No original copies of New Testament Books exist today. That is, we do not possess any of Paul's original letters, Matthew's original gospel, or the book of Acts in Luke's handwriting. All we have are copies. There are several reasons for this: If we do not have access to the original writings, how can we tell when the various books of the New Testament were written? We can do that a couple ways: Although information like this does not specifically date various books, it does establish that latest date when these writings could have been created.

Up until recently there was a widespread school of thought that considered most New Testament books to have been written around 150 AD. This, of course, would preclude their authorship by the men we traditionally credit with their writing. However, discoveries in the past 50 years — both archeologically and textually — have brought to light information that tends to verify the belief that most New Testament books were written within 40 years of Christ's ascension, and that the entire New Testament was complete by 100 AD.

The dates below came from F. F. Bruce, who was a well-respected Bible scholar.


MATTHEW:   Shortly after 70 AD
MARK:   64 to 65 AD
LUKE:   Shortly before 62 AD (perhaps later)
JOHN:   90 to 100 AD
ACTS:   65 AD (perhaps later)
ROMANS:   57 AD (perhaps later)
I & II CORINTHIANS:   54 to 56 AD
GALATIANS:   48 AD
EPHESIANS:   60 AD
PHILIPPIANS:   60 AD
COLOSIANS:   60 AD
I & II THESSALONIANS:   50 AD
PHILEMON:   60 AD
REVELATION:   90 to 100 AD

There are even a few historians who present good arguments that the entire New Testament was complete shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. But for me, I'll stick with F. F. Bruce's dates above.