John the Beloved Disciple

Historical John

The Apostle John is responsible for authoring a large portion of our New Testament.

John, 1,2, &3 John, The Revelation of John

Who was he?

younger brother of James. One of the Boanerges (Sons of Thunder).

Culpepper interprets the name as a sign of what they could become: mighty witnesses and voices from heaven (Culpepper, John, the Son of Zebedee, 39–40, 50).

We know John is younger because he frequently named after his brother in the scriptures.

A fisherman for his father Zebedee.

A disciple of John the Baptist.

A religious student who was known to the High Priest Caiaphas that allowed Peter and himself access to the courtyard of to see Jesus’s trial.

John rarely speaks in the Gospels. During the only time when he is alone with Jesus, he says: “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us”

(Mark 9:38 NIV; a shorter version is found in Luke 9:49).11 Dan Nässelqvist, “John the Apostle,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

Jesus answers him “whoever is not against us is for us”

The Beloved Disciple

John is never explicitly named in the Gospel of John. He is indirectly mentioned in John 21:2, which says that “the sons of Zebedee” were together with Peter and some of the other disciples at the lake of Tiberias (i.e., the Sea of Galilee). However, one unnamed disciple is presented as closest to Jesus: • He leans on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper (John 13:23) • He acts as an intermediary between Peter and Jesus (John 13:24–25) • He is entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother (John 19:26–27) • He reaches the empty tomb before any other disciple (John 20:4) • He is the first to believe in the resurrection (John 20:8) • He recognizes the risen Lord and identifies him for Peter (John 21:7)1 1 Dan Nässelqvist, “John the Apostle,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

He is called “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (e.g., in John 21:20). This beloved disciple is Peter’s companion. He is sometimes called “the other disciple” (John 18:15; 20:2).11 Dan Nässelqvist, “John the Apostle,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

John only appears in a few scenes in the early part of Acts. He is almost always mentioned together with Peter (the exception is when the martyrdom of James is mentioned, in Acts 12:2), and acts as Peter’s silent companion in several scenes, including: • The healing of the crippled man in the temple (Acts 3:1–10) • The hearing before the council (Acts 4:1–22) • The missionary work in Samaria (Acts 8:14–25)1

1 Dan Nässelqvist, “John the Apostle,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

The Character of John in the beginning

A wide eyed hopeful person looking for God. To be a student of John the Baptist, he must have been seeking. John, was a person who wanted learning.

Perhaps John was hoping to be a part of something larger and that is why he went out to study under The Baptizer. Medieval paintings portray John as soft and tender (such is a picture of the Apostle of Love) but these pictures are not an accurate representation of who he was. John was a fisherman who had calloused hands and a brown complexion. He like his counterpart Andrew spent a great deal of time in the harshness of the wilderness. He ate locusts and wild honey like his teacher.

John was as zealous as his brother James. He was the 2nd half of the boanerges or Sons of Thunder.

John was ambitious and seeking to be a part of something larger, John was looking to be swept up in something great.

John with his brother James wants to call fire down from heaven to destroy the Samaritan village that rejected Jesus. John runs off a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus because he wasn’t with them. John was with James when they requested to sit beside Jesus when he came into the Kingdom. John was caught up in the debate of who was the greatest.

He was a Son of Thunder for sure. John was perfectly able and willing to behave and think in such a way that made Jesus shake his head and possibly ring his hands. John was small minded, didn’t concern himself with the needs of the Samaritans or the gentiles. He was brash and aggressive. I imagine he is a lot like a greaser from the other side of the tracks in the Outsiders

A changed John: The Apostle of Love

Like a river that carves out a canyon over a vast amount of time so John is shaped by Jesus over the course of his time walking beside Jesus.

With Jesus his shortcomings were transformed. When we compare John who we read about in the Synoptic Gospels with the one who wrote so prolifically the Gospel and Epistles we see a very different person. Thus the medieval paintings that show someone who is gentle and not aggressive, patient not brash, loving not vengeful.

John was out of balance. His zeal for the truth, his passion for justice, and his desire for his people to be free were pushed to the sinful extreme.

Zeal for truth must be held with love for people. If not we become judgmental, harsh, and lack compassion.

Ambition is fine but without humility it leads to pride, egoism, and self-centeredness.

Confidence with discipline gives way to spiritual sloppyness and arrogance.

John learns the important lesson of balance. Like the two wings of a plane one cannot fly without both wings securely mounted and balanced.

Love and truth.

Gk word for truth 25 times in his Gospel and 20 times in the epistles. 1 John 2:4 “Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist;”

Confession is the road to truth. Who we are capable of being and who Christ calls us to become.

1 Corinthians 13:4–5 “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;” Love comes with truth and action. Love is about service. Truth without love is brutality. The opposite is true as well that love without truth is hypocrisy.

John learns to love in truth.

Balance of Ambition and Humility

All who exalt themselves will be made low and all who make themselves low will be exalted. The Kingdom of God is advanced not through making a name for yourself but by sharing the name of Jesus. Luke 18:14 “I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.””

`Jesus showed John in the Upper Room that the teacher must be willing to wash feet. Ambition must be tempered by service.

Suffering and glory

John witnessed Christ’s glory on the Mt. of Transfiguration. He witnessed the veil pulled back and for a moment like Moses witnessed the glory of God revealed to him. John saw demons flee with a word from Jesus who commanded authority over the spiritual realm. John witnessed angels ministering to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Those who desired glory must endure suffering. Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,”

John 12:24–25 “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Suffering is the prelude of glory.

Jesus tells James and John that they must drink the cup he drinks and be baptized with his baptism. All who want to save their lives must lose them and all who lose them will save them. Take up your cross and follow me.

John outlived all the other disciples. He lead the church for years and endured much suffering. He endured persecution and suffering far longer than his counterparts. He lead the church is Ephesus and was imprisoned under Domitian. Isolated and alone on the island of Patmos, in a cave with a rock for a pillow he would die— a political prisoner for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From that cave , that prison he wrote words like 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” , John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”, John 13:34–35 “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

When we are introduced to John in the synoptics he is very different from the maturity level of the author of the Gospel of John. Examples are his brother James and himself want to call down fire from heaven to destroy a village in Samaria that rejected Jesus. Another example is John later after that event confesses to Jesus that he spoke against a person doing ministry in the name of Jesus who was not part of their party. He was in the mix of arguing who was the greatest with the other disciples after the experience at the Mt. of Transfiguration. James and John were the subject of multiple rebukes by Jesus to emphasize servanthood instead of authority, humility over arrogance, and obscurity over popularity. I wonder if the author of the Gospel of John was so different from who we read about in scripture because he was different--because of growth by the understanding of the teachings of Jesus and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. On the cross, Jesus looked at the "One whom he loved" and said, "Mother behold your son and behold your mother". Jesus trusted the welfare of his mother to one of his closest companions. While Lazarus is a dear friend whom even Martha and Mary refer to as "the one you love", John is named by the Synoptics as being in the inner circle and never Lazarus. Perhaps we witness in the historical writing of the Gospel of John the changed man who was long ago a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. John writes as one utterly amazed that Jesus loved him. Of course Jesus loved all of his followers and believers but John who once was a blunt instrument now shaped and refined to almost surgical precision in his evangelism.