A Chronological Framework for the Public Ministry of Jesus ChristPart 1: Introduction

Introduction

Searching for a chronological framework for the public ministry of Jesus Christ is an academic pursuit, to be sure, but it is also more than that. The writers of the Gospel accounts were not writing biographies of Jesus, but were intent on leaving the church with a clear picture of the person of Christ as well as a record of His method of ministry. Carl Wilson has wisely joined the two: “Without understanding His person, the method of His ministry will be useless. But if His ministry method is ignored, men will usurp His power for personal influence and diminish the power of His person in the lives of those who follow Him….As the acorn contains the essence of a mighty oak, the ultimate meaning of Jesus’ eternal purpose was contained in His short earthly ministry.”

The Importance of Developing a Framework

• It affords us the opportunity to place the events of Jesus in their rightful place in history – like a mental peg board.

• It enables us to see the events in the life of Christ in their rightful order. Christ did not live life haphazardly. “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do” (John 17:4).

• “If one is convinced of a grammatical-historical interpretation of the New Testament, one should attempt to deal with the chronological notes in the Gospels in order to give one a proper historical perspective to the life of Christ” (Hoehner).

Why This Study?

• So we may see and know the incomparable Christ in ways we never have before by asking the Holy Spirit to reveal Him to us.

• So we may learn how He chose and trained the Twelve to equip others to take the gospel of grace to the whole world.

• So we can disciple others by following the methods and principles Jesus employed in training the Apostles.

• So we may understand the truth that “a leader may profess that Jesus is the head of his ministry, but when he strays from the principles of Jesus’ ministry, he’s really just taking over himself” (Wilson).

Hugh Ross Mackintosh, D.D.

“Among modern theologians there is a general disposition to agree that if Christology is to be valid for the modern mind, its point of reference must be fixed in the Jesus Christ of history.”

Chronology

• Chronology, n., from chronos (time) and logia (discourse); the science of computing and adjusting time or periods of time, and of recording and arranging events in the order of time; computation of time, assigning events to their correct dates (OED).

• “Chronology seeks to establish and arrange the dates of past events in their proper sequence” (Hoehner).

• An anachronism (against time) is “an error in computing time, or fixing dates; the erroneous reference of an event, circumstance, or custom to a wrong date” (OED). Examples: Portrait of Aristotle wearing a wrist watch; Civil War soldiers with M16s.

Chronological Difficulties

• The Gospels do not provide us with a series of specific dates related to the life of our Lord. The writers were more concerned with telling the story of Jesus – His words and acts –than they were about recording the specific times and dates when the events took place.

• Scholars differ in their judgments regarding the chronology of the life of Jesus.

Chronological Difficulties

“Despite the enormous amount of information available for the modern scholar as the result of historical and archaeological research, formidable difficulties are involved in any attempt to draw up an internally coherent scheme of chronology for any one of the various cultures that flourished in the ancient Near East....Extra-biblical sources are naturally of very great importance when they furnish fixed dates, and it is often in the light of such material that schemes of biblical dating have to be modified. Where events in biblical and extra-biblical sources can be synchronized to a very narrow range, it is possible to utilize the results in order to establish a framework around which a specific chronology can be built” (R.K. Harrison)

Discrepancies or Contradictions?

“People accept without hesitation the charge that the Bible is full of contradictions. Yet the charge is completely inaccurate and misleading. Why, then, if the charge is so inaccurate, do we hear it so often repeated? Apart from the problem of prejudice, there are other reasons why this misconception is propagated. There is a problem not only of ignorance of what the Bible says, but perhaps even more so, a problem of ignorance of the laws of logic. The word ‘contradiction’ is used all too loosely with

R.C. Sproul1939 -

Discrepancies or Contradictions?

respect to biblical content. That there are divergencies of biblical accounts, that biblical writers describe the same things from different perspectives, is not in dispute. Whether those varied accounts are, in fact, contradictory is in dispute. It would be a serious overstatement to say that all discrepancies within the biblical text have been easily and satisfactorily resolved. There are serious discrepancies that have not yielded full and satisfactory resolutions. But these problems are few and far between. To say that the Bible is full of contradictions is a radical exaggeration and reflects a misunderstanding of the law of contradiction.”

Discrepancies or Contradictions?

“Not every biblical discrepancy has been resolved. But the direction of the evidence is very encouraging. As biblical scholarship increases and our knowledge of language, text, and context increases, the problem of discrepancy becomes smaller and smaller. There is less reason today to believe that the Bible is full of contradictions than at any time in the history of the church. Prejudice and critical philosophical theories, however, die a very slow and hard death.”

- R.C. Sproul

A CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST

PREPARATION J E S U S ’ P U B L I C M I N I S T R Y SACRIFICE

O B S C U R I T Y P O P U L A R I T Y O P P O S I T I O N

E x t e n d e d M i n i s t r i e s

E a r l yM i n i s t r i e s

S p e c i a l i z e dM i n i s t r y

O p e n i n gE v e n t s

C o n c l u d i n g M i n i s t r i e s

First Year Second Year Third Year

A CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST

PREPARATION J E S U S ’ P U B L I C M I N I S T R Y SACRIFICE

John the Baptist

John’s Preaching

John Replies to Questioners

John’s Messianic Preaching

John’s Imprisonment

Baptism of Jesus

Genealogy of Jesus

The Temptation

O B S C U R I T Y P O P U L A R I T Y O P P O S I T I O N

E x t e n d e d M i n i s t r i e s

E a r l yM i n i s t r i e s

S p e c i a l i z e dM i n i s t r y

O p e n i n gE v e n t s

C o n c l u d i n g M i n i s t r i e s

First Year Second Year Third Year

A CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST

PREPARATION J E S U S ’ P U B L I C M I N I S T R Y SACRIFICE

John the Baptist

John’s Preaching

John Replies to Questioners

John’s Messianic Preaching

John’s Imprisonment

Baptism of Jesus

Genealogy of Jesus

The Temptation

O B S C U R I T Y P O P U L A R I T Y O P P O S I T I O N

E x t e n d e d M i n i s t r i e s

E a r l yM i n i s t r i e s

S p e c i a l i z e dM i n i s t r y

O p e n i n gE v e n t s

C o n c l u d i n g M i n i s t r i e s

First Year Second Year Third YearA n n u a l

P a s s o v e r s John 2:13 John 5:1 John 6:4 John 11:55

A CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST

PREPARATION J E S U S ’ P U B L I C M I N I S T R Y SACRIFICE

John the Baptist

John’s Preaching

John Replies to Questioners

John’s Messianic Preaching

John’s Imprisonment

Baptism of Jesus

Genealogy of Jesus

The Temptation

O B S C U R I T Y P O P U L A R I T Y O P P O S I T I O N

E x t e n d e d M i n i s t r i e s

E a r l yM i n i s t r i e s

S p e c i a l i z e dM i n i s t r y

O p e n i n gE v e n t s

C o n c l u d i n g M i n i s t r i e s

First Year Second Year Third YearA n n u a l

P a s s o v e r s John 2:13 John 5:1 John 6:4 John 11:55

Early Judean Later JudeanEarly Galilean Middle Galilean Later Galilean Perean

The Four Passover Passages

1. “And the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers seated. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money-changers, and overturned their tables” (Jn. 2:13-14).

2. “After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, withered” (Jn. 5:1-3).

The Four Passover Passages

3. “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Jesus therefore lifting up His eyes, and seeing that a great multitude was coming to Him, said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?’” (Jn. 6:4-5).

4. “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover, to purify themselves. Therefore they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another, as they stood in the temple, ‘What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?’ Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if any one knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him” (Jn. 11:55-57).