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The archetype of John's Gospel as planned by its anonymous writer


The chapter:verse content of the base sections, and the suggested titles of all the sections

CHAP:VERSE LETTERS PAGES SUGGESTED SECTION TITLES
Act 1: Jesus has come down from heaven
   1st disciples; 1st miracle; 1st temple action
     JnB and the first disciples
1:1-42 equiv. : 3128 4        John the Baptist: the witness sent from God
1:43-51 802 1        The testimony of Nathanael
2:1-11 847 1      Jesus turns water into wine
2:12-3:36 4060 5      Jesus in Jerusalem
   Jesus comes to Galilee
4:1-42 [...] 3255 4      The Samaritan woman
4:43-5:18 2320 3      Two healing miracles
5:19-47 2339 3      Testimony to Jesus
   Bread
6:1-21 1640 2      Nature miracles by lake Tiberias
6:22-29 802 1      Work for the food that lasts
6:30-71 3221 4      The bread from heaven
Act 2: The light of the world
   In the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles
7:1-52 3939 5      Controversy at the Feast of Tabernacles
     Jesus is the light of the world
8:12-20 769 1        The pharisees challenge his testimony
8:21-30 811 1        You cannot go where I am going
8:31-59 2394 3      Sons of Abraham
   A light to the blind; a shepherd to the sheep
9:1-41 [...] 3263 4      The blind man
10:1-18 [...] 1517 2      The good shepherd
10:19-42 1665 2      Jesus shows he is the Son of God
   Life comes through death
11:1-53 [...] 3976 5      The raising of Lazarus
12:1-11 [...] 875 1      The anointing at Bethany
12:12-50 3195 4      Jesus enters Jerusalem
Act 3: Jesus returns to the Father
   Prelude to returning to the Father
     The last supper
13:1-20 1621 2        Jesus washes the disciples' feet
13:21-30 727 1        Betrayer is revealed by a piece of bread
13:31-14:31 3147 4      First farewell discourse
     Second farewell discourse
15:1-16:4a 2381 3        The lasting fruit of the vine
16:4b-15 792 2        I'm going away: the Holy Spirit will guide you
16:16-33 1611 1        Your pain will turn into joy
   The hour of Jesus' glorification
17:1-18:12 3103 4      What the Father gave to the Son
18:13-19:1-16a [...] 3982 5      Jesus is tried and condemned
19:16b-42 2449 3      The crucifixion of Jesus
   The risen Lord
20:1-10 781 1      The empty tomb
20:11-18 784 1      The message about the risen Jesus
20:19-29 [...] 809 1      The risen Jesus inspires faith

Key features of the structure

The first three levels of the structure are perfectly symmetrical.
From the top down, the sections at these levels are arranged in a 3-9-27 format.
All the section breaks at the first two levels occur at chapter boundaries (except for 8:12, which *should* have started a new chapter because Jn 7:53 - 8:11 was not part of the original text of the gospel).

The number of letters in the first scene

This includes 106 extra pseudo-letters, which is half of the size of the prologue (1:1-5) because I have reason to believe that the author/scribe used larger letters for this impressive start to his gospel. [1]

The major structure

Without doubt there were 84 pages (84 sheets with the writing on one side only). The author chose to write each episode on a separate set of between 1 and 5 pages. These episodes must have been structured in some way.

Moffatt suggested a threefold division: chs. 1-6, 7-12 and 13-20. [2] Applying this to our model produces three major sections or 'acts', each occupying 28 pages. There is a symmetry of content between the first and third acts. For the first is characterized by the use of καταβαινω (11 occurrences, none elsewhere) mostly indicating the descent of the spirit/Jesus from heaven, whereas the last is characterized by the phrase προς τον πατερα (9 out of 10 occurrences) mostly indicating Jesus' impending return to the Father. What is more, the middle act is framed by the strange hiding/crying-out-loud ambivalence in both 7:1-39 and 12:36-50, which is reminiscent of Mark's 'messianic secret'.

Notes for this page

1. After positing several interpolations, my page analysis based on letter counts is remarkably consistent throughout the gospel except right at the beginning. The four pages in the subsection 1:1-42 are short of the expected size determined from the rest of the gospel by about 158 letters. As in Mark and Matthew, I have posited letters 50% larger for the first paragraph. For John this amounts to the equivalent of 106 additional letters.
2. J.Moffatt, An Introduction to the Literature of the New Testament (Edinburgh; T&T Clark, 3rd. edn., 1918), p.519

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