Theologian Merrill Tenney outlines the Gospel of John as follows:
- 1: 1 - 1: 18, Prologue
- 1: 19 - 4: 54, Period of Consideration
- 5: 1 - 6: 71, Period of Controversy
- 7: 1 - 11: 53, Period of Conflict
- 11: 54 - 12: 36a, Period of Crisis
- 12: 36b - 17: 26, Period of Conference
- 18: 1 - 20: 31, Period of Consummation
(Obviously Tenney enjoys poetically making everything "P... of C...". He also seems to like 7 divisions for this book.)
In the "Period of Consideration", Tenney sees Jesus presented at the beginning of his ministry to a number of different groups. In chapter 1, John the Baptist claims witness to the Messiah and introduces the Messiah to his disciples. In chapter 2 of John's gospel, Mary presents her son to family and disciples, after which Jesus makes a statement in Jerusalem about the future of Jewish worship by driving out the temple merchants. A Jewish religious leader, Nicodemus, gets a private interview in chapter 3, followed again by witness from John the baptist. After that, a non-Jew, a woman from the reviled Samaritans, also gets a private interview.
These presentations of the Messiah occur primarily in Judea and Jerusalem and apparently happened before the opening of Jesus's great Galilean ministry. A. T. Robertson, in his classic harmony of the gospels, puts the opening of Jesus's Galilean ministry, recorded in Mark 1:4, Matthew 4:17 and Luke 4:15, after the visit with the woman of Sychar, which ends at John 4:45.
Beginning in John 4:46, Jesus is presented to the people of Galilee as he heals a nobleman's son in Cana, the site of the earlier wedding. The nobleman is from the town of Capernaum, a place that Jesus will shortly set as his home.
In the "Period of Consideration", Tenney sees Jesus presented at the beginning of his ministry to a number of different groups. In chapter 1, John the Baptist claims witness to the Messiah and introduces the Messiah to his disciples. In chapter 2 of John's gospel, Mary presents her son to family and disciples, after which Jesus makes a statement in Jerusalem about the future of Jewish worship by driving out the temple merchants. A Jewish religious leader, Nicodemus, gets a private interview in chapter 3, followed again by witness from John the baptist. After that, a non-Jew, a woman from the reviled Samaritans, also gets a private interview.
These presentations of the Messiah occur primarily in Judea and Jerusalem and apparently happened before the opening of Jesus's great Galilean ministry. A. T. Robertson, in his classic harmony of the gospels, puts the opening of Jesus's Galilean ministry, recorded in Mark 1:4, Matthew 4:17 and Luke 4:15, after the visit with the woman of Sychar, which ends at John 4:45.
Beginning in John 4:46, Jesus is presented to the people of Galilee as he heals a nobleman's son in Cana, the site of the earlier wedding. The nobleman is from the town of Capernaum, a place that Jesus will shortly set as his home.