Yes I’d guess that John son of Zebedee wrote it. Here’s two things which back it up.
Its claimed that the disciple whom Jesus loved wrote the gospel. So the claim is that there is a disciple who called himself the one that Jesus loved. We can surmise that if there was a disciple who went around calling himself the one that Jesus that this would cause some tension among the 12.
In all three synoptics display some tension between the two zebedee brothers and the rest of twelve. The two brothers having ides above their station. In Matthew and Mark they seek to be sat at the right and left of the lord in his kingdom. The rest of disciples indignant when they hear – Matthew 20:24, Mark 10:41.
In Luke the two brothers claim to be able to call down fire from heaven, like Elijah. Jesus rebukes them Luke 9:54-55.
So as candidates for disciples causing tension by placing themselves above the rest, we only have John and James. As James died in the 40s we are left with John.
Secondly John 21 is often seen, correctly I believe, as a epilogue attached later to the finished gospel. A good explanation is that the prologue is written shortly after the death of Peter. John 21:19
Strangely the zebedees aren’t mentioned in John 1 to 20 proper, despite John being a pillar of the church, but the author of the epilogue is careful to include them in chapter 21, where the disciple loved by Jesus will have a minor run in with Peter.
John 21:20-22
Peter who has just died turns to see the one following close behind (the disciple loved by the Jesus) and who will be the leader in his place. Jesus says, “if he is to wait til I return what is that to you, you must follow me” (ie be martyred).
So now we have the new leader (one of twelve) to be the writer of the gospel.
The pillars of the church, according to Paul, were Peter, John and James (the brother of the Lord). Peter and John’s leadership roles and closeness to Jesus are repeated throughout the other gospels. As James (the brother of the Lord) was not one of the 12, we have again the only candidate left is John son of Zebedee.
godspell said
As ever, the most interesting texts to analyze are people.😉
And by far the easiest task in which to fool yourself. You wind up simply projecting your own desires and fears onto the other person. Imagining you’ve discovered something about another person is really a strategy to avoid confronting one’s own self. Nothing is quite as terrifying as observing the void within.
Which is more fanciful? That the gospel of John was written by one of Jesus’ immediate disciples or that the pericope adulterae preserves an authentic memory of the historical Jesus?
I type ten words. You type eighty. And say nothing. I sized you up pretty good.
And I was right about bren thinking John wrote John. Which is what really bugs you.
I suppose we all have a void in us somewhere, so that’s not so much a personality assessment as a cliche. You’re good with those.
😀
And I suggest you follow your own advice. And stop being such a damn hypocrite. You are literally suggesting I need psychiatric help because I won’t agree with you about everything. I think what I need help with is my tendency not to give up on obsessive personalities such as yourself, much sooner than I typically do. Well, there is such a thing as self-help, no?
I’m just here a few more weeks. I’m going to stop reading and responding to what you type. I’ve seen it all before, and it’s not terribly interesting. Except from a clinical level, and I am not a qualified professional. Neither are you, but when has that ever stopped you?
Good luck. You’ll need it.
“Get help” would imply you believe yourself able to read my mind, assess my mental well-being, by reading my posts.
Isn’t that precisely what you said I should stop doing?
Nobody in my real life seems concerned.
I will venture no opinion about the people in your life.
(But they have my sympathy.)
But the gospel of John does claim that he did, and claims this disciple’s words are whats in the gospel.
The gospel depicts this disciple and Peter and Jesus holding important intimate discussions – both at the last supper John 18:24 and in the epilogue John 21:21
The testimony of 2nd century Christians is that this disciple was John son of Zebedee, and this lines up with the accounts presented by the other evangelists and Paul.
Matthew 17:17
Mark 14:33
Luke lists the disciples as Peter, Andrew, James, John originally in his gospel but changes the order in Acts 1:13. Presumably the order in Acts is now based on importance within the church. As confirmed by Paul.
Galatians 2:9
All sources confirming the leadership roles of Peter and John and their closeness to Jesus.
It should be undeniable that the 4th gospel is at least claiming its author is John son of Zebedee.
I tend to agree that the “beloved disciple” was probably intended to refer to John. But I doubt that John himself actually wrote the gospel. Are you familiar with the work of scholar Raymond Brown? If not I recommend you search out his commentaries on the gospel of John and the letters of John. His work is very influential and I find his view of the so-called “Johannine community” very compelling. And you don’t want me to just give it to you second hand anyway.
Robert said
I see Trump supporters do this kind of nonsense all the time but I almost never engage in stupid discussions. I live and work in a world where expertise is necessarily recognized and appreciated. It’s easy to spot frauds and ignore them.
And just when I thought you couldn’t sink any lower……
Another thing a Trump supporter or Trump himself might do, would be to put some prestigious-sounding name adjacent to his. Like Princeton. I mean, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that Princeton, but people would just assume. Right?
I was the one being honest about my education and my work background. Stephen won’t even talk about what schooling he’s had. You won’t talk about what you do for a living.
As you say–not hard to spot.
Whatever you guys do, hope you can switch to telecommuting. Not a hope in my case.
I seem to recall asking you quite directly about that, and your response was ‘never’–which I respected. But since you pretend to miss my point, I was saying that when you type that word–unaccompanied by the name of the state Princeton is in, which btw, I grew up in–the implication is that you have some professional connection to a highly prestigious institute of higher learning. Do you?
Why do you feel the need to tell us where you live, every time you post? No one else here has ever bothered, best as I can tell. What difference could it possibly make to anyone but you?
An affectation is no less affected for being accurate with regards to your geographic location. I happen to be in the Bronx right now. Even more prestigious, to a baseball fan. So. What?
Growing up would imply moving on. And maybe removing an utterly pointless flourish from your posting ID.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert