IDENTIFYING JOHN IN HIS GOSPEL

In John’s Gospel he never refers to himself by his name John. He is spoken of either as one of the sons of Zebedee or as the disciple whom Jesus used to love. When he speaks of John the Baptist, unlike the other Gospel writers he calls the Baptist only “John.” This would be more natural for one of the same name to do, since no one would misunderstand about whom he was speaking. Others would have to use a Surname or title or other descriptive terms to distinguish whom they meant, as John himself does when speaking of one of the Marys.—John 11:1, 2; 19:25; 20:1.

Viewing John’s writing in this light, it becomes evident that he himself was the unnamed companion of Andrew to whom John the Baptist introduced Jesus Christ. (John 1:35-40) It was he who gained entrance for himself and Peter into the courtyard of the high priest because the high priest knew him. (John 18:15, 16) After Jesus’ resurrection John passed Peter up as they ran to the tomb to investigate the report that Jesus had risen. (John 20:2-8) He was privileged to see the resurrected Jesus that same evening (John 20:19; Luke 24:36) and again the following week. (John 20:26) He was one of the seven who went back to fishing and to whom Jesus appeared. (John 21:1-14) John was also present at the mountain in Galilee after Jesus rose from the dead, and personally heard the command: “Make disciples of people of all the nations.”—Matt. 28:16-20.

JOHN’S LATER HISTORY

After Jesus’ ascension John was in Jerusalem at the assembling of about 120 disciples when Matthias was chosen by lot and reckoned along with the eleven apostles. (Acts 1:12-26) He was present at the outpouring of the spirit on the day of Pentecost and saw 3,000 added to the congregation on that day. (Acts 2:1-13, 41) He, along with Peter, stated before the Jewish rulers the principle followed by the congregation of God’s people: “Whether it is righteous in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves. But as for us, we cannot stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19, 20) Again, he joined the other apostles in telling the Sanhedrin: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.”—Acts 5:27-32.

After Stephen’s death at the hands of enraged Jews, great persecution arose against the congregation in Jerusalem and the disciples were scattered. But John, with the other apostles, remained in Jerusalem. When the preaching of Philip the missionary moved many in Samaria to accept the word of God, the governing body dispatched Peter and John to assist these new disciples to receive the holy spirit. (Acts 8:1-5, 14-17) In 49 C.E., John was present at the conference of the governing body on the issue of circumcision for Gentile converts. (Acts 15:5, 6, 28, 29) Paul said that John was one of those in Jerusalem “who seemed to be pillars” of the congregation. John, as a member of the governing body, gave Paul and Barnabas the “right hand of sharing together” as they were sent on their mission to preach to the nations (Gentiles).—Gal. 2:9.

While Jesus Christ was still on earth he had indicated that John would survive the other apostles. (John 21:20-22) For some seventy years he faithfully served Jehovah. Toward the end of his life John was imprisoned on the isle of Patmos, where he came to be “for speaking about God and bearing witness to Jesus.” (Rev. 1:9) This proves that he was energetically active in preaching the good news, even at a very old age (in about 96 C.E.).

While on Patmos, John was favored with the marvelous vision of Revelation, which he faithfully wrote down. (Rev. 1:1, 2) It is generally believed that he was exiled by Emperor Domitian and was released by Domitian’s successor, Emperor Nerva (96-98 C.E.). According to tradition, he went to Ephesus, where he wrote his Gospel and his three letters entitled the First, Second and Third of John, about 98 C.E. Traditionally, it is believed that he died at Ephesus in 100 C.E. during the reign of Emperor Trajan.

PERSONALITY

Scholars have generally concluded that John was a nonactive person, sentimental and introspective. As one commentator puts it: “John, with his contemplative, stately, ideal mind, went angel-like through life.” They base their evaluation of John’s personality on the fact that John speaks so much about love, and because he does not appear so prominently in the Acts of the apostles as do Peter and Paul. Also, they note that he seems to have let Peter take the lead in speaking when they were together.

It is true that, when Peter and John were together, Peter is always foremost as the spokesman. This would be natural, however, for Peter was evidently the older man, and John would let him take the lead in speaking, just as he had been taught respect for those who were his seniors from the Hebrew Scriptures and as the Christian Greek Scriptures also counsel. (Job 32:4-7; 1 Tim. 5:17) But the accounts do not say that John was silent. Rather, when before the rulers and older men both Peter and John spoke without fear. (Acts 4:13, 19) Likewise, John spoke boldly, as did the other apostles before the Sanhedrin, although Peter is specifically mentioned by name. (Acts 5:29) And as to being the active, energetic type, did he not anxiously outrun Peter in reaching Jesus’ tomb? But he did show courtesy and respect toward Peter as an older Christian brother when he waited for Peter to enter Jesus’ tomb first.—John 20:2-8.

Early in their ministry as apostles, Jesus gave the surname Boanerges (“Sons of Thunder”) to John and his brother James. (Mark 3:17) This title certainly does not denote any soft sentimentality or lack of vigor, but, rather, dynamism of personality. When a Samaritan village refused to receive Jesus, these “Sons of Thunder” were ready to call down fire from heaven to annihilate its inhabitants. Previously, John tried to prevent a man from expelling demons in Jesus’ name. Jesus gave reproof and correction in each case.—Luke 9:49-56.

The two brothers on those occasions showed misunderstanding and, to a great extent, lacked the balance and the loving, merciful spirit that they later developed. Nevertheless, these two occasions manifested a spirit of loyalty and a decisive, vigorous personality that, channeled in the right direction, made them strong, energetic, faithful witnesses. James died a martyr’s death at the hands of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1, 2), and John endured as a pillar “in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in company with Jesus” as the last living apostle.—Rev. 1:9.

When James and John apparently got their mother to request that they sit next to Christ in his kingdom, they demonstrated an ambitious spirit that made the other apostles indignant. But it afforded Jesus a fine opportunity to explain that the one great among them would be the one who served the others. Then he pointed out that even He came to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matt. 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45) However selfish their desire was, the incident reveals their faith in the reality of the Kingdom.

Certainly if John’s personality had been as painted by religious commentators—weak, impractical, lacking in energy, introverted—Jesus Christ would not likely have used him to write the stirring, powerful book of Revelation, in which Christ repeatedly encourages Christians to be conquerors of the world, tells of the good news to be preached world wide, and issues forth the thunderous judgments of God.

It is true that John speaks about love more than the other Gospel writers. This does not give evidence of any soft sentimentality. Conversely, love is a strong quality. On love the entire Law and the Prophets were based. (Matt. 22:36-40) “Love never fails.” (1 Cor.13:8) Love “is a perfect bond of union.” (Col. 3:14) Love, of the kind that John advocated, sticks to principle and is capable of strong reproof, correction and discipline, as well as kindness and mercy.

Wherever he appears in the three synoptic Gospel accounts, as well as in all of his own writings, John always manifested the same strong love and loyalty toward Jesus Christ and his Father Jehovah. Loyalty and hatred of that which is bad are manifest in his noting of bad motives or traits in the actions of others. He alone tells us that it was Judas who grumbled at Mary’s use of expensive ointment to anoint Jesus’ feet and the reason for Judas’ complaint: because he carried the money box and was a thief. (John 12:4-6) He points out that Nicodemus came to Jesus ‘under cover of night.’ (John 3:2) He notes the serious flaw in Joseph of Arimathea, that he was “a disciple of Jesus but a secret one out of his fear of the Jews.” (John 19:38) John could not countenance the fact that anyone could profess to be a disciple of his Master and yet be ashamed of it.

John had developed the fruits of the spirit to a far greater degree when he wrote his Gospel and letters than when he was a young man newly associated with Jesus. He was certainly not the same person who had asked for a special seat in the Kingdom. And in his writings we can find expression of his maturity and good counsel to help us to imitate his faithful, loyal, energetic course.

JOHN, THE GOOD NEWS ACCORDING TO

One of the four accounts of Jesus Christ’s earthly life and ministry, and the last one to be written.

WRITERSHIP

Although the book does not name its writer, it has been almost universally acknowledged that it was by the hand of the apostle John. From the beginning his writership was not challenged, except by a small group in the second century who objected on the ground that they considered the book’s teachings unorthodox, but not because of any evidence concerning writership. Only since the advent of modern “critical” scholarship has John’s writership been challenged anew.

The internal evidence that the apostle John, the son of Zebedee, was indeed the writer consists of such an abundance of proofs from various viewpoints that it overwhelms any arguments to the contrary. Only a very limited number of points are mentioned here, but the alert reader, with these things in mind, will find a great many more. A few are:

(a) The writer of the book was evidently a Jew, as indicated by his familiarity with Jewish opinions.—John 1:21; 6:14; 7:40; 12:34.

(b) He was a native dweller in the land of Palestine, as indicated by his thorough acquaintance with the country. The details mentioned concerning places named indicate personal knowledge of them. Among these are: “Bethany across the Jordan” (John 1:28) and ‘Bethany near Jerusalem’ (11:18); there was a garden at the place where Christ was impaled, and a new memorial tomb in it (19:41); Jesus “spoke in the treasury as he was teaching in the temple” (8:20); “It was wintertime, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon” (10:22, 23), and many other exact descriptions.

(c) The writer’s own testimony and the factual evidence show that he was an eyewitness. He names individuals who said or did certain things (John 1:40; 6:5, 7; 12:21; 14:5, 8, 22; 18:10); he is detailed about the times of events (4:6, 52; 6:16; 13:30; 18:28; 19:14; 20:1; 21:4); he factually designates numbers in his descriptions, doing so unostentatiously.—1:35; 2:6; 4:18; 5:5; 6:9, 19; 19:23; 21:8, 11.

(d) The writer was an apostle. No one but an apostle could have been eyewitness to so many events associated with Jesus’ ministry; also his intimate knowledge of Jesus’ mind, feelings and reasons for certain actions reveals that he was one of the party of twelve who accompanied Jesus throughout his ministry. For example, he tells us that Jesus asked Philip a question to test him, “for he himself knew what he was about to do.” (John 6:5, 6) Jesus knew “in himself that the disciples were murmuring.” (6:61) He knew “all the things coming upon him.” (18:4) He “groaned in the spirit and became troubled.” (11:33; compare 13:21; 2:24; 4:1, 2; 6:15; 7:1) The writer was also familiar with the apostles’ thoughts and impressions, some of which were wrong and were corrected later.—2:21, 22; 11:13; 12:16; 13:28; 20:9; 21:4.

Additionally, the writer is spoken of as “the disciple whom Jesus used to love.” (John 21:20, 24) He was evidently one of the three most intimate apostles that Jesus kept nearest to him on several occasions, such as the transfiguration (Mark 9:2) and the time of his anguish in the garden of Gethsemane. (Matt. 26:36, 37) Of these three apostles, James is eliminated as the writer because of his being put to death about 44 C.E. by Herod Agrippa I. There is no evidence whatsoever for such an early date for the writing of this Gospel. Peter is ruled out by having his name mentioned alongside “the disciple whom Jesus used to love.”—John 21:20, 21.

AUTHENTICITY

The Gospel of John was accepted as canonical by the early Christian congregation. It appears in nearly all the ancient catalogues, being there accepted without query as authentic. The epistles of Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 C.E.) contain clear traces of his use of John’s Gospel, as do also the writings of Justin Martyr a generation later. It is found in all the most important codices of the Christian Greek Scriptures: the Sinaitic, Vatican, Alexandrine, Ephraemi, Bezae, Washington and Koridethi codices, and in all the early versions. A fragment of this Gospel containing part of John chapter 18 is contained in the John Rylands Papyrus 457 (P⁵²), of the first half of the second century. Also parts of chapters 10 and 11 are found in the Chester Beatty Papyrus (P⁴⁵) and part of the first chapter in the Bodmer Papyrus (P⁶⁶) of the early third century.

WHEN AND WHERE WRITTEN

It is generally thought that John had been released from exile on the island of Patmos and was in or near Ephesus, about sixty miles (c. 97 kilometers) from Patmos, at the time he wrote his Gospel, about 98 C.E. Roman Emperor Nerva, 96-98 C.E., recalled many who had been exiled at the close of the reign of his predecessor Domitian. John may have been among these. In the Revelation John received on