When Does the New Testament Start? (Timeline)

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

The New Testament is often understood to begin with the birth of Jesus, but the historical and cultural forces that shaped its formation stretch back much further in time. Understanding when the New Testament starts involves more than turning the page from Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament canon, to Matthew. It means understanding a rich tapestry of political upheaval, religious transformation, and imperial ambition. 

So when does the New Testament start? In this article, I’ll explore some of the history, people, and writings that bridge the centuries between the Old and New Testaments, as well as the composition of some of the earliest New Testament writings.

Before we begin, however, take a look at this chart showing some of the key historical developments before and during the formation of the New Testament.

What Book Starts the New Testament?

As some have pointed out, despite the fact that all the biblical books are placed within a cover marked “Bible,” the Bible is more like a library than a book. It is filled with books written by many different authors at different times, in different places and under different circumstances. In addition, the books, both in the OT and NT, are not arranged in the order in which they were written. So where and when did the Old Testament end — when was the last book written chronologically — and when did the New Testament begin?

The last book written in the Old Testament was the book of Daniel, as Bart Ehrman notes. It consists of many different tales and its final form came together around 164 BCE. One way we know it was written so late is that, despite its claim to be written in the 6th century BCE, it mentions events that happened much closer to its true date of authorship. Principally, it tells of the Seleucid Empire’s rule of Judea after the death of Alexander the Great. The Seleucid emperor, Antiochus IV Epiphanies, oppressed the Jewish people, trying to stop Jewish religious practices and force them to become more culturally Greek.

So if the last book of the OT was written around 164 CE, how long was the space between that and the first book of the NT? Well, since Paul wrote his earliest surviving letter, 1 Thessalonians, around 50 CE, that means there were approximately 214 years between the writing of Daniel and the writing of 1 Thessalonians. Of course, it’s important to remember that just because Paul wrote at that time doesn’t mean that his writing was initially considered scripture. That process took a very long time, as you can see in this article on the formation of the biblical canon.

By the way, since the Gospel of Matthew was written no earlier than 80 CE, there was a gap of at least 244 years between the writing of Daniel and the writing of the Gospel of Matthew.

Key Events Leading up to the New Testament

As you can see,  the chart above starts with the declaration of the divination of Julius Caesar around 44 BCE. Why is this important to the events of the NT? This declaration created the Roman imperial cult, the practice of venerating emperors as gods after their deaths (and sometimes while they were alive). In fact, Caesar’s family had long linked their lineage to the mythological demi-god Aeneas, whose mother was said to be the goddess Venus.

Even though Julius Caesar was hated as a tyrant by many and thus assassinated, a fervent cult formed around worshipping him as a god after his death. The Roman senate, many of whom had participated in the assassination, eventually felt pressured by the popularity of this cult to officially declare Caesar a god.

Following Caesar’s death, a civil war erupted between Octavian, who was Caesar’s grand-nephew and had been adopted by Caesar as his son, and Mark Antony, one of Caesar’s generals and greatest supporters. Octavian won the war, becoming the emperor Augustus. Statues and inscriptions of him gave him titles like “son of a god,” and “savior of the world.” If these seem familiar, it’s because Paul and other Christians later used them as titles for Jesus.

The other important historical ruler leading up to the birth of Jesus was Herod the Great, ruler of Judea as a client king of Rome. This meant that Rome was in charge but delegated day-to-day rule to Herod, as long as he looked after Rome’s interests in the region.

Herod ruled Judea from 37 BCE until his death in 4 BCE. If, as scholars say, Jesus was born sometime between 6 and 4 BCE, this means he and Herod might have overlapped by a couple of years. For that reason, it’s clear that the Herod in Matthew 2, who commands the killing of so many infants, is supposed to be Herod the Great. Every other mention of Herod in the Gospels refers to Herod the Great’s son, Herod Antipas.

Where and When Does the New Testament Start?

Since the first four books of the New Testament are the four Gospels, we can say that the story they tell begins with events around the birth and ministry of Jesus. Where does the New Testament start according to the location-based details within those books? The Gospel of Matthew is its first book, and Matthew’s birth story for Jesus begins in Bethlehem in Judea but then shifts to Nazareth, the village which the Gospel of Mark calls Jesus’ hometown (Mark 6:1).  Luke’s birth story begins in Nazareth — apparently Mary and Joseph’s hometown — shifts to Bethlehem for the birth, and then returns to Nazareth.

As I mentioned above, most scholars place Jesus’ birth between 6 and 4 BCE. In The Historical Jesus: A Guide for the Perplexed, Helen Bond notes that the lack of precision in dating Jesus’ birth is probably due to the fact that “the first Christians were interested primarily in Jesus’ ministry and death” rather than his birth. This is why Mark, our earliest written Gospel, has no birth story at all. Bond goes on to say that people “may have remembered Jesus as a man in his thirties” and, therefore, calculated back from this for a general sense of when he was born.

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After Herod the Great’s death, the Romans divided his kingdom among his three sons: Herod Archelaus ruled most of Judea and Samaria, Philip ruled the northeast regions, and Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea. Why does this matter to our NT accounts? Because Jesus was born, raised, and spent nearly his whole life and ministry in the region known as Galilee. That’s where the beginning and bulk of the Gospels take place.

In 6 CE, the people of Judea appealed to Rome, asking them to depose one of Herod’s sons, Herod Archelaus, for cruelty and administrative incompetence. Rome agreed, removing Archelaus and incorporating Judea into its Syrian province which was then ruled by a Roman prefect. The first prefect was named Publius Sulpicius Quirinius and is mentioned in Luke 2:1-2, although scholars have determined that Luke got the date of Quirinius’ census wrong.

Jesus’ ministry, then, coincided not only with local changes in rulers, but also with administrative changes to the rule of Judea by Rome. While it’s hard to be certain about how long Jesus’ ministry lasted — if calculated from John, it would be three years, while calculated from the Synoptics, it might only be one — we know that it must have begun in the mid-to-late 20s CE. Jesus was then crucified about 30 CE in Jerusalem, the capital city of Judea. The fact that Judea was ruled by Rome is significant, of course, because crucifixion could only have been performed by Roman authorities.

Our Earliest Christian Writings

To date, the letters of Paul are our earliest Christian writings. In the New Testament, thirteen letters are attributed to Paul, although most scholars agree that he only wrote seven of them: Galatians, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philemon, Philippians, and 1 Thessalonians. The others, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, and Colossians are widely believed to be written by someone else in Paul’s name after his death, as Bart Ehrman writes in The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings:

That said, Paul’s authentic letters are an invaluable source for understanding early Christian history and theology. In his letters, Paul is usually addressing problems and questions from Christian communities he founded or co-founded (Romans is the exception to this. He didn’t found that group). In other words, these are occasional letters, not general theology.

Although Paul’s conversion probably happened just a few years after Jesus’ death, our earliest letter from him is 1 Thessalonians, written around 49-51 CE. Given Paul’s penchant for letter-writing, there were probably many more letters that unfortunately have not survived. The last of his letters that we still have, 2 Corinthians, was written around 57 CE.

Paul traveled the Roman Empire, founding Christian communities, preaching to new converts, and dealing with conflicts in and among those communities. Our best guess is that he did this almost non-stop for close to 30 years before being arrested, transported to Rome, and ultimately being executed around 67 or 68 CE, during the reign of the Emperor Nero.

The Gospels: Dates and Places

Because they come first in the New Testament, and because they detail the life of Jesus, many people assume that the Gospels were written before Paul’ letters. However, we know that’s not the case. Mark, the earliest written Gospel we have, was written around 70 CE, around the same time that the Roman army destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. However, most scholars don’t think Mark was written in Jerusalem,  but in Rome, although it's hard to be certain.

Matthew, the first book in the NT, was probably the 2nd Gospel to be written. Scholars generally place its composition between 80 and 90 CE. As with Mark, it’s hard to pinpoint where the Gospel was written, but many scholars believe it was composed in Antioch, Syria, a thriving center for early Christianity. One reason for this speculation, as Aaron Gale points out in the Jewish Annotated New Testament, is that Matthew is the only Gospel to claim that Jesus was known in Syria during his lifetime. In addition, an early Syrian Christian martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, demonstrates knowledge of Matthew’s Gospel in his letters written around 110 CE, our earliest reference to it.

Luke was written at the same time or just after Matthew, between 85 and 100 CE. The author of Luke also wrote the book of Acts, narrating what happened in the church’s early days after the death of Jesus. Matthew and Luke, by the way, both used Mark as a source while adding material from other sources, like the birth stories.

John was the last written canonical Gospel, probably composed between 90 and 110 CE. There is an ongoing scholarly debate about whether the author of John knew the other three Gospels. In his book The Gospel of John: A New History, for instance, Hugo Mendez argues that the author knew at least one of the Synoptic Gospels. What is certain, however, is that the exalted Christology of John sets it apart from the other Gospels.

Conclusion

The earliest Christian writings in the New Testament are Paul’s letters, written between 49 and 57 CE. The settings for the composition of these letters vary widely. While it’s always clear who he’s writing to, it’s not always as clear where he’s writing from. However, we know that Paul traveled far and wide preaching the Gospel and establishing Christian communities in many regions of the Roman Empire.

The Gospels, however, are almost entirely set either in Galilee where Jesus was raised and where he spent the vast majority of his life, or Jerusalem where he was crucified. There are some exceptions — in John, for instance, Jesus travels to Samaria — but it’s likely that Jesus lived a pretty provincial life in Galilee so the settings are limited.

When does the New Testament start? The Gospel of Mark was written first, around 70 CE or about 40 years after Jesus’ death. Matthew, the book that begins the New Testament, was written about 10-20 years later, between 80 and 90 CE. Luke was written sometime between 85 and 100 CE while John, the last Gospel to be written, was completed between 90 and 110 CE.

Given that, we can see how sociopolitical events, such as Roman control of Judea and Galilee, affected Jesus’ life. Client king Herod the Great ruled Judea under Rome’s control and then passed on the rule of his province to his sons after his death. One of these sons, Herod Antipas, killed John the Baptist, as narrated in the Gospels.

Despite his later importance on the world stage, Jesus and the authors of the books of the New Testament were people subject to the historical forces of their time and place (as are we all!).