1. The Fourth Gospel Who wrote it? When? Why? Possible Suspects:
John the apostle
John the elder
John Mark
The Beloved Disciple
The Johannine Community
Who wrote it?
When?
Why?
Purpose of the Gospel – next lesson

2. When?
Many scholars argue that it was written about AD. This fits with John’s dates as he died a very old man.
If John the apostle was not the author, it may have been written early 2nd century. Evidence for this is the advanced Christology.
J.A.T. Robinson argues for a very early date – 65AD, even before the Roman War:
"One of the oddest facts about the New Testament is that what on any showing would appear to be the single most datable and climactic event of the period – the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, and with it the collapse of institutional Judaism based on the temple – is never once mentioned as a past fact.”

3. When? In 1920, The Rylands Papyrus P52 was discovered.
The front contains parts of seven lines from John 18:31–33, in Greek, and the back contains parts of seven lines from verses 37–38.
P52 is generally accepted as the earliest surviving NT text. It has been dated to AD. So we know that the Gospel was not written later than that.

4. But, is this the man who wrote the fourth gospel?
John the apostle
One of the twelve disciples
Son of Zebedee
Brother of James
Jewish
Fisherman
Born in Galilee
Died c.100 AD, aged 93-94, in Patmos, Greece
But, is this the man who wrote the fourth gospel?

5. Archbishop William Temple:
“I regard as self condemned any theory about the origin of the gospel which fails to find a very clear connection between it and John, the son of Zebedee.
The combination of internal and external evidence is overwhelming on this point.”
Internal evidence:
Clues in the text itself that the author was Jewish, an apostle and an eyewitness to the events.
External evidence:
From other historical sources, claiming that the gospel was written by John the apostle

6. Internal Evidence – that the author was Jewish
Stone Jars (2:6) suggest that author knew details of Jewish beliefs
Author has knowledge of Jerusalem and the surrounds – Bethesda Pool (5:2)
Setting of the last supper (13:4) – the towel
13:24 – ‘…the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.’
Resurrection appearances – 20:22 – ‘…receive the Holy Spirit…’
Gospel itself declares it is written by disciple – the one following Peter and James (21:24) post resurrection.
Internal Evidence – that the author was a disciple

7. Internal Evidence – that the author was an eyewitness
Chapter author records John’s questioning by High Priest
Private meeting. Peter waited outside (18:16)
‘the other disciple’ was allowed in
18:19-24 appears to be an eye witness account
Was this John?
Chapter 19 - Author shows detail about trial before Pilate
Includes smallest detail
Witnessed for himself?
e.g. Pilate “… brought Jesus out …”
21:11
Gives exact number of fish (153)
Only eye witness able to describe?
How convincing is all this internal evidence?
Explain why it might be seen as strong/ weak evidence.

8. External Evidence – John seen as author from very early times
Late 2nd century – Irenaeus ( CE) – Bishop of Lyons – “John, the disciple of the Lord who reclined on his breast and himself issued the Gospel at Ephesus”
Irenaeus was told this by Polycarp who heard it directly from John himself.
Clement of Alexandria spoke of John as author of a ‘Spiritual Gospel’ – late 2nd century
Papias (disciple of John) claimed he’d written Gospel from John’s dictation
Polycrates – Bishop of Ephesus – in a letter to Victor, Bishop of Rome claimed it was written by John (190 CE)

9. External evidence – more recently
Muratorian fragment
Discovered in 1740
Lists the books considered to be scripture
Includes the Gospel of John
Dated to c.170 AD
Which is more convincing – internal or external evidence? Why?

10. Arguments against John’s authorship
Some events are not in the same order as the synoptics (e.g. cleansing of the temple) – assuming Matthew, Mark & Luke were correct, was the author an eye witness?
Factual inaccuracies
6:1 – “Sea of Galilee, also called Sea of Tiberius” which was not known at the time of the Gospels – does this show it was written later?
Changing name of the High Priest
18:13 = Caiaphas
18:19 = Jesus was questioned by Annas
18:24 = Caiaphas again

11. Arguments against Johannine authorship
A disciple known to High Priest was allowed to stay while Jesus was questioned (18:15)
John was a fisherman – was he educated enough and have connections to have access to the High Priest?
21:24 – the claim that it was written by the apostle is questionable as it is not part of the original text.

12. John the Elder Thought to have written 2 John and 3 John
Lived in Ephesus at the right time
BUT – these letters are very different in style to the gospel, and to 1 John (anonymous but similar to the gospel)

13. John Mark Lived in Jerusalem at the time
From a priestly family so had knowledge of the Temple
Wealthy
Known to the disciples (Acts 12:12-15)
May have been the mysterious man who fled from the arrest of Jesus (Mark 14:51)
BUT- this isn’t really evidence that he wrote the gospel

14. The Beloved Disciple 13:23 “Mysterious figure”
21:24 – stated as the author
13:23 – the last supper
19:26 & 35 – The cross
20:2 – the empty tomb
21:20 – resurrection appearances
This figure is therefore a witness to all that happened – was he John himself?
Others say it may be Nicodemus
Or Lazarus (11:3 – “The one you love is sick …”)

15. The Johannine Community
Raymond Brown claimed:
That it was likely to have been written by the Johannine community – a Messianic community – followers of John in Ephesus
1:14 & 3:11 – “We…” is used to suggest a writing community which was rejected or oppressed by the Temple for following Jesus
21:24 – “We know that his testimony is true…” – links the Johannine community with the Beloved Disciple.
Bultman (1971) – a community editor was behind the final work – the community had moved away from Judaism by this time and were sharing beliefs through reliable witnesses.

16. John’s relationship to the synoptic gospels
C. H. Dodd argued that John was completely independent of the synoptic gospels.
not only has contradictions of the order of events (e.g., the time of the cleansing of the temple, the nature of the Last Supper, etc.),
but there is also much material in the synoptics which would have been beneficial to put in this gospel had the author had ready access to it.

17. So, what conclusion does the evidence point you to? Why?
Analyse the view that there is enough evidence to suggest that the Fourth Gospel was written by John the Apostle. (20)