Encountering John (Encountering Biblical Studies)

The Gospel in Historical, Literary, and Theological Perspective

Andreas J. Köstenberger, Walter A. Elwell

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780801049163
• eBook ISBN: 9781441244857
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

In this updated edition of his successful textbook, leading evangelical New Testament scholar Andreas Köstenberger offers a survey of John's gospel that is informed by current scholarship but written at an accessible level. The book has been revised throughout and features a new interior design. Photos, sidebars, and other pedagogical aids are included.

1
History

How John’s Gospel Came to Be

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

John 19:35

Outline

• Authorship
  Internal Evidence
  External Evidence
• Place and Date of Writing, Audience, Occasion, and Purpose

Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

1. Analyze internal and external evidence for the Johannine authorship of John’s gospel.
2. Identify the place and date of writing of John’s gospel.
3. Provide an integrated discussion of John’s audience, occasion, and purpose.

What is the life setting of John’s gospel, the historical matrix out of which the message of the Fourth Gospel was born? The first question that arises is that of authorship. Two kinds of evidence can aid us in answering this crucial question: external evidence (information provided outside the gospel, such as comments by the ancient fathers) and internal evidence (data supplied by the text of John’s gospel itself). Traditionally, conservative interpreters have begun with a discussion of the external evidence. But some have objected to this procedure, arguing that proceeding in this way causes us to have our minds already made up when we finally come to the gospel. It is, of course, naive to believe that anyone can approach John’s gospel free from presuppositions. But the objection is still valid to some extent. We will therefore begin by discussing the internal evidence from John’s gospel and only then look at the external evidence.

Authorship

Internal Evidence

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (1:14): this is the opening testimony of John’s gospel. Who are the “we” who have seen Jesus’s glory? We are given the answer on the heels of John’s narration of Jesus’s first sign: “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (2:11). At the very outset, John’s gospel claims to represent apostolic eyewitness testimony regarding Jesus’s earthly ministry.

But which apostle was responsible for writing this account? Here we are helped by information provided at the very end of the gospel. There Jesus, after dealing with Peter, is shown to converse with the so-called disciple whom Jesus loved (cf. 21:20). And then we are told: “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true” (21:24). Thus we know that the man who wrote the gospel was none other than the “disciple whom Jesus loved”—but who is he? He is first mentioned as such in 13:23 at the Last Supper in the upper room, reclining next to Jesus. For this reason he must be one of the Twelve (cf. Matt. 26:20; Mark 14:17; Luke 22:14). At the same time, he cannot be any of the disciples named in chapters 13–16, that is, Peter, Philip, Thomas, Judas Iscariot, or Judas the son of James.

The “disciple whom Jesus loved” meets us again in the high priest’s courtyard at Jesus’s arrest (18:15: “another disciple”), and then at the foot of the cross, where he is given charge of Jesus’s mother (19:26–27). He thus becomes a firsthand witness of the crucifixion, asserting in language closely resembling that of 21:24, “The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe” (19:35). Finally, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” is found at the empty tomb in chapter 20 (vv. 1–8). All that is said about his reaction when he went inside the tomb is that he “saw and believed” (20:8). As in the upper room and throughout the entire second half of John’s gospel, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” is here associated closely with the apostle Peter. This is also the case in the final chapter of John’s gospel, where the “disciple whom Jesus loved” alerts Peter that the figure on the other side of the shore is “the Lord” (21:7).

Since Peter and the “disciple whom Jesus loved” are here mentioned as part of a group of only seven disciples who go fishing by the Sea of Galilee, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” must be one of the following mentioned in 21:2: “Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.” Since it is part of this gospel’s characterization of the “disciple whom Jesus loved” that he is not named, he cannot be Simon Peter, Thomas (see already above), or Nathanael (= Bartholomew?), but must be either one of the two sons of Zebedee or one of the two “other disciples.” If he is one of the two sons of Zebedee, he can hardly be James, since according to 21:23 there was a rumor in the early church that the “disciple whom Jesus loved” would not die, but James was martyred already in AD 42 according to Acts 12:2 (“He [Herod Agrippa I] had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword”).

We may recapitulate: the author is

• an apostle
• the “disciple whom Jesus loved”
• one of the Twelve but not Peter, Philip, Thomas, Judas Iscariot, or Judas the son of James
• one of the seven in John 21:2, but not Peter, Thomas, or Nathanael
• either John the son of Zebedee (but not James his brother) or one of the two “other disciples” mentioned in 21:2

This means that, from the apostolic lists found in the Synoptics and Acts, only the following apostles remain (Andrew, Peter’s brother, is an unlikely candidate owing to 1:40; see below):

• Matthew (Levi)
• Simon the Zealot
• James the son of Alphaeus
• John the son of Zebedee

Of these candidates, Matthew is highly unlikely, because he is credited with writing another gospel. Equally implausible are the obscure figures Simon the Zealot and James the son of Alphaeus, whom, to my knowledge, no one has ever suggested as possible authors of John’s gospel. Which leaves John the son of Zebedee.

This conclusion from the internal evidence of the Fourth Gospel is corroborated also by data supplied by the Synoptic Gospels as well as Paul. We have already seen that Peter and the “disciple whom Jesus loved” are regularly featured side by side in John’s gospel. The question is obvious: which is the disciple whom the other New Testament writings show to be closely associated with Peter in ministry in the early years of the church? The answer could not be more unambiguous: it is John the son of Zebedee (Luke 22:8; Acts 3–4; 8:14–25; Gal. 2:9). Thus we can conclude that the internal evidence of John’s gospel, corroborated by evidence from the rest of the New Testament, points unequivocally to John the son of Zebedee as the author of John’s gospel. Apparently, this also was the conclusion of the early fathers, who unanimously support Johannine authorship (see the discussion of external evidence below).

But if this is the case, why did John not identify himself explicitly as the gospel’s author? Here we can only speculate. To begin with, we should remember that while John’s gospel is formally anonymous, so are the other canonical gospels. Thus the only difference between the Synoptics and John, in this respect, is that the author of John’s gospel features himself also in a prominent position in the narrative (see esp. 21:24). Why does he do this? One obvious answer is: historical fact. If John the son of Zebedee was the author of John’s gospel, he was not only one of the Twelve, but even one of three apostles who constituted Jesus’s “inner circle”: Peter, James, and John. Consider the following evidence:

• Peter, James, and John are amazed by the miraculous catch of fish recorded in Luke 5:8–10; there James and John are identified as Peter’s “partners” or “associates” (koinōnoi) in fishing.
• Peter, James, and John are mentioned first in the apostolic lists in Mark 3:16–17 and Matthew 10:2 = Luke 6:14 (where Andrew’s name is mentioned together with Simon Peter’s), and again in Acts 1:13.
• Peter, James, and John alone are witnesses of Jesus’s raising of Jairus’s daughter from the dead, one of only three raisings from the dead in all four gospels combined (Mark 5:37; Luke 8:51).
• Peter, James, and John alone are witnesses of Jesus’s transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–2; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28–29).
• Peter, James, and John, together with Andrew, ask Jesus privately about the end times in Mark 13:3–4 and are given an extensive response by Jesus.
• Peter, James, and John alone accompany Jesus as he withdraws to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32–33).

Interestingly, John’s gospel is silent regarding this “inner circle.” There is no apostolic list, and there are no accounts of the transfiguration, the raising of Jairus’s daughter, Jesus’s end-time discourse, or Gethsemane. The most pertinent information is found in 1:35–42, the account of Jesus’s calling of ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• To the Student
• Author’s Preface
• Before You Begin . . .
• Abbreviations
• Part 1: Encountering the Gospel of John
• Part 2: Encountering the Word
• Part 3: Encountering the Earthly Jesus
• Part 4: Encountering the Exalted Jesus
• Part 5: Encountering the One Who Calls Us to Follow
• Appendix 1: The History of the Interpretation of John’s Gospel
• Appendix 2: John’s Gospel and the Study of the Historical Jesus
• Tools for Study
• Excursus 1: “Life” and “Light” in John’s Gospel
• Excursus 2: “The Jews” in John’s Gospel
• Excursus 3: Asides in John’s Gospel
• Excursus 4: References to Time in John’s Gospel
• Excursus 5: Misunderstandings in John’s Gospel
• Excursus 6: Divine Necessity in John’s Gospel
• Excursus 7: Jesus as a Rabbi in John’s Gospel
• Excursus 8: The So-Called Seams (Aporias) in John’s Gospel
• Excursus 9: The Absolute “I Am” Sayings in John’s Gospel
• Excursus 10: Pilate’s Uneasy Relationship with the Jews
• Notes
• Glossary
• Select Annotated Bibliography
• Scripture Index
• Subject Index
• Back Cover