Reading: John (ISBE Article)

John

The sources for the life of the apostle John are of various kinds, and of different degrees of trustworthiness. There are the references in the Synoptic Gospels, which may be used simply and easily without any critical preliminary inquiry into their worth as sources. For these Gospels contain the common tradition of the early church and are accepted as trustworthy. Further, there are the statements in Acts and in Galatians, which we may use without discussion as a source for the life of John. There is next the tradition of the 2nd century, which we may use if we can show that the John of Ephesus, who bulks so largely in the Christian literature of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, is identical with the son of Zebedee. Further, on the supposition that the son of Zebedee is the author of the Johannine writings of the New Testament, there is another source of unequaled value for the estimate of the life and character of the son of Zebedee in these writings. Finally, there is the considerable volume of tradition that gathered around the name of John of Ephesus, of which, picturesque and interesting though the traditions are, only sparing use can be made.

I. A Witness of the New Testament.

Addressing ourselves first to the Synoptic Gospels, to Acts, and Galatians, we ask, what, from these sources, can we know of the apostle John? A glance only need be taken at the Johannine writings, more fully discussed elsewhere concerning their author.

1. The Synoptic Gospels:

That John was one of the two sons of Zebedee, that he became one of the disciples of Jesus, that when Jesus called he forsook all and followed Jesus, and was after that continuously with Jesus to the end, are facts familiar to every reader of the Synoptic Gospels. The call was given to John and his brother James at the Sea of Galilee, while in a boat with their father Zebedee, "mending their nets" (Matthew 4:21,22, and parallel passages). "Come, follow me," said Jesus, "and I will make you fishers of men" (Mark 1:17). That Zebedee was a man of considerable wealth may be inferred from the fact that he had "hired servants" with him (Mark 1:20), and that his wife was one of those women who ministered of their substance to Jesus and His disciples (Matthew 27:55,56). The name of John appears in all the lists of the apostles given in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 10:2 and parallels). 

While his name rarely appears in a position by itself, he is still one of the most prominent of the disciples. With Peter and James, he is present at the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:37; Luke 8:51-56). These three were also present at the transfiguration (Matthew 17; Mark 9; Luke 9). They were nearest to the Lord at the agony of Gethsemane. In all these cases, nothing characteristic of John is to be noted. He is simply present as one of the three, and, therefore, one of the most intimate of the disciples. But there is something characteristic in an incident recorded by Luke (Luke 9:54), in which James and John are represented as wishing to call down fire on a Samaritan village, which had refused them hospitality. From this can be inferred something of the earnestness, zeal, and enthusiasm of the brothers, and of their high sense of what was due to their Master. 

Peter, James, John, and Andrew are the four who asked Jesus about the prophecies He had uttered: "Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished?" (Mark 13:4). Then there is the request of their mother as to the place she desired for her sons in the coming kingdom (Mark 10:35-45). To Peter and John was entrusted the task of preparation for the keeping of the Passover (Luke 22:8). Once John stands alone and asks what we may consider a characteristic question: "Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in thy name; and we forbade him because he followed not us" (Mark 9:38; Luke 9:49). From these notices we see that John was in the front rank of the disciples, and we see also that he was so far conscious of the position he held, and of the intimate connection he had with the Master. 

We note further that John was a young man of fiery zeal, and of a tendency toward intolerance and exclusiveness. The zeal and the intolerance are in evidence in the desire to call down fire upon the Samaritan village, and the tendency toward exclusiveness is manifested in the request of his mother as to the place her sons were to occupy in the kingdom. They desire to have the highest positions. These tendencies were not encouraged by Jesus. They were rebuked by Him once and again. In harmony with these notices of character and temperament is the name given to the brothers by Jesus, "Boanerges," "Sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17), which, whatever else may be meant by it, means strength, unexpectedness, and zeal approaching methods of violence.

2. Acts and Galatians:

John is found in company with Peter in the opening scenes in Acts. He is with Peter while the man at the gate was healed (Acts 3). He is with Peter on the mission to Samaria (Acts 8:14-25). He is with Peter and James, the Lord's brother, at the interview with Paul recorded in Galatians 2, and the three are described by Paul as the pillar apostles (Galatians 2:9). This discussion proves that John had survived his brother James, whose death is recorded in Acts 12.

3. The Johannine Writings: Gospel and Revelation:

Much is to be learned of the Apostle John from the Fourth Gospel written by him. We learn from it that he was a disciple of John the Baptist (John 1:35) and that he was one of the first six disciples called by Jesus in His early ministry in Judea (John 1:37-51). We also learn that he was present at all the scenes which he describes in the Gospel. We find later that he had a home in Jerusalem and was acquainted with many there. To that home, he took Mary, the mother of Jesus, whom the dying Saviour entrusted to his care (John 19:26,27). Much more also we learn of him and his history, for the Gospel is a spiritual biography, a record of the growth of faith on the part of the writer, and of the way in which his eyes were opened to see the glory of the Lord until faith seems to have become vision. He was in the inner circle of the disciples; indeed, nearest of all to Jesus, "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23; John19:26; John 20:2; John 21:7,20), and, because of that love, became the apostle of love.

The Book of Revelation, ascribed to John, bears important witness to the apostle's banishment in later life to the Isle of Patmos in the Aegean (John 1:9). There he received the visions recorded in the book. The banishment probably took place in the reign of Domitian, with whose practice it was entirely in consonance. The testimony is of high importance in its bearing on the disputed question of John's residence in Asia, a point now to be discussed.

II. The Ephesian Traditions.

1. John the Apostle, and John the Presbyter:

Thus, the early traditions of the churches are available for the life of John, the son of Zebedee. But there remain many blank spaces in that life. After the reference to the pillar apostles in Galatians, silence falls on the life of John, and we know nothing of his life and activity until we read of his banishment to Patmos, and meet with those references to the old man at Ephesus, which occur in the Christian literature of the 2nd century. One point of interest relates to the (genuine) quotation from Papias, preserved by Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 39), regarding a "Presbyter John," a disciple of the Lord, who was one of his living authorities. Were there two Johns at Ephesus? Or was there only one? Or, if there was only one, was he John the Evangelist, or only John the Presbyter? Here there is every possible variety of opinion. Many hold that there were two, and many that there was only one. Many who hold that there was only one, hold that the one was John the son of Zebedee; others hold, with equal assurance, that he was a distinct person. Obviously, it is impossible to discuss the question adequately here. After due consideration, we lean to the conclusion that there was only one John at Ephesus, and he was the son of Zebedee. For the proof of this, impossible within our limits, we refer to the learned argument of John Chapman, in his work John the Presbyter and the Fourth Gospel (1911).

2. Characteristic Traditions:

Into the traditions that cluster round John in Ephesus it is not necessary to enter in detail (compare Godet, op. cit., 57 ff). According to the tradition universally accepted in the church, John survived until the time of Trajan (98 AD). Striking and characteristic things are told of him in harmony with the touches we find in the Synoptic Gospels. The story of his rushing forth from the bath when Cerinthus, the heretic, entered it (Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., iii. 3,4) recalls the characteristics of him whom Jesus called "son of thunder." The same tone of exclusiveness, modified by larger experience, is found in the 1st Epistle, which so frequently and so decisively discriminates between those who believe in Jesus and those who do not.

III. The Character of John.

The general character of this great apostle is already sufficiently apparent. We recall the illustrative facts found in the Synoptics: that James and John were the two who wished to call down fire from heaven on the inhospitable village, that John was one of those who desired one of the chief places in the kingdom, that he forbade the man to cast out demons in the name of Jesus because he followed not with them. We do not forget that on each of these occasions he was corrected and rebuked by the Master, and he was not the kind of man who could not profit by the rebuke of Jesus. So that vehemence of disposition was held in check, and, while still in existence, was under control, and allowed to have vent only on occasions when it was permissible, and even necessary. So in his writings, and in the reflections in the Gospel, we note the vehemence displayed but now directed only against those who refused to believe in, and to acknowledge, Jesus.

"A quiet and thoughtful temperament is by no means inconsistent with a certain vehemence, when, on occasions, the pent-up fire flashes forth; indeed, the very violence of feeling may help to foster a habitual quietude, lest word or deed should betray too deep an emotion. Then it is not without significance that, in the three narratives that are cited from the Gospels to prove the overbearing temper of John, we are expressly told that Jesus corrected him. Are we to suppose that these rebukes made no impression? Is it not more likely that they sank deep into his heart, and that the agony of beholding his Master's crucifixion made them ineffaceable? Then, if not before, began that long development which changed the youthful son of thunder into the aged apostle of love" (Drummond, op. cit, 410,411).

But love itself has its side of vehemence, and the intensity of love toward a person or a cause may be measured by the intensity of aversion and hatred toward their contradictories. There are many reflections in the Gospel and in the Epistles that display this energy of hatred toward the work of the devil, and toward those dispositions that are under the influence of the father of lies. We notice these, for they prove that the fervent youth devoted to his Master carried with him to the end the same disposition that was characteristic of him from the beginning.

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'John, the Apostle'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. 1915.