Pauline Overview

Acts serves as a book that connects the Gospels to Paul’s writings. Acts was originally the second half of Luke’s 2 volume work, but its placement in the NT Canon has caused most people to think of it as the historical backdrop to Paul’s writings.

The Writings of Paul
Our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15b-16)

1. Peter considered Paul a dear brother
2. Peter considered Paul to be inspired by God
3. Peter was aware of a number of Paul’s letters
4. Peter was aware of the depth of Paul’s letters
5. Peter was aware that some distorted Paul’s letters
6. Peter considered Paul’s letters to be Scripture

Paul was on his way to persecute Christ’s followers when Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9). He was baptized into Christ (10-19) and began serving the Lord (20-22). Despite persecution and confusion, Paul was able to meet with the Apostles in Jerusalem before moving back to Tarsus (23-31). Later, Paul was brought by Barnabas to minister at Antioch (11:19-30). The Church in Antioch sent Paul & Barnabas out as missionaries (13:1-4). During Paul’s missionary journeys and subsequent imprisonment, Paul wrote epistles to churches and letters to individual Christians. The surviving documents are part of our NT Canon.
In our Bibles Paul’s epistles/letters are arranged by length, not chronology. A precise dating for each epistle/letter is unknown (all between AD 49 & 67):

Galatians (AD49): Paul expresses the relationship of believers to the OT Law prior to the Jerusalem Council.

1 Thessalonians (AD51): This baby church was confused about the Lord’s promised return.

2 Thessalonians (AD52): They were still very confused about the Lord’s promised return.

1 Corinthians (AD55): Paul responds to a host of problems and questions from the Corinthian Christians.

2 Corinthians (AD56): Paul responds to those who rejected the authority of his previous epistles.

Romans (AD57): Paul discusses the content of the Gospel in this epistle to the Roman Christians before his planned visit.

Colossians (AD60): From a Roman prison, Paul addresses some false teachings that limited the sufficiency of Christ.

Philemon (AD60): From a Roman prison, Paul writes to a wealthy friend from the Colossian church.

Ephesians (AD60): From a Roman prison, Paul sends an encouraging Epistle to his close Christian friends in the area.

Philippians (AD61): From a Roman prison, Paul expresses his thanks to the first established church in Europe.

Titus (AD64): Paul had sent Titus to oversee the church on the island of Crete. This letter is a guide for the task.

1 Timothy (AD64): Paul had sent Timothy to oversee the church in Ephesus. This letter is a guide for the task.

2 Timothy (AD66): Paul is aware of his coming death and passes the torch of true servant-hood on to Timothy.

But whatever the dates of the original compositions, “What is important is this: from the early 2nd century onward Paul’s letters circulated not singly, but as a collection” (F.F. Bruce). The oldest surviving copy of this collection dates to about AD 200 (excluding the pastoral epistles, but including Hebrews).