John 21
John 21 is the twenty-first and final chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains an account of a post-crucifixion appearance in Galilee, which the text describes as the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples. In the course of this chapter, there is a miraculous catch of 153 fish, the confirmation of Peter's love for Jesus, a foretelling of Peter's death in old age, and a comment about the beloved disciple's future. Text. The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter  is divided into 25 verses. Textual witnesses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Later addition? Scholarly discussions. According to Helmut Koester (2000), similar to the "Pericope Adulterae", 'John 21:1–25, though present in all extant manuscripts, is also widely recognized as a later addition.' A redactor is thought to have later added some text to the original author's work. Arguments in favour of this hypothesis include: Scholars opposing a later addition by another author have argued the following: Manuscript evidence. The Nestle-Åland Novum Testamentum Graece (27th ed.) as well as major translations of the New  Testament (e.g. KJV, NASB, NIV, RSV, NRSV) retain this chapter in their editions as original. In an essay contributed on behalf of scholars unconvinced of any decisive sense of "originality" to John 21 (published in 2007), Jesuit author Felix Just wrote: "We (unfortunately!) do not possess any ancient manuscript of John that actually ends at ." In other words, ancient manuscripts that contain the end of John 20 also contain text from John 21. So if John 21 is an addition, it was so early (which is not in doubt: part of John 21 appears in P66) and so widespread, that  no evidence of the prior form has survived. This should however be balanced against the tendency for the first and last pages of codices to be lost: there are just four papyrus witnesses to John 20–21, only three of which date from the 4th century or earlier. "Novum Testamentum Graece" (NA28) and the United Bible Societies (UBS5) provide the critical text for John 21. In 2006, following the discovery of a 4th-century Sahidic papyrus manuscript (Bodleian MS. Copt.e.150(P)) some scholars speculated that such text may end at 20:31, but this is not conclusive due to its fragmentary state. Contents . Verses 1–2. Of these seven disciples, the last two remain unnamed. Ernst Hengstenberg suggests they may have been Andrew and Philip, whereas Heinrich Meyer suggests they were non-apostolic disciples from the wider group of those who followed Jesus. Jesus Restores Peter (verses 3–19). Jesus restores Peter to fellowship after Peter had previously denied him, and tells Peter to feed Jesus' sheep. This Restoration of Peter occurs in verses 21:3–19. The Disciple whom Jesus loved (verses 20–23). The description of the "beloved disciple's" (normally assumed to be John the Apostle) fate is presented as an aside to Peter. Jesus  says that it is not Peter's concern, even if Jesus should wish that that disciple remain alive until the end of time. The following verse clarifies that Jesus did not say "This disciple will not die", but that it was not for Peter to know. The last appearance of the 'Disciple whom Jesus loved' in this Gospel, together with his first appearance in chapter 1 form a literary ""inclusio" of eyewitness testimony" to privilege this witness (in the Gospel of John 21:24) over Peter's, not to denigrate Peter's authority, but rather to claim a distinct qualification as  an 'ideal witness' to Christ, because he survives Peter and bears his witness after Peter. Bauckham notes the occurrence of at least two specific words in the narratives of both the first and the last appearance of this disciple: "to follow" (Greek: ") and "to remain/stay" (Greek: "). In the first chapter verse it is stated that "Jesus turned, and seeing them following ('akolouthountas'), said to them, "What do you seek?"", then in verse they "remained ('emeinan') with Him that day". In John 21, the last appearance of the 'Disciple whom Jesus loved' is indicated using similar words: in verse it  is written that "Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following ('akolouthounta')", then in verse "Jesus said to him [Peter], "If I will that he remain ('menein') till I come, what is that to you?" The appearances are also close to Peter's, as the first one, along with Andrew, happened just before Peter's, who was then given the name 'Cephas' (alluding to Peter's role after Jesus' departure), and the last one, just after Jesus' dialogue with Peter, acknowledging the significance of Peter's testimony within "the Petrine's "inclusio"", which is also found in the  Gospel of Mark and Luke (see Luke 8 under "The Women who sustained Jesus"). Conclusion (verses 24–25). The chapter (and the whole book) is closed by two verses referring to the author of the gospel in the third person ("We know that his testimony is true"). Verse 25. Although ever since the 2nd century some people have taken verse 21:24 to mean that the author of the Gospel of John himself was the eyewitness (namely the disciple whom Jesus loved), other scholars point out that verse 21:24 indicates that the author is someone else than this disciple, because he's  speaking about himself in the first person plural ('we know') and the disciple in the third person ('the disciple... who has written all these things'). Therefore, the author merely claims to have used an earlier written report, allegedly from this disciple, as a source for writing the Fourth Gospel.