A Chronology of the Beginning of Acts

It is my understanding that Stephen was stoned on the Day of Atonement, the Jews’ annual fast Holy Day, in 34 CE (Acts 7:58-60), and Paul’s conversion in Acts 9 took place in about 36 CE. Although I have no scholarly support that Stephen was killed in 34 CE, the idea that Paul was converted in 36 CE is supported in Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Jamison, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary and The People’s New Testament Commentary. The question is: could the time of Stephen's death be shown to be more than mere presumption? I believe it can, partially through fulfilled prophecy and partially by critically reading the text itself.

I don’t wish to get into the fulfilled prophecy at this time, but I hope to show first that Stephen was killed at least a year or two after Pentecost 31 CE, the year I hold to be when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem.

The first thing that draws my attention is that on Pentecost Day the Lord drew 3000 souls to himself (Acts 2:41), and they were baptized on the same day of Peter’s speech in Act 2. Now this is quite a number of people to suddenly recognize Jesus is the Messiah after a single “sermon” by Peter. However, we must understand that during the 1^st century CE, regardless of what we think of prophecy, the Jewish people were looking for the Messiah to come. Joseph of Arimathaea was one (Mark 15:43); Simeon was another (Luke 2:25). Another was Anna who spoke to others with like understanding at the Temple (Luke 2:38). The two on the road to Emmaus represent two more (Luke 24:21), and the Magi, who I believe were Jews from Babylon, could represent others. Josephus also shows that thousands of Jews were led to believe certain charlatans were the Messiah in the years before the Jewish war with Rome. The point is: during the first century CE many devout Jews were looking for the Messiah to arrive, and these 3000 who listened to Peter were ready to believe that Jesus was the expected  King to come.

Why were so many Jews at Jerusalem? It was Pentecost, one of the three major Jewish Holy Day seasons that occurred each year. According to Josephus, more than one million pilgrims went to Jerusalem in 70 CE to celebrate Passover but were shut in due to the war and perished through, murder, pestilence and famine. The point is that with so great a number of pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem to worship during these three seasons, it is not unlikely that 3000 or more would receive Jesus as their Messiah after hearing Peter speak.

Notice what the text says after Peter’s “sermon” in Acts 2:

Acts 2:42-45 KJV  And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.  (43)  And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.  (44)  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;  (45)  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

How much time must pass before one could see that this new group was committed to Christ? Would a week be premature? Would a month be too soon to say the group was committed to Jesus? However long it would take, the text says they continued faithfully in the teaching of the apostles. What about the sale of property? How long would it take to sell one’s property and share the proceeds with the brethren? I know of homes that have been on the market for months, some a year or more, before a sale was completed. Moreover, the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 may imply a plant by those opposed to the apostles, showing the opposition thought it was necessary to infiltrate the Messianic group in an effort to control it. Such a maneuver would take time not only to plan out but to come to realize it was necessary. Ananias noticed the example of certain believers selling their property sometime before and attempted to do likewise, in a possible effort to gain some notoriety. The point is, whether or not Ananias and his wife were true believers, all those who sold their property didn’t sell their possessions at the same time. There were different periods when this was done, as people were moved by the Spirit, and as the need arose. Therefore, the property sales alone suggest a period of time more like one or two years than a few weeks or months.

On the face, Acts 3 and 4 seem to follow shortly after Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, but do they? Is there a clue in the text that shows the time frame is either a short span of a few days or weeks or ...longer, a few months or perhaps a year? Acts 3 begins with Peter and John going to the Temple to pray. This by itself offers absolutely no time indicator one way or the other. However, the Lord performed a miracle at Peter’s word, and Peter preached the resurrection in the name of Jesus. This got Peter and John into trouble with the authorities, but in the process over 5000 new converts (Acts 4:4) were added to the community who believed Jesus was the Messiah. So again, we have a large number of new believers added to the church. Shouldn’t this tell us that it probably is indicative of a very large number of people in Jerusalem at the time of Peter’s miracle? I believe this is only logical, unless one presumes that by “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47) means 3000 to 5000 per day!

Therefore, I believe am being very conservative in saying chapters three and four of Acts represent a time span of at least four months or longer from the day of Pentecost, 31 CE, bringing us at the very least to the fall Festivals of that same year. And, if this figure of 5000 new converts should come later, then we must look to either the Passover or one of the other major Holy Day seasons in 32 CE. Chanukah and Purim were not as well attended by the Jews of the Diaspora as were Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. The lesser Holy Days were kept mostly by the locals and those from Galilee.

This blog is the first of what I hope to be a series of three or four posts showing that Stephen was killed on the Day of Atonement 34 CE, and that Paul's conversion in Acts 9 didn’t take place until about 36 CE.

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