Timeline of his life
The whole life at a glance, to scale. Select any period to jump to its events below. Diamonds mark when each letter was written.
Chronology, event by event
The journeys, mapped
Choose a journey to follow it stop by stop. Solid lines are overland, dashed lines are by sea. Select a stop on the map or in the list to read what happened there.
The thirteen letters
Every letter that bears Paul's name, in the order it was most likely written: who received it, what kind of place they lived in, and what Paul was trying to say.
Where the readers lived
Letters Paul mentions that we don't have
- An earlier letter to Corinth warning against immorality (1 Cor 5:9)
- The "tearful letter" to Corinth (2 Cor 2:3–4; 7:8)
- A letter to the Laodiceans (Col 4:16)
What about Hebrews?
Older tradition sometimes linked Hebrews to Paul, but the letter names no author, its style differs from Paul's, and the writer says he received the message from those who heard the Lord (Heb 2:3), which Paul insists he did not. Most Christians today treat it as anonymous.
Letter groups
Early: Galatians, 1–2 Thessalonians. Major: Romans, 1–2 Corinthians. Prison: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Pastoral: 1–2 Timothy, Titus, written to individual church leaders.
Paul in prison
Acts records four custodies. From his arrest in the temple to his release in Rome, Paul spent about five straight years as a prisoner, and he wrote four of his letters in chains. He later says he was "in prisons more frequent" than his opponents (2 Cor 11:23).
Each confinement
Six hearings on the road to Caesar
What it cost him: 2 Corinthians 11:23–28
Written around AD 55, before the Jerusalem arrest, the shipwreck on Malta and both Roman imprisonments.
Notes on dating and sources
How the dates are worked out
Scripture gives few calendar dates. The chronology rests on a few fixed points outside the Bible, mainly the Gallio inscription at Delphi (AD 51–52), the change of governors from Felix to Festus (about AD 59), and King Aretas's rule over Damascus. Paul's own counts ("after three years," "fourteen years after," Gal 1:18; 2:1) fill in the rest. Scholars differ by a year or two at most points.
Scripture, inference and tradition
Events from Acts and the letters are given with references. Items tagged inferred are reasonable conclusions from the letters, such as Paul's release after Acts 28. Items tagged tradition, such as his martyrdom under Nero, come from early Christian writers, not the Bible.
Authorship
This study follows the traditional view that all thirteen letters are Paul's, as each one states. Many critical scholars regard Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians and especially the Pastoral letters as written by later followers in Paul's name; others defend Paul's authorship of all of them.
Quotations
Short quotations are from the King James Version. The rest is summarized in plain language. The map shows modern coastlines; ancient sea routes are approximate.