The Arrangement of the Books of the New Testament

The order of books in the modern Bible shared by Protestants and Catholics has the Gospels first (plus Acts, written by Luke), followed by the letters of Paul (listed by descending length of the text), then books written by others (Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, 1,2,and 3 John, etc), capped at the end by the Book of Revelation.

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

Acts

Romans

1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

Galatians

Ephesians

Philippians

Colossians

1 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

1 Timothy

2 Timothy

Titus

Philemon

Hebrews

James

1 Peter

2 Peter

1 John

2 John

3 John

Jude

Revelation

This is a convenient arrangement, and really, the arrangement has always been artificial.  The scholars who made the list collected all the known books and letters used by the Christian ἐκκλησία, rejected some, and set the order that we still use.  They did not have the benefit of 2000 years of discussion and study about the internal evidences used to deduce the dates.  Also, their main concern was about which books should be included and which should not.

The probable order in which the books and letters were written is different from the listing above.  The list below is by the probable dates of composition of the works.

Galatians               49

1 Thessalonians    51

2 Thessalonians    51

Philippians            55

1 Corinthians        55

2 Corinthians        56

Romans                57

Ephesians             58-59

Luke                     ca 58-67

Colossians            60-62

Philemon              60-62

Acts                      60-64

Mark                     62-70.

James                    62

1 Peter                  64-95

1 Timothy            65

Hebrews              65

2 Timothy            66

Titus                    66

Matthew              before 70

Jude                     80

Revelation           81-96

1 John                 90

2 John                 90

3 John                 90

John                    90-100

2 Peter                100-125