GETTING READY: When was the Epistle of James written?

The second book we'll be studying for the 2013-2014 season will be the epistle of James.  The next few weeks of the "Getting Ready" series, we will be considering the high-level questions about this book.  If you have additional questions, don't be shy about e-mailing the coaches!

When was the epistle of James written?

Unlike Paul's epistles, whose references can be fit into the narrative in Acts, James's letter is harder for scholars to pinpoint.  It was clearly written to Christians living in the first century (i.e. from 1 to 99 A.D.)  Various evidences indicate it was written between 47 and 60 A.D., possibly in the last years before James (brother of Jesus) was martyred in 62 A.D.  The book mentions the persecutions going on in Jerusalem as current affairs, which are recorded in Acts and elsewhere in church history.

GETTING READY: When was Romans written?

The first book we'll be studying for the 2013-2014 season will be the epistle to the Romans.  The next few weeks of the "Getting Ready" series, we will be considering the high-level questions about this book.  If you have additional questions, don't be shy about e-mailing the coaches!

When was the epistle to the Romans written?

Knowing for sure that the apostle Paul wrote this letter is very helpful to figuring out when (and where!) it was written.  In Acts 20, we read about Paul's third missionary journey.  During this journey, he collected funds for the church in Jerusalem (which you may remember was undergoing severe persecution).  He mentions in Romans 15 that he has collected the money and the reason he can not go to Rome himself, is that he needs to deliver it.  This pinpoints the timeframe for the letter in 57 A.D. (A.D. - if you forgot - means anno domini or "the year of our Lord", i.e. after Jesus was born).

He mentions in Romans 16 that the letter will be delivered by a woman named Phoebe from Cenchrea. Cenhrea was a town near Corinth, so it is likely that Paul wrote this letter while ministering in Corinth (the same place that both 1 Cornithians and 2 Corinthians are written to).

GETTING READY: When was the Gospel of Matthew written?

The timing of the writing of this gospel is important, because it tells us exactly how close to the life of Jesus the facts were put to paper. There are some who argue the gospels were written a hundred years or more after Christ - claiming they must be inaccurate. But what about Matthew?

Some have argued on the basis of its Jewish characteristics that Matthew's Gospel was written in the early church period, possibly the early part of a.d. 50, when the church was largely Jewish and the gospel was preached to Jews only (Ac 11:19). However, those who have concluded that both Matthew and Luke drew extensively from Mark's Gospel date it later -- after the Gospel of Mark had been in circulation for a period of time. Others, who assume that Mark was written between 65 and 70, place Matthew in the 70s.
The Jewish nature of Matthew's Gospel may suggest that it was written in the Holy Land, though many think it may have originated in Syrian Antioch.