Paul's chronology
GradeProbable
Paul's letters, the earliest Christian writings, give an independent check. Paul went up to Jerusalem "after three years" () and again "fourteen years after" (), and Acts places him before Gallio, proconsul of Achaia (). An inscription, a letter of the emperor Claudius to Delphi dated to 52 CE, names Gallio as proconsul, which fixes Paul's stay in Corinth at about 51-52 and shows Acts using the right title for the right man at the right time. Counting back from there puts Paul's conversion within a few years of the crucifixion, a check that comes from outside the Gospels.
Probable. Counting back with the ancient inclusive count puts Paul's conversion at about 31-36 CE, and the crucifixion before it. This sits more easily with 30 than with 33, but does not exclude 33.
Explore the counterarguments
The count depends on assumptions: that the second visit is the Jerusalem meeting of about 48-49, as it usually is taken to be, and that the years are counted inclusively, as was common in antiquity. Gallio's term could be 52-53 rather than 51-52. The result gives only a latest likely date for the crucifixion, not the year itself.