Who Wrote the Gospel of John?

The Gospel of John provides no explicit internal evidence concerning its author. John, the disciple, is nowhere identified by name. But the Fourth Gospel might provide us with clues concealed in the enigmatic figure of the "Beloved Disciple."

In this video, Gary M. Burge gives some insight.

[glyemhouse]

You say it is defensible. But I want to know how you defend it.

[ahassen]

Hence why I became a Muslim. I would rather believe an entire faith that corrects this mystery and does so confidently and honestly through God himself, and his final revelation in the Qur'an than hold a belief in XYZ, and the paganistic and distorted view of our beloved Christ through anonymous figures.

[THANA_III]

﴿لَقَد كَفَرَ الَّذينَ قالوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ المَسيحُ ابنُ مَريَمَ وَقالَ المَسيحُ يا بَني إِسرائيلَ اعبُدُوا اللَّهَ رَبّي وَرَبَّكُم إِنَّهُ مَن يُشرِك بِاللَّهِ فَقَد حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيهِ الجَنَّةَ وَمَأواهُ النّارُ وَما لِلظّالِمينَ مِن أَنصارٍ﴾ [المائدة: ٧٢]
(72) They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allāh is the Messiah, the son of Mary" while the Messiah has said, "O Children of Israel, worship Allāh, my Lord and your Lord." Indeed, he who associates others with Allāh - Allāh has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire. And there are not for the wrongdoers any helpers.
Holy Quran [5:72].

[Myitkyina]

Please stop lying. The gospel of John was not written by John but anonymously.

[Mursedave]

Mockers in the comment sections are sad. Why do skeptics stay in Christian forums and videos? It’s pretty pathetic. Do an ounce of objective research and you might be surprised what you find. Until then, I guess you can just remain in the dark.

[posthawk]

The best alternative to the Apostle John is John the Elder, an eyewitness to Jesus's ministry who Papias wrote about. 2 John and 3 John each refer to themselves as "elder", and additionally the Muratorian Canon refers to John as a "disciple" but Andrew as an "Apostle." There's a lot more evidence showing that John the Elder wrote John's Gospel, and a lot of it can be found in Richard Baukham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses.

[chasedollars]

I just want to know how John wrote the book of John if he died in like the beginning of the book

[mirandarogers]

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

[ChristopherEnoch]

Please don't tell me it's defensible without telling me how it is defensible!

[bradbrown]

Synoptics say Disciples abandoned Jesus that Friday. But John was w Mary at the Cruxifixction?

[mytwocents]

The internal evidence against John being the author is overwhelming.
In the synoptics, we are told that John and James and Peter were the most prominent of the disciples. They show up again and again to witness major events:

1) They were called to follow Jesus while fishing (Matthew, Mark, Luke)
2) Present at the raising of the Daughter of Jairus (Mark/Luke)
3) Present at the Transfiguration
4) Present for the Olivet discourse (Mark)
5) Present for the Agony in the Garden prior to Jesus' arrest
All of these incidents disappear from the fourth gospel completely except for the first where the recruitment of Peter and Andrew is immediately followed not by the calling of James and John, but of Phillip and Nathanael.
The author of the fourth gospel seems determined to erase James and John from the Jesus story. If the author were John, you would expect him to talk about some of these things. Any of them.

But could John be disguised as the "beloved disciple?" Consider that the first time the reader meets the "beloved disciple" is at the Last Supper! In the last gospel, the ministry of Jesus lasts 3 years but we first hear about the beloved disciple (AKA John) the day before Jesus is crucified? That's an amazingly low profile for an apostle. Then suddenly the beloved disciple is everywhere - he's told to look after the mother of Jesus, he races Peter to the empty tomb, and figures out that it was the Lord who helped the disciples catch 153 fish. None of the synoptic authors mention any of this stuff.

As a final bit of craziness, notice that the name "James" never appears in the fourth gospel. James, the brother of John, was supposedly the first of the apostles to be martyred and his brother decided not to include his name even once! How much did he hate his brother?

[joseluisromerojr]

There is another possible writer other than John, and that would be Lazarus. Lazarus is identified as “the one whom you loved”. When Lazarus is not mentioned anymore, the “beloved disciple” appears. Towards the end, there’s a list of disciples where John is mentioned along with his brother, but the beloved disciple is listed as well. John was a fisherman, but he had no connections with the “elite” and there was no way he could’ve entered the high priest’s home just like that. On the other hand, Lazarus was from a well positioned family that had connections with the priesthood and that is evident when the family is mourning his death. Anyway, there’s a lot more to the story but I hope this has sparked your interest in reading it again. God bless!

[samuelhodge]

How is John a defaceable position? Other than the people back in the mid-second century believed it may have been John. What actual evidence is there that he was the author? There is evidence for Lazurus. Even the Jews were so amazed at how much Jesus loved him. In John 11:35, it is even said with an exclamation mark to show how much the Jews stressed this point. Jesus loved Lazarus a lot.

[kashkash]

Problem is Mark is the oldest Gospel. Mathew and luke copy from Mark. Luke was trained by Paul. Paul and luke never met Jesus only had vision of him. John is the later gospel and has stuff Mark, Marhew, Luke never mentioned important stuff like 'I and the father are one" or No one get to the father except through me", among other important verse. So here is the problem if the verse were so important why the other earlier gospel forgot to even mention it. As far as vision goes Joseph smith also had a vision "Mormon". Question is who is John for sure??? Gospel says according to John. So John didn't even write John. This becomes a hugest issue at least for me. This is called building trust. If someone say trust me i am a doctor, i need to see them certificates with his name on it. Butcher also wears white coat with some blood on it. What is John last name? Was he good, trust worthy,

[BrendaCourtien]

So was John ben Zebede also called John the Beloved and John of Old? And was John the Baptist a totally different man? I'm trying to understand because I sometimes watch videos of a man John Davis who believes he was John Zebede and he calls himself Jon of New. He has memories of that time.

[lamminlalvaiphei]

Ok, can you please tell us that, many believes that the Author John is the brother of Christ but you said it's Jephades the father of John so how can we know it , also is he the John is the same who wrote the Gospel, 1 to 3 John and Revelation? Can you explain the story of John in brief ? . Thanks

[paulmuhle]

Again 'tradition' trumps everything else.

[andrewcohen]

Why trust it when we don’t know who wrote it ?

[makarov]

The only man in all the words that Jesus spoke who was identified as the one that Jesus loved was the young disciple Lazarus. He was also relaxing on Jesus' bosom at the table with the twelve. He's the naked young man dressed in grave clothes in the garden in Mark's account. For it was a costume that identified a living man dressed in grave clothes. It was Lazarus that wrote that 4th gospel. I believe the evidence for this position far exceeds any scriptural evidence for the authorship to be the Apostle John.

[CBLVO-si]

Gospel of John just like another ancient history book is written by someone who was heard of John's story (most likely had never seen John). What is certain, not the John himself to write it, if John did, It is no sense why Jesus not did it, why Muhammad not did it.