Sermon Tone Analysis

The Beloved Disciple

The Beloved Disciple

The Beloved Disciple

I would like for you to imagine with me two different scenarios.

First, imagine that you are 80 years old.

Yes, some of you don’t have to imagine.

You are sitting in your home, reminiscing about 80 years of life.

You would likely experience various emotions – delight and maybe even pride as you remembered some of the best moments of your life but also grief in that those moments are past, and those people are gone.

I remember with great clarity the moment of my conversion experience.

I would probably recall highlights through high school and college, my wedding, my first ministry, the birth of my children, etc.

As you recall these moments you begin to write in a journal your many experiences.

I would imagine that those moments, those journal entries, would reveal the loves and passions of your heart throughout your life.

John writes in Ephesus.

Now, imagine with me.

80 AD.

Within the church of Ephesus sits the apostle John.

At the writing of the Gospel of John, nearly all the apostles had died.

There is great indication that John died in Ephesus due to the writings of Eusebius, who wrote in his Ecclesiastical History that of the great lights that had fallen asleep in Asia, “John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the bosom of the Lord . . .

fell asleep at Ephesus.”[1]

The early church father Irenaeus (who died about AD 200) was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of the apostle John, and he testified on Polycarp’s authority that John wrote the gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia Minor when he was advanced in age.

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us . . .

by the will of God . . . to be the ground and pillar of our faith. . . .

[After acknowledging the authors of the other three gospels, Irenaues writes] Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.[2]

According to Eusebius, Clement wrote the following.

“But, last of all, John . . .

being urged by his friends, and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel.”[3]

The Muratorian Canon, from the 2nd century and the oldest lists of the canonical books of the N.T., offers a similar description.

Muratorian Canon[4].

The fourth Gospel is that of John, one of the disciples.

When his fellow-disciples and bishops entreated him, he said, “Fast ye now with me for the space of three days, and let us recount to each other whatever may be revealed to each of us.”

On the same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the apostles, that John should narrate all things in his own name as they called them to mind.[5]

So then, from the beginning of the 2nd century, this Gospel was strongly attached to the apostle John.

“Indeed, by the end of the second century the only people who denied Johannine authorship to the Fourth Gospel were the so-called Alogoi . . .

meaning ‘witless ones’”[6]

John, the last of the apostles, was surrounded by fellow believers who dearly loved him.

They desired for him to write down all that he remembered of Jesus.

He began to write, “In the beginning was the Word . .

.”

It was likely this same group of believers that he would later write his first epistle.

Imagine the memories that John would have had.

He vividly remembers the taste of the wine that had moments before been water.

He still remembers the blind man as mud is placed on his eyes and he then sees.

He could still smell the aroma that Mary put on Jesus feet.

His body weakens as he hears the voice of Christ.

“I am the light of the world, I will come back and take you to be with me, Those who believe in my will have eternal life.”

Imagine the memories that John would have had.

He vividly remembers the taste of the wine that had moments before been water.

He still remembers the blind man as mud is placed on his eyes and he then sees.

He could still smell the aroma that Mary put on Jesus feet.

His body weakens as he hears the voice of Christ.

“I am the light of the world, I will come back and take you to be with me, Those who believe in my will have eternal life.”

Most liberal scholarship denies that the apostle John was the author of this gospel, but we will study this gospel under the premise that the apostle John was indeed the author.

Therefore, my purpose in engaging the discussion about authorship is more to learn about John than it is to prove that he is the author.

The challenge in determining authorship is that the author is never named within the gospel, except for a title that he gives himself.

Internal evidence, the Beloved Disciple.

The author refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

The last occurrence of this title is in .

“Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper . .

.” ( ESV).

We know that this is as well the author because four verses later he writes, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true” ( ESV).

Therefore, we can be certain that the author of this gospel is “the disciple whom Jesus Loved,” or as is more commonly termed “the beloved disciple.”

We first encounter this phrase in as the disciples share their last meal with Jesus.

We are told that “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side” ( ESV).

A few chapters later, at the foot of the cross, “Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” ( ESV).

One chapter later – or three days later – Mary Magdelene races to tell two disciples about the empty tomb.

“So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” ( ESV).

Only a short time goes by as we encounter this title once again.

In , the disciples went back fishing and as they were out in their boats, they saw a figure walking along the shore calling out to them.

“That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’” ().

It is within this narrative that Jesus restores broken Peter and the “disciple that Jesus loves” is mentioned again as Peter and Jesus walk along the shore (21:20).

Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus loved was present at the last supper, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and Peter’s restoration along the Sea of Tiberias.

He must have been part of a group that was intimate with Jesus.

While we can be certain that “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is the author, we have yet to determine, from the context, the name of the author.

In a scan of the gospel the name of one very significant disciple is missing – John.

The synoptic gospels mention the apostle John by name approximately 20 times, but his name is not directly mentioned even once in the gospel of John.

The beloved disciple can be narrowed down to likely one of the twelve disciples based on his proximity to Jesus at major events.

In 21:2 he is mentioned alongside seven of the disciples and must be one of the last four unnamed disciples.

So then, the author seems oddly unaware of the apostle John, who was clearly in Jesus’ inner circle or the author is John the disciple.

[7]

So then, John is the author.

But why this title?

Why not just use his name?

D.A. Carson offers a helpful viewpoint.

This title does not communicate arrogance as if John were communicating “I am more loved than others,” but instead a great deal of humility with “a profound sense of indebtedness to grace,” as if to say, “what wonder – that I should be loved by the incarnate Word!” John had no desire to give any “impression of sharing the platform with Jesus.”

The author, John, does not matter, only the one to whom he offers a witness.[8]

I would agree with Theodore Woolsey who wrote, “the love manifested by our Lord in his last moments towards John must have made the disciple happy all his lifetime.

And . . .

must have led those who had heard of it to understand how the disciple came to be known abroad as the beloved disciple.”[9]

John appears to be one of the first to follow Jesus as a disciple.

John had been chosen by Christ to be numbered among the twelve disciples.

John may not have been as vocal as Peter, but he had a great deal of strength.

He was the strong and silent type.

He was also one of the “inner three” disciples of the Lord.

He was sent to set up for the Last Supper.

He was one of those closest to Christ when he agonized in the garden prior to his death.

He stood at the foot of the cross and received Christ’s command to care for his mother.

John was one of the first to see the resurrected Christ.

He was present at the transfiguration.

John’s presence does not come to an end at the end of the Gospels.

He is one of the primary characters throughout the book of Acts.

Paul writes of John in his epistle to the Galatians and refers to him as one of the “reputed pillars” of the church.

And it is John, who once leaned on Jesus chest, that we see “fall as a dead man” at the feet of his resurrected and glorified Lord in the book of Revelation (1:17).[10]