This blog’s all-time most read post (found here ) contains a table arranging the New Testament (NT) books according to the date they were written. As I have been preparing a NT survey course, I felt the need to slightly update the chart. One such update concerns the Epistle of James. In my first chart, I underestimated the number of conservative scholars who consider James to be the first NT book written. For instance, Carson & Moo’s Introduction to the NT, Dan McCartney’s BECNT commentary, as well as Blomberg & Kamell’s ZECNT commentary suggest that James was written in the mid to late 40s.

The other changes are adjustments to the dates (and therefore their order in the table) that reflect a broader survey in my own reading. Below, I also reproduce the introduction to my original 2018 post.

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Our modern New Testaments are not arranged chronologically, which sometimes causes misunderstandings. While the Gospels discuss the events of Jesus’ life (the crucifixion took place in 30 or 33 A.D.), the earliest Gospel probably was written down about 60. The Apostle Paul wrote many of his letters before the Gospels. This historical perspective is helpful when assessing arguments over material that some scholars may deem a “later theological development” in the early church. For example the “kenotic hymn” of Philippians 2 exhibits a very high view of Christ, despite Paul most likely writing Philippians before the Gospel writers completed their writings.  Note the exalted status afforded to Christ:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

Philippians 2:5-8 (NAU)

Some scholars believe these verses were a pre-existing hymn that Paul incorporated into his letter. If this theory is correct, then the high view of Christ can be traced to an even earlier time. Arguments, therefore, that assume a high view of Christ (i.e. his divinity) always reflects a later church development contain an invalid presupposition.

The table below arranges the NT books by their likely date of composition. Most NT books are difficult to date with precision, which is why discussions about dating can often be lengthy and still not definitive. The dating of the various writings depends on views of authorship, so I have included two columns of dates. The books are listed chronologically, according to their more conservative dating, but the right hand column provides dates from a more skeptical view. Of course, these dates are further debated within their respective “conservative” and “skeptical” camps, but I have tried to give the most common views from my own subjective survey of the data. For the most part, I have disregarded the “outliers” of either camp. I hope readers find the following table helpful.

Earlier, more conservative dating	NT Book (Listed by date of Composition)	Later, more skeptical dating
45-60	James	70-100
48-Late 50s	Galatians	50s
Early 50s	1 Thessalonians	Early 50s
Early 50s	2 Thessalonians	Early 50s (later if forged)
Mid 50s	1 Corinthians	Mid 50s
Mid 50s	2 Corinthians	Mid 50s
Approximately 57	Romans	Approximately 57
Early 60s	Philemon	60s
Early 60s	Philippians	60s
Early 60s	Colossians	Early 60s (70-90 if forged)
Early 60s	Ephesians	70-90
Early 60s	1 Timothy	90-110
Early 60s	1 Peter	70-100
60s	Gospel of Mark	Late 60s-70s
Mid 60s	Titus	90-110
Mid 60s	2 Timothy	90-110
Mid 60s	2 Peter	90-110
Late 60s	Hebrews	60-95
Late 60s	Gospel of Matthew	80-100
Late 60s-80	Gospel of Luke	80-100
Late 60s-80s	Acts	85-130
60-80	Jude	80-110
80-90	Gospel of John	Approximately 100
Early 90s	1 John	100-125
Early 90s	2 John	100-125
Early 90s	3 John	100-125
Late 60s or mid 90s	Revelation	100-125