John

John son of Zebedee (not to be confused with John the Baptist) was the brother of James. Like James, Peter, and several other disciples, John was a fisherman.

## In the Gospels

Like his brother James, John was given the nickname “son of thunder” (Mark 3:17). Whether it was for their explosive temperaments, speech, ambition, or something else, James and John clearly had some defining quality in common.

In the Bible, John is most known for:

* Asking Jesus if he and James should call down fire from heaven to destroy a village which failed to show them hospitality (Luke 9:54)
* Asking Jesus if he and James can sit on either side of Jesus’ throne in heaven, and unwittingly promising to follow Jesus into martyrdom (Mark 10:35–40)
* Taking care of Jesus’ mother, Mary (John 19:26–27)
* Beating Peter in a race to Jesus’ empty tomb (John 20:2–9)
* One of Jesus' inner circle
* "The disciple Jesus loved"
* Cared for Mary after Jesus died

Tradition says that John is “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in the Gospel of John. John is never mentioned by name in this gospel, and “the disciple whom Jesus loved” appears to be one of the most prominent disciples (he sits next to Jesus at the Passover meal, and Peter often defers to him). At the end of the gospel, the author makes it clear that he is “the disciple whom Jesus loved”

## Post-Gospels

John was a “pillar” (leader) of the church (Galatians 2:9)

## Apocryphal Works and Legend

Noncanonical Acts of John claim John raised a married couple from the dead and destroyed an altar of Artemis with mind-bullets.

Some important early Christian writers claimed to learn directly from John himself, including Polycarp of Smyrna and Ignatius of Antioch.

## Authorship

Five books of the New Testament are attributed to someone named “John.” According to tradition, the Apostle John wrote all of them (more than any other member of the Twelve):

* The Gospel of John claims to have been written by the “Beloved Disciple.” Many early Christians assumed this was John, the son of Zebedee—so much so that the book was named after him.
* 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John simply claim “the elder” (or “the presbyter”) as their author. Early Christians believed this elder’s name was John, and many assumed it was the same John who was part of the Twelve.
* Revelation claims to be written by a man named John on the isle of Patmos. Again, through the ages Christians have commonly assumed John of Patmos and John the son of Zebedee were the same guy.

But which (if any) of these books he actually wrote largely depends on if we can identify John the Apostle with the Johns mentioned above, and scholars have come to mixed conclusions about that. Like “James,” “John” is another common first-century name, so it’s unclear which (if any) of these names are referring to *this* John, and there’s often disagreement and confusion about it.

## Death

According to tradition, John was the youngest of the apostles and the last to die.

According to tradition, John died of old age: a rare (and possibly unique) feat among the apostles, most of whom were martyred. Interestingly, John records that Peter asked Jesus what would happen to John, and Jesus basically said “It’s none of your business” in a way that implied there might be something different planned for him:

Tradition holds that he preached in Ephesus, was exiled to the island of Patmos (where he wrote Revelation), returned to Ephesus, and died of old age after 98 AD.