A Chronological Framework for the Public Ministry of Jesus Christ

Part 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.”
© 2015 by The Jackson Institute
 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).
© 2015 by The Jackson Institute
 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).
© 2015 by The Jackson Institute
 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.”

© 2015 by The Jackson Institute

 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.
© 2015 by The Jackson Institute
 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.
© 2015 by The Jackson Institute
 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).
© 2015 by The Jackson Institute
 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. Sproul © 2015 by The Jackson Institute
1939 -
 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.”

© 2015 by The Jackson Institute

 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

© 2015 by The Jackson Institute

 A CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST

PREPARATION JESUS’ PUBLIC MINISTRY SACRIFICE

OBSCURITY POPULARITY OPPOSITION

Extended Ministries

Early Specialized
Ministries Ministry
Opening Concluding Ministries
Events

First Year Second Year Third Year

© 2015 by The Jackson Institute

 A CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST

PREPARATION JESUS’ PUBLIC MINISTRY SACRIFICE

John the Baptist

John’s Preaching OBSCURITY POPULARITY OPPOSITION

John Replies to
Questioners
Extended Ministries
John’s Messianic
Preaching
Early Specialized
John’s Ministries Ministry
Imprisonment Opening Concluding Ministries
Events
Baptism of Jesus

Genealogy of Jesus

The Temptation

First Year Second Year Third Year

© 2015 by The Jackson Institute

 A CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST

PREPARATION JESUS’ PUBLIC MINISTRY SACRIFICE

John the Baptist

John’s Preaching OBSCURITY POPULARITY OPPOSITION

John Replies to
Questioners
Extended Ministries


John’s Messianic
Preaching
Early Specialized
John’s Ministries Ministry
Imprisonment Opening Concluding Ministries
Events
Baptism of Jesus

Genealogy of Jesus

The Temptation

First Year Second Year Third Year

Annual
Passovers
 John 2:13  John 5:1  John 6:4  John 11:55

© 2015 by The Jackson Institute

 A CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST

PREPARATION JESUS’ PUBLIC MINISTRY SACRIFICE

John the Baptist

John’s Preaching OBSCURITY POPULARITY OPPOSITION

John Replies to
Questioners
Extended Ministries


John’s Messianic
Preaching
Early Specialized
John’s Ministries Ministry
Imprisonment Opening Concluding Ministries
Events
Baptism of Jesus

Genealogy of Jesus

The Temptation Early Judean Early Galilean Middle Galilean Later Galilean Later Judean Perean

First Year Second Year Third Year

Annual
Passovers
 John 2:13  John 5:1  John 6:4  John 11:55

© 2015 by The Jackson Institute

 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).
© 2015 by The Jackson Institute
 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).
© 2015 by The Jackson Institute