Page 17 - The Gospel Chronicle - Narrative

Narrative: Introduction

Narrative Introduction

The Narrative portion of the Gospel Chronicle is the intended pinnacle of the whole
work and it is the last completed volume. It is basically the novelization of the four gospel
narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, combined into a singular chronological account.
This volume would not exist without the extensive time and energy that has been expended on

the preceding Parallel and Redaction volumes, which are respectively volumes two and three of
the Gospel Chronicle.

Of all the parts, the Narrative required the least time to complete. Less than one year

was dedicated to its completion; most of the labor was expended on the Parallel and Redaction.
Yet for all the prior labor, the Narrative is the most valuable, because it helps to make the other
volumes more comprehensible. While many blessings and revelations abounded from collating
the Parallel and Redaction, without the Narrative, they would be largely inaccessible to most
readers, because the other two parts are really just study tools constructed to create the

Narrative, rather than read as a story.

One major thought which will stand out from the finished Narrative is the relative
shortness or brevity of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry. Historically three opinions have been

offered on the length of Jesus’s ministry. These opinions have rested on unsupportable claims of
either: three years, two years or one year. These are unsupportable because the length of Jesus’
ministry is no where clearly stated in the gospels themselves. Typically the accepted opinion
today is three years for Jesus’ ministry. Yet none of the gospels alone or together is able to
present a three year timeline. Even when the raw gospel materials are combined together they

do not match any of the timelines proposed.

Therefore, where does a three year timeline source from? As found in Clyde Weber
Votaw’s The Biblical World, from 1905 we can attribute the modern three-year timeline to

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