New Testament people named John
[citation needed] Ford proposes that Revelation originated as prophecy of John the Baptist, expanded by his followers to produce the book in its current form,[5] but most scholars reject this theory.
[7] This John is mentioned frequently in the Synoptic Gospels, but always (with a lone exception[8]) in company with his brother James[9] or with Peter[10] or often with both.
[1]: 438–452 Some modern scholars make the same identification,[25][26] further citing from the Gospel “the other disciple, who was known to the High Priest.”[27] Although there is no conclusive proof, and early writings such as by Polycrates may be interpretations based on their reading of the gospels,[28] there are many theories - as one example: given that Elizabeth, Mary's kinswoman, was a "Daughter of Aaron" (and so had priestly connections), so too would Mary's sister mentioned in John 19:25... and she is mentioned in a way, some suggest, that might indicate she is John's mother.
[31][non-primary source needed] Some traditions and scholars also equate him with Mark the Evangelist,[32] but others such as Dutripon (1838) reject this identification.
Thus, the reputed authors of the Johannine works are conventionally called more explicitly—without prejudice to the issues of actual authorship and of their mutual identification—as follows.
[citation needed] Further identification of the Beloved Disciple and/or the Evangelist with John the Apostle has been variously defended and impugned.
[39] Some scholars see the Gospel's “and we know that his testimony is true,”[40] as indicating a second hand, of a hypothetical redactor or some group of elders certifying the work.
Apocryphal sources of about the 5th century variously name Prochorus,[44] Timothy,[45] or even Papias,[46] and modern scholars have suggested others.
[citation needed] The text of Revelation identifies its author thus: “I, John, your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.”[54] Patmos was an island near Ephesus, and Revelation begins with letters addressed to the seven churches of Asia, which were Ephesus and other nearby cities.
[citation needed] Dionysius of Alexandria (c. 250) closely criticized Revelation and concluded that it was starkly different from the Gospel and First Epistle (which Dionysius regarded as both the work of John the Apostle) in grammar, style, content, and anonymity, and thus could hardly be the work of the same author, but must have been written by another John, for “there are two monuments in Ephesus, each bearing the name of John.”[34] Many modern scholars have concurred with this analysis, but others find striking similarities on closer inspection and attribute the stylistic differences to the Evangelist's use of an amanuensis.
Irenaeus firmly identifies the Revelator with the Evangelist[58] and tells us that he remained with the Church in Ephesus until the time of Trajan (98–117).
[59] The Revelator was still publicly active until the close of Domitian’s reign (81–96), as Irenaeus says:[60] For if it were necessary that the Antichrist’s name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision.
[61] Clement of Alexandria, a contemporary of Irenaeus, tells an anecdote of John and the young robber captain, which opens with:[62] When, on the tyrant’s death, he returned to Ephesus from the isle of Patmos, he went away, being invited, to the contiguous territories of the nations, here to appoint bishops, there to set in order whole Churches, there to ordain such as were marked out by the Spirit.So again the Revelator is identified with the Bishop of Ephesus, about whom ancient sources have much to say.
[citation needed] Patristic sources from as early as the 2nd century widely attest to a certain John, a disciple of Jesus, who lived to old age in Ephesus, and to whom all the Johannine works are ascribed.
To his fellow-disciples and bishops, who were encouraging him, he said: “Fast with me today for three days, and whatever will be revealed to each of us, let us tell to one another.” The same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the apostles, that all should certify what John wrote in his own name.… Why, then, is it remarkable that John so constantly brings forth single points even in his epistles, saying of himself, “What we have seen with our eyes and heard with our ears and our hands have handled, these we write to you”?
Here we find the first explicit identification with the son of Zebedee, the story of the attempted execution by boiling oil also reported by Tertullian,[75] the manner of John's natural death, and a great deal more.
[1]: 458–463 Bauckham argues that Papias distinguishes them and that the words of Polycrates even preclude such identification,[1]: 444–452 and echos of this distinction linger in a few later sources.
