Authorship of John Details, Meaning Authorship of John Article and Explanation Guide

Authorship of John Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

There is dispute over the authorship of the Johannine works (the Gospel of John, The first, second,and third epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation) in the New Testament.

Table of contents

1 Two Major Views
2 John the Apostle wrote the books
3 John the Apostle did not write the books
4 John the Evangelist
5 See Also
6 External Links and References

Two Major Views

The traditional view is that the books were written by John the Apostle. This view has been held in the Christian church at least since the second century. The opposing viewpoint is that the book was probably written not by this John but by someone else, possibly named John or possibly not; John the Evangelist is the most common name given to this person.

John the Apostle wrote the books

Proponents of the view that John the Apostle wrote the books generally include conservatives, especially fundamentalist Christians and conservative Bible scholars. Some of the major arguments for this view run as follows:

The book itself claims to have been written by John the Apostle, near the end of the last chapter (21:20-24). For Christians who hold to the doctrine of inerrancy, (excluding the Apologetics) this is divine proof in itself.
This view was held by the early church, and modern scholars have less contemporary evidence to go on in making a determination (than the early church had), since many ancient sources have been lost. Many people alive in the second century would have actually met the author, which no person today can claim, and certainly people within the second century church would have known the date of the apostle's death, which we can now only estimate; if the book had been written after the death of the last apostle, as proponents of the opposing view invariably claim, the second-century church would have known that, and would have rejected the canonicity of the book, as they in fact did with various other writings that falsely claimed apostolic authorship. (For historians, this is the strongest argument for this view.)
In several places in the book, the author avoids mentioning John by name (13:23, 18:15-16, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7), although it is clear from comparison with the other gospel accounts that the person referred to in these passages is John the Apostle. The author does not avoid mentioning the other apostles by name, only John. One possible explanation for this is that the author was choosing not to mention himself by name out of humility. This is the weakest freqently-used argument for this view.
In countering the late-date argument (below), conservatives point out that more traditional estimates date the book somewhat earlier; for example, the NIV Study Bible dates the book circa A.D. 85; The New Catholic Encyclopedia dates his death at "about 100 A.D. at a great age"; The Orthodox Church in America says he wrote the Gospel of John in 95 A.D. and died sometime between 98 A.D. and 117 A.D., over 100 years old.

John the Apostle did not write the books

The opposing view is that John the Apostle probably did not write the books. The most frequently given reason is that he could not, because he would have been too old (or dead) by the time the books were written, especially the gospel, which is often regarded to have been written last of the five. The standard arguments for this position run as follows:

A date usually given for the writing of the John is sometime in the last 4 years of the first century. With the birth of Jesus dated between 6 BCE and 2 BCE, and with the start of his public ministry at age 30 (thus, sometime from 24 CE to 28), and John being a young adult (from 17-26) at the time, that would place John's age in the years 96-100 CE in the range of 89-98. In the ancient world, even reaching the age of 89 was very rare.
The early church had a vested interest in claiming John the Apostle wrote the book, since it gave the book legitimacy, and the book supports the views of the early church, particularly providing ammunition against Gnostics and other enemies, significantly more than the other Gospels.
Those who reject the Bible entirely question whether there even was such a person as John the Apostle.
Some have countered the book's claim to Apostolic authorship by saying that, by mentioning it, there must otherwise have been doubt, which the author would not himself have had. Others prefer the view that the book's author wrote it with the claim of Apostolic credentials that were not in fact his.
Others point out that "we know what he says is true" is a 3rd person reference, so at least part of the Gospel of John wasn't written by him. In addition, for technical reasons (such as change of style, wording, etc (which is clearer in greek than in translation)), the last two verses of the Gospel of John look like an addition by a different author at a different time.
Others point out inconsitencies between the description of John in the bible, and the nature of the author -
John was an illiterate fisherman, the author wrote very scholarly Greek.
John was an ordinary member of the Jewish community, the author wrote very good Greek, rather than that used by an Aramaic speaker.
John was simple, the author uses advanced theological concepts as if he was a master theologian.
Many speculate it was actually written by Irenaeus, who was also the first person to mention it (as far as there is evidence).

John the Evangelist

Of those who hold the view that the Apostle did not write the books, John the Evangelist is the most frequently suggested author. The name John the Evangelist comes from John the Presbyter (i.e., John the Elder or possibly John the Old Man), who some mediaeval legends consider never to have died (due to a quote in the Gospel of John) and continued living as Prester John.

This name for the author of the books was popularized by Eusebius and stems from the fact that in two of the epistles the author introduces himself as "the elder". Those who believe that this is the same person as the apostle usually speculate that he called himself that because he was the only apostle left alive by the time he wrote the books.

External Links and References

John 21:20-24 at Bible Gateway, or the same passage in English (NIV). (Other texts, the other passages mentioned, and other translations are also available at the same site.)
Discussion of the view that John the Apostle did not write the book (and links to related material) at Early Christian Writings.
New Catholic Encyclopedia article
Orthodox Church of America's take
Some material moved in from other pages on Wikipedia, including John the Evangelist, John the Apostle, and .

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