after AD 62; 2 Timothy and Clement both reference Paul being set free and on trial again after the two-year stint in Acts 28 |
| 2 Corinthians | AD 56 | Correlated to Paul’s missionary trips |
| Philippians | AD 57–59 | Written from Caesarea |
| Jude | AD 50s–60s | Eusebius cites Hegesippus, who refers to the grandsons of Jude, who lived during the reign of Emperor Domitian (AD 81–96) in Eusebius Hist. Eccl. 3.19.1—3.20.7. So Jude himself may have already died by this time |
| Ephesians | AD 60–61 | During Paul’s first Roman imprisonment (Act 28:16–31) |
| Colossians | AD 60–61 | During Paul’s first Roman imprisonment of Act 28:16–31 |
| Philemon | AD 60–61 | During Paul’s first Roman imprisonment (Act 28:16–31) |
| Matthew | AD 60s | Eusebius comments that Matthew wrote his Gospel while Peter and Paul were in Rome |
| Acts of the Apostles | AD 60s–70s | Acts was written just after AD 62; 2 Timothy and Clement both reference Paul being set free and on trial again after the two-year stint in Acts 28 |
| 1 Peter | AD 63 or earlier | Before Peter was martyred in AD 64–66 (2 Peter 1:14) |
| 2 Peter | AD 63 or earlier | Before Peter was martyred in AD 64–66 (2 Peter 1:14) |
| Titus | AD 63–67 | After 1 Timothy was written |
| 1 Timothy | AD 63–67 | In AD 62 after Paul’s release from two-year imprisonment (Acts 28:16–31) |
| 2 Timothy | AD 63–67 | After Titus was written, while Paul awaited his trial in Rome (2 Timothy 4:6, 9–18) |
| Revelation | AD 68–95 | Depending on whether after Nero’s death or toward the end of Domitian’s reign |
| 1 John | AD 70s–90s | N/A |
| 2 John | AD 70s–90s | N/A |
| 3 John | AD 70s–90s | N/A |
| John | AD 90s | The “P52 Fragment” of John dates to AD 95–125 |
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Thanks that helps a lot!
Your dates for the first few books of the New Testament are very early. Most scholars date Mark to 65-73, Matthew, Luke and Acts to 80-90, and John to 90-110. In fact, Matthew seems to mention the destruction of the second temple, and it seems to use Mark as a source. So that kind of makes any date earlier than 70 AD problematic for Matthew. But, even using your dates, the very first mention of Jesus dates to more than 30 years after his death. I don’t know that I would call that “one of the most reliable ancient texts”.
Thanks for this. The New Testament is the most reliable ancient text by sheer data on the number of manuscripts we have, and many from very early. We have 15,000 manuscripts of the New Testament, which Daniel Wallace at The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts has displayed (quite literally). No other ancient text has that many manuscript, and any variants they have, outside of Mark 16 and John 8 (which were likely not original anyway), are minor and don’t effect doctrine. So objectively speaking, it is the most reliable ancient text on that metric. Regarding the dating of the Gospel accounts, it’s not problematic for Matthew to record Jesus’ prophecy of 70 AD. The problem is for those who presuppose that Matthew could not have recorded that accurately. You say most scholars have later dates, and that very well may be true, but there are many scholars who do not agree with those dates (except for John, which is almost certainly in the 90s). Importantly, the main reason most scholars give late dates for the Synoptic Gospel accounts is because of presuppositions, not mostly because of hard data. Dating documents like this is very tricky, especially when we have no autographs, so a lot of it comes down to presuppositions. Thanks for the substantive comment!
An interesting entry. Dating it would add to its scholarly worth, so that when I use it as a source I can include the date on the reference list.
Glad you enjoyed this. Thanks! What date exactly is outstanding?