CHRONOLOGY OP THE NEW TESTAMENT CHRONOLOGY OP THE NEW TESTAMENT

mean only that Jesus was 29 years old. Irenaeus (Haer. ii. xxii. 4 t.) says that Jesus was baptized 'being 30 years old,' having 'not yet completed his 30th year,' He 'then possessing the full age of a teacher.' The translation of AV is judged to be grammatically im-possible, though it is odd that the Greek-speaking Irenseus did not discover the fact, unless we are to suppose that his Latin translator misrepresents him. Let us, then, take the RV translation; but what is the meaning of 'about 30 years'? Turner (art. 'Chro-nology of NT' in Hastings' DB — the most complete modem work on the subject in English) and Plummer {St. Luke, in loc.) think that any age from 28 to 32 would suit ; but Ramsay, who remarks that St. Luke's authority for his early chapters was clearly a very good one, and that he could not have been ignorant of the real age, thinks that the phrase must mean 30 plus or minus a few months. There seems to be some doubt as to the age when a Levlte began his ministry at this time, as the age had varied; but we may follow Irensus in thinking that 30 was the full age when a public teacher began his work. On this point, then, internal evidence by itself leaves us a latitude of some little time, whether of a few months or even of a few years.

2. Duration of the ministry. — Very divergent views have been held on this subject, (a) Clement of Alex- andria (loc. cit), and other 2nd and 3rd cent. Fathers, the Clementine Homilies (xvii. 19, 'a whole year'), and the Valentinlans (quoted by Irenseus, ii, xxil. 1), applying 'the acceptable year of the Lord' (Is 61^; cf. Lk 4i«'-) literally to the ministry, made it last for one year only. The Valentinlans believed that Jesus was baptized at the beginning, and died at the end, of His 30th year. A one-year ministry has also been advocated by von Soden (.EBi, art. 'Chronology') and by Hort (see below). The latter excises 'the passover' from Jn 6*. This view is said to be that of the Synoptists, who, however, give hardly any indications of the passing of time. (6) The other extreme is found in Irenaeus (foe. cit.), who held, as against the Valentinlans, that the ministry lasted for more than ten years. He takes the feast of Jn 5' to be a Passover, but does not mention that of Jn 6*. He considers, however, that the Passovers mentioned in Jn. are not exclusive; that Jesus was a little less than 30 years old at His baptism, and over 40 when He died. This appears (he says) from Jn 8'"-, which indicates one who had passed the age of 40 ; and moreover, Jesus, who came to save all ages, must have 'passed through every age,' and in the decade from 40 to 50 'a man begins to decline towards old age.' He declares that this tradition came from 'John the disciple of the Lord ' through ' those who were conversant in Asia with' him — i.e. probably Papias; and that the same account had been received from other disciples. But here Irenseus almost certainly makes a blunder. For a 3rd cent, tradition that Jesus was born a.d. 9, was baptized a.d. 46, and died a.d. 58 at the age of 49, see Chapman in JThSt vui. 590 (July, 1907). (c) Euse-bius (HE 1. 10), followed as to his results provisionally by Ramsay (Was Christ born at Beihlehemt', p.212f.), makes the ministry last over three years ('not quite four full years'), and this till lately was the common view. Melito (c. a.d. 160) speaks of Jesus working miracles for three years after His baptism (Ante-Nic. Cftr. Lift. xxli. p. 135). (d) Origen and others, followed by Turner (op. cit. p. 409 f.), Sanday (art. 'Jesus Christ' in Hastings' DB, p. 610 ff.), and Hitchcock (art. 'Dates' in Hastings' DCG, p. 415 f . ) , allow a little more than two years for the ministry ('Judas did not remain so much as three years with Jesus,' c. Cels. ii. 12).

Indications of a ministry of more than a single year are found in the Synoptics; e.g. Mk 71" (harvest) 6'' (spring; 'green grass'), for the length of the journeys of 6«"-10s2 shows that the spring of 6" could not be that of the Crucifixion. Thus Mk. implies at least a two years' ministry. In Lk. also we see traces of three

periods in the ministry: (1) 321-4™, preaching in the wilderness of Jud^a and in Nazareth and Galilee, briefly recorded; (2) 4"-9S'', preaching in Galilee and the North, related at length; (3) 9" -end, preaching in Central Palestine as far as Jerusalem. Ramsay (op. cit. p. 212) takes each of these periods as corresponding roughly to one year. In Jn. we have several indications of time: 2"- ^ (Passover), 4^ (four months before harvest; harvest near), 5' ('a feast' or 'the feast'), 6* (Passover, but see below), 7^ (Tabernacles, autumn), 10^2 (Dedication, winter). In two cases (5' 6*) there is a question of text; in 5' the reading 'a feast' is somewhat better attested, and is preferable on internal grounds, for ' the feast ' might mean either Passover or Tabernacles, and since there would be this doubt, the phrase ' the feast ' is an unlikely one. If so, we cannot use 5' as an indication of time, as any minor feast would suit it. In 6' Hort excises 'the passover' (Westcott-Hort, NT inGreek, App.p. 77 ff.). But this is against all MSS and VSS, and rests only on the omission by Irenaeus (who, however, merely enumerates the Passovers when Jesus went up to Jerusalem; yet the mention of 6' would have added to his argument), and probably on Origen (for him and for others adduced, see Turner op. cit. p. 408) ; on internal grounds the omission is very improbable, and does not in reality reconcile Jn. and the Synoptics, for the latter when closely examined do, as we have seen, imply more than a single year's ministry. The note of time in Jn 4'' seems to point to (say) January (' there are yet four months and then Cometh the harvest'), while the spiritual harvest was already ripe ('the fields . . . are white already unto harvest'), though Origen and others less probably take the former clause to refer to the spiritual, the latter to the material, harvest, which lasted from 15th April to 3l3t May (see Westcott, Com. in loc). We may prob-ably conclude then that in the ministry, as related in Jn., there were not fewer than three Passovers, and that it therefore lasted (at least) rather more than two years. But did the Fourth Evangelist mention all the Passovers of the ministry? Irenaeus thought that he mentioned only some of them ; and though his chronology is clearly wrong, and based (as was that of his opponents) on a fanciful exegesis, Lightfoot (Sup. Rel. p. 131) and West-cott (Com. p. Ixxxi.) are inclined to think that in this respect he may to a very limited extent be right. Turner, on the other hand, considers that the enumeration in Jn. is exclusive, and that the notes of time there are intended to correct a false chronology deduced from the Synoptics. On the whole we can only say that the choice apparently lies between a ministry of rather over two years, and one of rather over three years; and that the probability of the former appears to be slightly the greater.

3 . biterval between the Ascension and the conversion of St. Paul. — We have no certain internal evidence as to the length of this interval. Ac 2"t- may imply a long or a short time. We have to include in this period the spread of the Church among the Hellenists, the election of the Seven, and the death of Stephen, followed closely by St. Paul's conversion. For this period Ramsay allows 2i to 4 years, Harnack less than one year; but these conclusions come rather from external chronology (see II.) than from internal considerations. It is quite probable that in the early chapters of Acts St. Luke had not the same exact authority that he had for St. Paul's travels, or even for his Gospel (see Lk l^').

4. St. Paul's missionary career. — The relative chronology of St. Paul's Christian life may be determined by a study of Acts combined with Gal 1" 2'. Indica-tions of time are found in Ac IV 18" 19'- " 20»- "■ " 211-s. 27 24"- "• 2' 25'- « 27»- 27 287- "-"■ "• '<>. With these data we may reconstruct the chronology; but there is room for uncertainty (1) as to whether the visit to Jerusalem in Gal 2' was that of Ac 11" or that of Ac 15', and whether the 'three years' and 'fourteen

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