The
Book of Matthew is believed to be written by Matthew himself, one of the best
educated of Jesus 12 apostles.
The
Book of Mark is believed to be written by John Mark from the stories told him
by Peter, plus the book of Matthew.
The
Book of Luke is believed to be written by Dr. Luke from the stories told him by
various believers, especially Paul.
The
Book of John is believed to be written by Jesus’ disciple John, but nowhere in
the book does it say the author’s name is John. That is a title that came to be in the second
century. Many of the church fathers of
the time called it “the gospel according to John” or “John’s Gospel.” The strongest evidence for this name comes
from Irenaeus, the student of Polycarp who was the student of John. He directly
stated that John was the one who leaned on Jesus during the last supper and was
the one Jesus Loved. However, Irenaeus is notorious for getting names and dates
wrong and simply is not a reliable witness.
There
is no place in scriptures that says John was Jesus best friend. In
fact, Jesus had more than 12 disciples. At one point He sent 70 out to
minister.
John 11:5: Jesus loved
Martha and her sister (Mary) and Lazarus.
John 11:3: So the
sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love (Lazarus) is
sick."
John 11:36: Then
the Jews said, "See how he loved him (Lazarus)!"
John
is the only book that mentions either Lazarus or “the disciple whom Jesus
loved.” The others don’t even mention Lazarus’ death or resurrection, the event
that evidently led to the Crucifixion.
The
Transfiguration is recorded in the other three gospels but not in John. Why?
John was at the Transfiguration, why wouldn’t he record it? Maybe the author
wasn’t at the event and didn’t really know enough about it to be a witness?
Disciple
who He loved reclined on him during last supper.
Were only the 12 at that
supper?
John 18:15-16: Simon Peter and another disciple were
following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with
Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the
door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back,
spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
Lazarus
(who lived in a suburb of Jerusalem) was well known by the Pharisees. They came
to mourn him when he died, before Jesus raised him from the dead.
There
is no indication that the High Priest knew John in any way. As a professional
fisherman from Galilee, it isn’t really likely.
John 19:25-27: 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 to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your
son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time
on, this disciple took her into his home.
John,
we know, was among those eventually scattered. Lazarus we think was pretty
stable in his home life and a better choice to care for Mary.
Then the “other disciple” goes inside the
tomb and it is recorded, “He saw and believed” (John 20:8). At some point later, Mark records that Jesus appeared
to the eleven and scolded them for not believing He had risen from the dead.
Mark 16:14: Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked
them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who
had seen him after he had risen.
It is recorded in John 20 that the “other disciple”
believed after having entered the tomb and finding it empty. Sometime
afterwards, Jesus is seen as scolding the eleven for their
unbelief. The eleven would have included John. Eleven
Apostles remained after Judas killed himself shortly after his betrayal of
Jesus.
John 21:1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea
of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon
Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymusb
), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples
were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they
said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that
night they caught nothing….7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter,
“It is the Lord!”
During the fishing trip, it is
generally assumed it is John who is the one who tells Peter it is the Lord standing
on the shore and, therefore, John must be “the
disciple whom Jesus loved.” However, there is nothing in this
account that identifies John as this disciple. John has already been
implicitly identified by name in that the sons of Zebedee are named as being
part of the fishing group. In view of this, it would appear reasonable to
expect that if John is the one who tells Peter “it is
the Lord,” John would have been identified by name as the person who
said this to Peter. Yet the writer identifies this person as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” May it be more
reasonable to conclude that “the disciple whom Jesus
loved” is one of the two unnamed disciples (not necessarily limited to
the 12) who were in the boat and not John, the son of Zebedee?
Of course, Lazarus was from
Bethany and they were all in Galilee. What was he doing so far from home? Could
he have been just on vacation with them?
John 21:20-24: Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus
loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against
Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray
you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about
him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return,
what is that to you? You must follow me." Because of this, the rumor
spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not
say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive
until I return, what is that to you?" This is the disciple who
testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony
is true.
“Some believe this is evidence “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is Lazarus. It is
argued that because Lazarus had already died once, it came to be believed that
he would not die again. Therefore, it must be Lazarus who Peter was
asking about and it is Lazarus who the brothers concluded would not die.
It’s pointed out that there is no Scriptural reason to conclude the disciples
would single out John as a disciple who would not die.
The disciples believed that
Christ would return in their lifetimes or shortly after.
Why does Peter have an interest
in what is going to happen to this disciple? Why is Peter questioning
Jesus about this disciple as opposed to any of the other disciples present at
the time? Some believe Peter, after being told how he would die, wanted
to know what was in store for a disciple who had already died once and was
resurrected. Peter may have been wondering what was to happen to him
after his own death.”
The fourth Gospel identifies “the disciple whom Jesus loved” as its author or at
least the source for the information presented in this Gospel.
The strongest evidenced in favor of John being the author the testimony
of the early Church Fathers. These men, without apparent exception, see a
person named John as the author of the fourth Gospel.
If indeed
the fourth Gospel was written by someone other than the provider of the
testimony of what was written, though, why did this writer attribute such
testimony to “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
Why not simply name the person who provided the testimony?
It’s been
suggested by those who believe Apostle John wrote the fourth Gospel that he did
not use his name out of a sense of humility. However, it would not appear
to be a sign of humility to single yourself out as “the
disciple whom Jesus loved.” Furthermore, most believe Apostle John
wrote the Revelation. In the Revelation the author is identified as being
John five times. Was John being less humble in the writing the Revelation
than he was in writing his Gospel? It’s to be noted that the three other
Gospel writers mention John’s name twenty times but never as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” The humility
argument in support of John’s authorship appears to be without merit.
Those who
believe Lazarus provided the written testimony used to produce the fourth
Gospel believe Lazarus didn’t want his name used because he felt it would
distract from his focus on Jesus. While Jesus had become popular and had
garnered a significant following, it is apparent from Scriptures we have
already cited that Lazarus had become a celebrity in his own right as a consequence
of the many witnesses to his resurrection. Therefore, it is believed Lazarus
did not want his named used as the source of his testimony pertaining to
Jesus.
While it
is true that there are editorial comments in the fourth Gospel that show that
the purpose of its author was to focus on what Jesus did and accomplished, it
seems odd that the author of this Gospel would hide his identity behind a
pseudo name such as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
It is obvious from the Gospel of John that the other disciples of Jesus knew
who this disciple was. His name wasn’t “the
disciple whom Jesus loved.” He had a name.
As
discussed above, it would have been the height of vanity for this disciple to
refer to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
This strongly indicates an editor was involved in writing the fourth Gospel and
it was this editor who designated the one who provided the material for this
Gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
There is some historical evidence that a man named John the Presbyter,
also known as John the Elder, may have been the one who wrote the fourth Gospel
and that is why the Church Fathers believe it was a John who authored this
Gospel. Some believe John the Elder took written material presented by
Lazarus and, along with his own editorial notes, formatted the fourth Gospel.
However, there is no sound evidence to support this conclusion.