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John
the Apostle The son of Zebedee and Salome, John was born in Galilee, probably between A.D. 10 and 15. His father was a fisherman who fished in the Lake of Genesareth, a trade which John was plying. According to the usual and entirely probable explanation they became, however, for a time disciples of John the Baptist, and were called by Christ from the circle of John's followers, together with his brother Saint James the Greater, Peter and Andrew, to become His disciples (John 1:35-42). His mother joined the women who served the followers of Jesus (Mark 15:40-41; 16:1). Jesus nicknamed both brothers, John and James, Boanerges, meaning in Aramaic "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17), a reference to their rather fiery attitude to Jesus. John is traditionally credited with writing the fourth Gospel and three New Testament epistles. The book of Revelation was also traditionally assigned to him. Considerable doubt, particularly by modern scholars, has been thrown on the identity of John as the author of the Fourth Gospel. Some claim that John, the son of Zebedee, is not the same as the author of the Gospel, the Book of Revelation, and the three Letters. It is certain that the Fourth Gospel was written a considerable time later than the other three Gospels. The Gospels speak of the "disciple whom Jesus loved" it was long assumed that this was John, but the Gospel never identifies this disciple by name. Doubt has also been created by some scholars who have concluded that the three Letters were not written by the author of the Fourth Gospel. John and his brother Saint James the Greater. were among the first disciples called by Jesus, and John appears to have held a position of authority in the early church after the resurrection. They were privileged witnesses of special events such as the raising of Jairus' daughter and especially the Transfiguration and the Agony in the Garden. Only he and Peter were sent into the city to make the preparation for the final Passover meal (the Last Supper) (Luke 22:8). At the meal itself, his place was next to Jesus on whose chest he leaned (John 13:23-25). According to the general interpretation, John was also that "other disciple" who with Peter followed Jesus after the arrest into the palace of the high-priest (John 18:15). John alone remained near Jesus at the foot of the cross on Calvary with Jesus' mother, Mary, and the pious women and took Mary into his care as the last legacy of Jesus (John 19:25-27). After the Resurrection John, who had taken the Blessed Virgin Mary, following Christ's words on the Cross, as his adopted mother. The author of the Gospel of John was accustomed to indicate the Apostle in writing, identifying him as: "the disciple whom Jesus loved". After Jesus' Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, John, together with Peter, took a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the church. He is with Peter at the healing of the lame man in the Temple (Acts 3:1, et. seq.). With Peter he is also thrown into prison (Acts 4:3). He is also with Peter visiting the newly converted in Samaria (Acts 8:14). Later accounts of his life are based on legend. It is not known how John ended his life. Some traditions claim that he was martyred. Others claim he died at a ripe old age. Tradition from the 2d century claimed that John died and was buried at Ephesus, and his tomb became a site of pilgrimage. Tradition relates that John was banished to the Greek island of Patmos during the persecution initiated by the Roman emperor Domitian (reigned A.D. 81-96). Here, it is said, John wrote the Book of Revelation. The Fourth Gospel apparently was composed sometime between A.D. 85 and 95. Of the other New Testament writings, it is only from the three Letters of John and the Book of Revelation that anything further is learned about John. Both the Letters and Revelation presuppose that John belonged to the multitude of personal eyewitnesses of the life and work of Jesus (cf. especially 1 John 1:1-5; 4:14), that he had lived for a long time in Asia Minor, was thoroughly acquainted with the conditions existing in the various messianic communities there, and that he had a position of authority recognized by all messianic communities as leader of this part of the church. Moreover, Revelation says that its author was on the island of Patmos "for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus", when he was honoured with the vision contained in Revelation (Revelation 1:9). John, like his Old Testament counterpart Daniel, was kept alive to receive the prophetic vision. Saint John is the author of all five Johanine books of the New Testament :
Almost all modern critical scholars place the writing of the final edition of John at some time in the late first century, which supports the theory that John outlived all the other Apostles. It is believed that John survived his contemporary Apostles and lived to an extreme old age, dying at Ephesus in about A.D. 100. John's traditional tomb is thought to be located at Selçuk, a small town in the vicinity of Ephesus. As John did go to Ephesus, from there wrote the three epistles traditionally attributed to him. John was allegedly banished by the Roman authorities to the Greek island of Patmos, where some believe that he wrote the Book of Revelation. According to Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. It is said that the entire colosseum were converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle. Christian tradition identifies him as the author of several New Testament works: the Gospel of John, the Epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation. While some believe that John the Apostle, John the Evangelist, and John of Patmos are all one in the same, many modern scholars believe that John the Apostle, John the Evangelist, and John of Patmos were three separate individuals distinguishing at least three different authors. Certain lines of evidence suggest that John of Patmos wrote only Revelation, neither the Gospel of John nor the Epistles of John. For one, the author of Revelation identifies himself as "John" several times, but the author of the Gospel of John never identifies himself directly. The Gospel of John contains references to the "disciple whom Jesus loved". Traditionally this is taken as a self-reference by the author, and therefore a reference to John the Apostle. The author of the Gospel of St John and the First Epistle of John is known as St. John the Evangelist or St. John the Theologian (alternately rendered St. John the Divine or St. John the Beloved). The phrase the disciple whom Jesus loved or Beloved Disciple is used several times in the Gospel of John, but in none of the other accounts of Jesus. In John's gospel, it is the Beloved Disciple who, reclining beside Jesus at the Last Supper, asks him who it is that will betray him. Later at the crucifixion, Jesus tells his mother, "Woman, here is your son"; to the Beloved Disciple he says, "Here is your mother." When Mary Magdalene discovers the empty tomb, she runs to tell the Beloved Disciple and Simon Peter; the Beloved Disciple is the first to reach the empty tomb, but Simon Peter is the first to enter. Since the end of the 2nd century, the Beloved Disciple was considered to be John the Evangelist himself, although a few modern scholars have speculated that he was a lesser known disciple, perhaps from Jerusalem. This anonymous and idealized disciple is often identified as John the Apostle, thought to be also the Evangelist; others have proposed Lazarus or Mark the Evangelist, or supposed him to be a fictitious character. Since the Beloved Disciple does not appear in any of the other New Testament gospels, it has been traditionally seen as a self-reference to John the Evangelist. An issue is the identification of the Evangelist with John the Apostle; that is, whether the apostle is the same man as the evangelist. In the appendix to the gospel (John 21:24), there is an explicit testimony that the Beloved Disciple is testifying to the accounts told in John's gospel: "It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true." Hugh J. Schonfield imagined the Disciple to be a highly placed priest in the Temple and unavailable to follow Jesus in his ministry in the north. Schonfield uses this theory to account for the Beloved Disciple's absence in the north and accounts of Jesus' ministry in the Temple during the week before the Crucifixion. Some writers suggest that the Beloved Disciple in the Gospel of John really was originally Mary Magdalene, claiming that Mary's separate existence in a few common scenes with the Beloved Disciple, such as in John 20, were later modifications, hastily done to authorize the gospel in the late 2nd century. In the Gospel of Mary, part of the New Testament Apocrypha, a certain Mary who is commonly identified as Mary Magdalene, is constantly referred to as being loved by Jesus more than the others. In the Gospel of Philip, also from Apocrypha, the same is specifically said about Mary Magdalene.For example, compare these passages from the Gospel of John and the apocryphal Gospel of Philip: Philip There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary his mother and her sister and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary (NHC II.3.59.6-11) (Robinson 1988: 145). John Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said . . . (John 19:25) John's Gospel, unlike the other three, presents a well-developed theological point of view, on a level with the letters of St. Paul. After a prologue in which he identifies God with the Word (Logos), he offers selected episodes from Jesus' life and ministry. His explications of theological issues such as the significance of the Son of God greatly influenced the development of Christian doctrine. The Second and Third Epistle of John had the same author, who calls himself the presbyter; he has been identified with the enigmatic John the Presbyter. John the Presbyter is an obscure figure in early Christian tradition, who is either distinguished from, or identified with, the Apostle John. The tradition that identifies John as the author of the Fourth Gospel goes back to the 2nd century. It is certain, thanks to the discovery of the Chester-Beatty fragment, that this Gospel was in writing in the early 2nd century or earlier. This fragment is far older than that of any extract from the synoptic gospels. Although the Johannine authorship has been much disputed over the last century or more, it is strongly supported by internal as well as external reasons. There seems no compelling reason for rejecting the identification of John with the beloved disciple of the Gospel who was a witness of the events he describes. But he wrote about them in a contemplative way, emphasizing the theological reality and presupposing in his readers a knowledge of Christ's life, portrayed by the synoptic gospels. Above all he clearly stressed the Divinity of Christ, who is both Light and Life, and the importance of Charity (agape) which is the bond between Father and Son and between Christ and his disciples, as well as between the disciples themselves. Traditionally he wrote his Gospel towards the end of his life at the end of the 1st century, including within it inspired meditation on the truths he had witnessed. In this case it would have been written after the First Epistle of John. An author named John wrote the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:1), though it is not clear whether this is the Apostle or another John. The Revelation or Apocalypse, however, although also ascribed to him, is so different in thought, style, and content from the genuine Johannine writings that John's personal authorship of it in any normally accepted sense seems unlikely. Most Evangelical Christians, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics continue to hold that all New Testament "John" books; Revelation (Revelation 1:1, 1:9, and 22:8), the Gospel of John, and the epistles were written by Saint John, the son of Zebedee. Scholars like Justin Martyr held this view as early as AD 140. The main objection to this view is that the original Greek in Revelation is not like the other writing in the Gospels or the epistles, mainly because it does not follow the normal rules of Greek grammar. Some scholars believe that a different John wrote Revelation. Other scholars think that some of John's disciples wrote the Gospel and the epistles and that John himself wrote Revelation. The apocryphal 2nd century Gnostic text called Secret Book of John was also attributed to John, though not by established traditional Christian orthodoxy. DISCLAIMER: PLEASE READ I make no claim to be an expert pertaining to the knowledge and information of God and religion and all that which relates to God and religion. I make no claims, promises or guarantees about the completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to this website and its associated sites. Nothing on this site constitutes legal or medical advice. This website is an unofficial source of news and information continually updated from thousands of sources around the net. This website is the composition of many hours of research. Information contained within this site has come from numerous sources such as websites, newspapers, books, and magazines. By printing, downloading, or using any info from this site, you agree to our full terms. Review the full terms by clicking here. 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