(9) The Crucifixion. The Roman governor at that time was Pontius Pilate. Josephus gives his term of office as ten years, ending in A. D. 37. as he was on his way to Rome when in that year Tiberius died. Including Luke iii :I we have rea son to say he came to Palestine during A. D. 27; and the incidents of Luke xiii I and xxiii :12 indicate a residence of a year or two before the crucifixion. Caiaphas was high priest, appointed before Pilate came, and deposed by the next gov ernor; according to Josephus. before the death of Herod Antipas in twentieth year of Tiberius, or A. D. 34. The limits of the time of the crucifix ion are A. D. 28 and A. D. 33 at the Passover time.
The event occurred on Friday. On what years was it possible for the Passover and the Friday to fall into the relation indicated in the gospels? The discussion long rent the church in what was called the Quartodeciman controversy, so called because the Quartodeciman party maintained that the crucifixion fell on the 14th of the month Nisan, which accords with the fourth gospel, while the story of the three Synoptic Gospels puts that agony on the 15th. The almost endless minutite of the discussion cannot be reproduced here. But within the limits stated above, the years 28, 31 and 32 will not fit either hypothesis; we have left 29, 3o and 33, between which modern opinion still wavers. On grounds already stated, to-wit, the date of the Nativity, the date of the baptism, the age of Jesus, the three Passovers, at the last of i which his life was ended, the date A D. 33 is quite improbable, and A. D. 29 the most probable, with A. D. 3o its close rival, if not superior.
2. Chronology of the Apostolic Period. The fixing of dates in this period is made diffi cult by the usual lack of definiteness in the narra tion; and the most that can be relied upon is what is gained from the connection of events with per sons and e‘ents known to non-biblical history; and these are often too uncertain.
(1) In Palestine, the Death of Herod. Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, was made king by Caligula in A. D. 37; and Judaea was added to his Syrian domains by Claudius. His reign of seven years ended in A.
D. 44. This marks the martyrdom of James, the Apostle, brother of John.
(2) In Palestine, a Famine. The reign of Claudius had several periods of scarcity, of which Tacitus notices one as very severe at Rome itself.
The one in Judxa is told of by Josephus, and was not limited to a single year, probably in A. D. 46-48. This is told of in Acts xi, and marks the early period of Paul's missionary work with Bar nabas.
(3) In Damascus, King Aretas. Aretas was a king at I'etra. in Idunuea; how he came into of Damascus is not plain. Prior to the death of Tiberius, Aretas was in a quarrel with Ilerod Antipas; and the governor of Syria, Vitcl hus, was ordered to help Herod. about A. D. 37. Aretas was not in Damascus himself in Paul's stay, but had a governor there. All that can be determined is that this sway of Aretas was after A. D. 33, and before A. D. 48. It is supposed by Conybeare and Howson that he held Damascus by favor of Caligula. emperor in A. D. 37-41. This is all the help we get to aid in dating the conver sion of Saul of Tarsus. If the apostle's escape was in A. D. 38, and that was at the end of his three years, we may put his conversion in A D. 35 or 36; for by Jewish reckoning. three years need he parts only of three years. This will not suit those who hurry the events at Jerusalem and put the martyrdom of Stephen and the conversion of Saul in the same year. and near the time of the crucifixion.
(4) In Cyprus, Sergius Paulus. Secular IIk tory gives no trace of the proconsulshm of this man.
(5) Jews Expelled from Rome. Suetomus tells of this, saying of Claudius, "Juda.os, irtr pulsar,. Chresto assidue tumultuantes. expulit." This may mean that Chrestus—otherwise un heard of—raised riots in the ghetto, or that there were riots among the Jews about Christ Tacitus. whose record of Claudius' time for all years ex ccpt A. D. 47-54 is missing, mentions the expul sion of astrologers in A. D. 52, but says nothing of Jews. This date accords well with the probable residence of Paul at Corinth, and the coming thither of Aquila and Priscilla.
(6) At Corinth, Gallic). Galli°, originally An meus Novatus, brother of the famous Seneca, was pretty surely not appointed proconsul in Achaia until after A. D. 49; for Seneca does not recog nize his name Crallio in a treatise written about 49. and Seneca was in disfavor prior to that date. \Ve may date Gallio's officeholding about A. D. 5o, but for how long is not known. He died A. D. 65. Probably Paul was before him in A. D. 52 Or 54.