 |  |
out in full detail this great section--the details will unfold themselves before our eyes as
our studies proceed--but in order to make this analytical article in its measure complete,
we must show how this central section is arranged.
C | 2: 1 - 21: 14. The eight signs.
C | c1 | 2: 1-12. 1ST SIGN. MARRIAGE AT CANA.
d1 | 2: 13 - 4: 42. "My meat . . . . . to finish His work" (ergon).
"Now we believe" (pisteuo).
c2
| 4: 43-52. 2nd SIGN. NOBLEMAN'S SON.
d2 | 4: 53, 54. "He believed" (pisteuo).
c3
| 5: 1-15. 3rd SIGN. IMPOTENT MAN.
d3 | 5: 16-47. "My Father worketh . . . . . and I work" (ergon).
"Believeth on Him that sent Me" (pisteuo).
c4
| 6: 1-25. 4th and 5th SIGN. THE 5,000 FED. WALKING ON SEA.
d4 | 6:-8: "This is the work (ergon) of God
that ye believe (pisteuo) . . . . . are the works of your father."
c5
| 9: 1-41. 6th SIGN. MAN BORN BLIND.
d5 | 10: 1-42. "The works (ergon) . . . . . in My Father's name bear witness."
"Ye believed not" (pisteuo).
c6
| 11: 1.46. 7th SIGN. SISTERS' BROTHER RAISED.
d6 | 11: 47 - 20: 31. "I have finished the work" (ergon).
"That the world may believe" (pisteuo).
c7
| 21: 1-14. 8th SIGN. DRAUGHT OF FISHES.
The eight "signs" alternate with six intervening sections, each of which is
characterized by a double reference to "works" and "belief", except in the case of the
healing of the nobleman's son, where "works" are not mentioned. The eight signs are
patently in correspondence, but it will be useful to make sure that all see that the six
intervening sections are also carefully arranged and in perfect balance. The importance
of this may not at the moment be obvious, but we trust that, by the time we have finished
our study, the working out of the revelation given in the prologue will be evident. The
following is the structure of the intervening links:
A | 2: 13 - 4: 42. My meat is . . . . . to finish His work.
B | 4: 53, 54. He believed.
C | 5: 16-47. My Father worketh . . . . . and I work.
C | 6:-8: This is the work of God . . . . . the works of your father.
B | 10: 1-42. The works . . . . . in My Father's name bear witness.
A | 11: 47 - 20: 31. I have finished the work.
This important inter-relation gives us the Lord's own emphasis, and the more of this
we can see, the less we need the help of man. Some may have already observed that the
structure given of John's Gospel is entirely different from any hitherto published. It
would have been easy to have adopted the structure already set out in The Companion
Bible, and hours of labour would have been saved, but this would not have been living up
to the title of "The Berean Expositor". We could not ignore John's own significant
statement in chapter 20:, and a new structure was therefore necessary.