(3) The buration of the Ministry. The first three Gospels give us only the vaguest. hints as to the length of the Lord': public ministry. They begin their narrative of 11 is piddle life with llis work in Galilee after the imprisonment of John the Baptist. But Mark i. 11 ("Now after shat John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee") :+01.111. to fillply that some time elapsed between the Temptation and .Tohn's imprisonment.
gap is partially tilled hy the Gospel of John. which also gives a xvell-ordered arrangement of the events of the ministry narrated by it. Its data are as follows: ii. 13 sqq., .Jesus in lerusalein at a Passover, after His baptism and a sojourn 111 iii. 23 sqq., a brief sojourn, length not slated. iu Judea. before John was imprisoned.
iv. 1-35, Jesus retires into Galilee. On the way. in Samaria, lle says to Ilis disciples. "Do ye not say that there :Ire yel fobs month.; and the harvest mutes?" v. 1, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem to attend a feast tainuana.41).
vi. Jesus is again in Galilee at the time of a Passover.
vii. 2 sqq...lesns goes to .Jerusalem to a Feast of Tabernacles. After this there is no mention of a return to Galilee.
22, Jesus is in Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication; thence lie retires beyond Jordan. While here Ile is called to Bethany by the death of Lazarus. Ile then goes to Ephraim in mlea.
xii. 1. six days before the (last) Passover Jesus arrives at Bethany.
'Iwo of these data are somewhat uncertain. The reference in iv. 35 to the "four months, and then cometh the harvest," may indicate the actual season of the year when the words were spoken. In that case Jesus must have passed through Samaria in December or January after llis first Passover (John ii. 13 sqq.). If the first Passover was that of A.D. 27, the events narrated in chap. iv. took place in Deeenil.er. A.D. 27. or in January. A.D. 28. 13nt it is that the statement in iv. :35 may have been a mere proverbial expression used by Jesus to point a lesson. In that ease it has no chronological significance, and the journey through Samaria may have taken place in May, A.D. 27. The un named feast of v. 1 ("After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem") introduces the greatest element of uncertainty. The main question is whether it was a Passover. If it was, then John's Gospel gives us four Passovers in Jesus' public min istry. There are two weighty reasons against taking the reference in this sense. First, John's itsus /oquendi would lead us to expect him to have expressly stated that it was a Passover. if such had been the ease. Second. a Passover is expressly indicated in the next chapter (John cis 1-4). If v. 1 refers to a Passover, we have not only a whole year passed over in complete silence by John, but we also have two whole years and more of active public ministry to place before the Passover of John vi. Since the narrative of John at this place meets that of the other Gospels (Mark vi. 30 and parallels), this does not seem very probable. For such reasons it seems better to take John v. 1 as referring to sonic minor feast between the two Pass(wers of ii. 13 sqq. and vi. 1-1. The evi dence of the Gospel of .Tole, then, is to the effect that there were three Passovers in the piddle ministry of Our Lord, those of the years A.D. 27. 2`4, and 29.
(4) The Date of the Crucifirion.—All the Gospels agree that the (lay of the week was Friday. It is a question whether this Friday was the Passover day or the day after the Pass over. Since the Passover always came on the
fourteenth day of the Jewish [lunar] month Nisan, the question is. Was Jesus crucified on the 11th or on the 15th of Nisan? On this point the evidence of the Gospels appears cum tradictory. The Synoptio Gospels positively state that Jesus ate his last supper with llis ples on the Passover evening. i.e. (al the 14th f Nisan. and that lie was erueilled on the next or 15th day. lint the Gospel of John in several passages, xiii. 1-2.xciii. 2S, xix. 13 and 31, appears to place the Crucifixion on the Passover day. Of the references noted, xviii. 2:4, "they themselves [the Jews] entered not into the pra.torium. that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover," and xix. 14, it was the Preparation of the Pass over•." are the most important. It is to be noted, however, that the Gospel of John uses the term To rdo-xa, the Passover, in an inclusive sense to indicate the whole Passover season. just as the Synoptic Gospels use the term ra 4vAa, the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread, in the same broad sense. It is also to be noted that in Nix. 31 and 42 the word literally 'preparation day,' is used in its common sig nificance of Friday. It is therefore possible that in verse 14 we should interpret so as to read "it was the Friday of the Passover season." So understood. there is no conflict between John and the Synoptists. If there is actual disagree ment, the evidence may be represented as fol lows: tianity, (1) in the city of Jerusalem. chaps.
; a mom,4 the .lewish of Palestine and Syria, with the transition to work among the Gentiles, chaps. viii.-xii.: and (3) among, the Gentiles through the missionary labors of Paul, chaps. xiii.-xxviii. Since the data in reference to Paul's career are more numerous and exact than those connected with the earlier events, we shall make the chronology of Paul's labors the basis of our investigations. We have to consider the evidence furnished by the follow ing data: (1) _lets ix. 23 sqq. Paul's escape from the Jews at Damascus 'many days' after his con version. In Il, Cor. xi. 32 Paul refers to this event, noting that it took place while Aretas was etlinarch of Damascus. In Gal. i. Iti Paul says that he did not leave Damascus for Jeru salem until three years after his conversion.
If the year of the Crucifixion was A.D. 29, the Passover was either in April (17th or ISO) or Alarch (18th). The latter is the more probable date.
We therefore arrive at the following results: B.C. 9-7. The annunciations concerning the births of the Baptist and Jesus. 7. Birth of Jesus.
.A.D. 211. John the Baptist opens his ministry. 27. (26) Jesus is baptized by John. 27. (Early in the year) Jesus begins His ministry.
27. The first Passover, in Jerusalem (John ii. 13 sqq.).
27-29. Passover to Passover, two years of public activity, a year and some months being spent in Galilee.
29. March IS. Friday, the Crucifixion. On Sunday. March 20th. the Resurrection, and 40 (lays later the Ascension. These results differ from those most commonly accepted, mainly in that they make the ministry cover but two years and a little over instead of three years or more. The main specific difference is in regard to the feast of John v. 1. which is usually taken as a Passover. The most com monly accepted year for the Crucifixion is A.D. 30 instead of A.D. 29. as given above.