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Quite apart from constraints imposed on the dating of these epistles by the need to fit Paul’s movements and writings together, there is one fixed point. There is an inscription recording a rescript of the Emperor Claudius to the people of Delphi that mentions Gallio as holding the office of proconsul in Achaia during the period of Claudius’s twenty-sixth acclamation as imperator 63—a period known from other inscriptions 64 to cover the first seven months of A.D. 52. 65 Proconsuls normally began their tour of duty on July 1, which means that Gallio probably ascended to the proconsulship on July 1, 51. However, it is possible that the rescript belongs to the very end of the seven-month period, in which case Gallio may have taken up his duties on July 1, 52. The latter date leaves only one month for the rescript, so the former date is perhaps marginally more likely. 66
If the Jews made their united attack on Paul (Acts 18:12) fairly early during Gallio’s proconsulship, then probably it was in the autumn of A.D. 51. After the case was dismissed, Paul stayed in Corinth for some time (Acts 18:18) and then sailed for Syria, probably in the spring of 52. Paul’s two-and-a-half-year stint in Ephesus would have taken him to the autumn of 55. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians while he was in Ephesus, some time before Pentecost (1 Cor. 16:8), probably during his last year—that is, early in 55, with 2 Corinthians being complete within the next year or so. By that time he was in Macedonia (2 Cor. 2:12-13; 7:5; 8:1-5; 9:2). Primarily because of the uncertainty over the beginning date of Gallio’s proconsulship, all of these dates could be advanced by one year.