Came across Wesley's thoughts on the dating of Paul's letters--very interesting!
___________
"As to the time wherein he wrote his epistles, it is probable he wrote about the year of Christ, according to the common reckoning,
48 From Corinth, The Epistle to the Thessalonians.
49 From Phrygia, To the Galatians.
52 From Ephesus, The First to the Corinthians.
From Troas, The First Epistle to Timothy.
From Macedonia,The Second to the Corinthians,
and that to Titus.
From Corinth, To the Romans.
57 From Rome, To the Philippians, to Philemon,
the Ephesians, and Colossians.
63 From Italy, To the Hebrews.
66 From Rome, The Second to Timothy
"As to the general epistles, it seems, St. James wrote a little before his death, which was A. D. 63. St. Peter, who was martyred in the year 67, wrote his latter epistle a little before his death, and not long after his former. St. Jude wrote after him, when the mystery of iniquity was gaining ground swiftly. St. John is believed to have wrote all his epistles a little before his departure. The Revelation he wrote A. D. 96. "
Very interesting. Paul dates Galatians after 1 Thessalonians and obviously believed that Paul died after he appeared before Nero the first time.
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How bizarre. Dates aside, the sequence alone is tough to fathom. Trips to Phrygia AND Crete squeezed in between Corinth & Ephesus? Nine years in Rome? (But 1Tim in Troas I LOVE!) Beyond that, he's got to be putting Paul's conversion around 32 (plus 14, plus travel after the Council). One wonders how he arrived at all that. Fascinating.
More fascinating, Ken, is your identification of Wesley with Paul in the last sentence here. But it's late tonight. That must have just been a freudian sleep. ;-)
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