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I present this document in its original unedited form.  I delivered this document to the ministry of my former church in November 2008 and never received a response eventually this resulted in my departure in May, 2009. When the ministry contacted me in 2011, I mentioned this writing, but the ministry said they did not remember it.  Chronological factors in the book of John make it reasonable to believe that the Ministry of Christ was longer than a single year.  This is the proof.

I had not given this subject much thought until the last Wednesday of March back in 2006 when one of the young ladies in church gave a testimony. Included among the things she had said (to her mother) about our beliefs was the idea that Jesus ministry was only one year long. After that, I felt compelled to write this, because I feel that it is reasonable to believe that Jesus’ ministry was three years long, or even longer. Back in 2006, I decided not to show anyone this writing, and it rarely comes up, but now, I feel compelled to take the subject up again, for no other reason than the leading of the Holy Ghost.

In the gospel of John there are indications of the passage of time which make the idea of a multi-year ministry of Christ probable. One can make a very good case showing that the ministry of Christ transpired over several years. Teaching that the ministry of Christ was one year long, will leave us open to false teachers who could use the evidence in scripture for a longer ministry period to cast doubt on the purity of our doctrine.

I cannot defend the idea of a single year ministry of Christ. I honestly would rather keep ignoring it. The fact that people have testified of our Christ in terms of a one year ministry was a bit unexpected, because I never thought it was the sort of thing we went out declaring to people. There are some very good arguments against it, and I’m going to present them. I didn’t get this from anyone, or anywhere, this is all the product of my own investigation.

I’m not really out to prove anything, I don’t have any particular need to declare the length of the Lord’s ministry, but since it is something that is declared in church and also to those outside the church, it matters to all of us whether this is absolutely, undeniably true or not. By showing that a multi-year ministry of Christ is more than reasonable, I hope that we can at least see that it is not in our interest to mock or belittle that idea, nor declare any useless doctrine as if it were Truth (with a capital T).

If Matthew, Mark and Luke were the only Gospels it would be hard to say that Jesus ministry was longer than a single year. Even so, it would not be impossible to argue for a longer ministry period. Because there are holes in the story where time passes but no events are recorded. Even if one accepts a one year ministry period, there are still gaps, because everything Jesus said and did was not recorded.

On the other hand, the time factors in the book of John, when examined carefully make it very difficult for Jesus ministry to be a single year. It is easy to add time when the scriptures are vague (as in Matthew, Mark, and Luke) but it very hard to take away time when time is specific (as in John)

The following will document the way the Apostle John uses time and chronology in his gospel. It was once suggested to me that John’s Gospel may be out of chronological order. I have closely examined John’s Gospel and John’s Gospel is definitely in chronological order, I found no holes in his chronology. In fact, John’s Gospel has more markers of chronology than any other Gospel. Now I will catalog the chronological markers of John, from start to finish.

In Chapter One of John, the Apostle begins talking about John the Baptist by speaking of a particular four day period:

Day One: John 1:19-28 Speaks of a visit from the priests and Levites

Day Two: John 1:29 "The next day" In John 1:29-34 John B. gives testimony concerning Christ

Day Three: John 1:35 "Again the next day after," And then it tells of how they followed him 36-42.

Day Four: John1:43 "The day following" Jesus recruits more disciples through verse 51

Next we come to chapter Two.

John 2:1 "And the third day" that would be three days later because his disciples were also invited to the wedding in Cana. John 2:1-11.

Then in John 2:12 we have a phrase John uses frequently: "After this." John 2:12 "After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days."

The use of the term "After this." is a critical marker of chronology in John.

The events that follow 13-22 concern that time when the passover was "at hand."

The next marker is John 2:23 "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did." So we come to the day of the feast.

Chapter Two ends but the meeting of Jesus with Nicodemus in is chronologically connected with John 2:23-25. Nicodemus had seen "the miracles which Jesus did" John 3:2 & 2:23. And was one of them who believed because of the miracles 3:2 & 2:23.

John 3:1-20 cover the dialog between them and John 3:13-21 continue in teaching doctrine.

In John 3:22 there is a critical marker of chronology, "After these things," whatever one may say about what had happened previously; what follows this statement must, of necessity, come "After" those things. So this is after all the events of that Passover.

John 3:22 "After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized."

From John 3:22-36 we find Jesus baptizing "in Judea" and John the Baptist doing the same thing.

John Chapter 4 is tied to this period of baptism (3:22-36) by the time limiting factor in John 4:1 "When." because the "when" is when Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard about his baptizing more disciples than John (John 4:1) that he then, "left Judea," (John 4:3). Where he had been tarrying.

In John 4:3 He is heading to Galilee and in verse 4 he "must need go through Samaria" and of course the incident at the well with the Samaritan woman and the aftermath (John 4:3-42) follows and the next time factor given is 4:40 "and he abode there two days."

Then in 4:43 "Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee."

John 4:45 "Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast."

Then Jesus heals the son of the nobleman in John 4:46-53.

John 4:54 Confirms the chronological order I have been tracing. Verifying both Time and Place. John 4:54 "This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee."

In John 5:1 there is a critical verse making the events as chronological, "After this," And again, what follows this statement must, of necessity, come, "After this," ie. the 2^nd miracle John 4:54 which was already chronologically placed as being after the things which happened in chronological order before it..

John 5:1 "After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." (Some say this is another Passover but the word doesn’t)

Now we come to some unnamed feast, because of the chronological factors already shown, this could not be the same Passover mentioned earlier, it could be Pentecost, it could be something else, it could be one, two, or three years later, or any number of months or weeks later, but it follows chronologically "after" what was just before (John 4:54)

John 5:1-13 The story of the man at the pool of Bethesda

John 5:14 "Afterward" Jesus finds him in the temple

From John 5:15 the Jews begin to persecute Jesus, because he had done this healing on the Sabbath day.

John 5:16 "And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day." ....17 But Jesus answered them,

In John 5:17-47 we have Jesus delivering the answer to his enemies which takes up the balance of the chapter. The speech may have been given all at once or on several occasions (I think at once). In any case, John 6:1.

John 6:1 "After these things" Again, this term is pretty exclusive of any out-of-sequence events; the healing of the last chapter and Jesus teaching at that time were therefore before what follows.

It is important to note that there is an unbroken chain of "After this’s" and similar notations up to this point. Events follow events, there may be gaps where other events may have taken place that are not recorded, but there is not room for backtracking.

In John 6:4 it says "And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh." At this point we are certainly near the end of one year because the chronological markers attached to events give the impression of the passage of time which make it difficult to suggest that this is the same passover as in Chapter 2:13. (It could even be or more). Even if one were to disagree, it cannot be said that someone who believed that a year had passed here was being irresponsible in interpreting the scriptures, ie there are plenty of decent reasons to think that a year has passed.

The argument that this is the same Passover as in John 2:23 does not fit the chronological markers. We already had another feast "after" the Passover; and before it, Jesus has been doing extensive traveling. He "tarried" in Judea baptizing (John 3:22), which probably indicates more than a day or two. Then He went up to Galilee (a journey of 60-70 miles on foot). People are believing on him; he does a notable miracle. Then "After this" there was this unnamed feast of the Jews and Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for it (another 60-70 miles on foot).

Possible argument: Passover of John 2:23 was only "nigh" and all the chronological events of the following chapters only marked the passage of a few days. That is something I find difficult to justify. It is much easier to see this second Passover as just coming up than as just having just past. Especially since John 2:23 specifically mentions the feast day had arrived and we have had another feast placed chronologically in between.

Would the Apostle give seamless chronological information and list these feasts if Jesus ministry was only one year? If Jesus ministry indeed was only one year, then the chronological information in John is misleading.

It is not unreasonable to believe the Matthew, Mark, and Luke left stuff out. I find that it is more easy to assume that they left things our than to try to poke holes in John’s thus-far-seamless chronology.

I found one incident in 2Chron 30 of a Passover kept in the second month (instead of the first), but that was exceptional and there were special reasons for it. It would not have been normal to have a Passover at a different time of year or two Passover. This is a possibility, but when we start making all kinds of special exceptions to prove a point, the point gets weaker and weaker..

On the face of the thing, as it is written, it is much simpler for me to say that a year has passed than to try and shorten the time period by bringing in obscure and questionable arguments to the contrary.

In John 6:2-14 Jesus feeds the multitude that was now following him.

John 6:16 Evening had come (of the day of the feeding) and the disciples went down to the sea

John 6:22 "the day following"

John 6:24 indicates they went to Capernaum and Jesus addresses them there from vs 26-58

John 6:59 is an important verse in placing the whole of the dialog in the same time period " Ch 6 Verse 59 "These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum."

John 6:66 "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." And the disciples are questioned by Jesus in 67-71

If there were only two Passovers in Jesus ministry, that one seems to have to be the last one, because it does not appear to be the same as the first, and the apostle John has left many chronological markers along the way, and we will find more time factors in the first verse of the following chapter

John 7:1 "After these things" This again locks us into a chronology. Having a before and an after of two Passovers, and Jesus is still not crucified makes a multi-year ministry possible (at the very least).

So now we are past the Passover and into at least a year and a half of ministry.

After the first Passover Jesus did this: John 3:22 "... came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized." In this case we see that he is avoiding Judea, because now they are seeking to kill him.

7:2-13 speak of how Jesus said he would not go to the feast of tabernacles (another Chronological marker) but went secretly. (Now we are in the fall after the "second" Passover.)

14 says in the midst of the feast Jesus showed up in the temple teaching

From 7:15-30 is a continuous dialog and 7:37 brings us to "the last day" of the feast (Tabernacles) and through verse 53 are detailed events connected with this feast

In 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

The language here especially "came again into the temple" seems to indicate that we are talking about the same time period (the next day after the last day of the feast)

I suppose verses 12 and 30 could be breaks in chronology but I do not think that is likely because of 8:59 when Jesus, "went out of the temple."

Chapter Nine seems to be part of the same period because of the repeated phrase "passed by." Some of the ancient texts omit the "passed by" from verse 59 and this may not be the right place to make a chapter break. It may be correct to read 8:59-9:1 like this:

instead of this (normal):

In any case, chapter 9 is taken up entirely with the details of this man’s story.

Chapter 10:1-21 is taken up with doctrine

In chapter 10 verse 22 we have another critical time factor given. Verse 22 refers to all the sayings from the beginning of chapter 10 (it was).

It seems logical to me that since everything up to this point has been chronological that this feast followed the feast of tabernacles mentioned in Chapter 7 in the fall

In verse 40,41,42 Jesus Goes away beyond Jordan and these verses could allow for the passage of a large amount of time.

Chapter 11:1- 44 is about the raising of Lazarus. There are several verses which suggest chronological order and uniformity of place and passage of time.

11:6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. 7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.

This may be a link to Jesus having left Judea at the end of Chapter 10

8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?

It seems like they had the last incident (ch10) in mind. (But not necessarily)

After Lazarus is raised 11:46-53 they take their infamous counsel against Christ.

This may be a Gap verse. There are possibly many gaps in the verses that say "after this" but they all move us forward and keep us anchored chronologically.

The last time marker I will mention is 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

At this point we have come to the final week and I will not concern my self with chronology anymore. Reading on from this point it is clear that this is the Passover of the passion.

In Conclusion:

This does not establish a three year ministry of Christ, but it does not rule out a three year ministry. It does not rule out a four or five year ministry either but it does make a one year ministry difficult. It does make it unreasonable to mock people who believe in a multi-year ministry.

The passage of three Passovers set in chronological order by the marker phrases like, "After this," and, "after that," as detailed here make quite reasonable at least two years of ministry.

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