Objections To Johns Authorship
Criticisms of this conclusion are commonplace, and we would do well to consider the most important ones.
Earlier in the 1900s critics regularly pointed to Johns inaccuracies on geographical details. This, it was affirmed, could hardly come from an eyewitness writer. But subsequent historical and archaeological study have, if anything, shown Johns reliability.
Could a fisherman-turned-apostle have penned a work of such subtlety and insight? Could a Galilean such as this be acquainted with Greek thought? Of course.
Recent study of Palestinian Judaism has shown a remarkable degree of Greek cultural penetration at all levels of society. While the New Testament does affirm that John the apostle was a commoner , we still are unwise to predict what John could or could not accomplish. Furthermore, this criticism fails to consider that the final edition of the Gospel may have been edited by Johns disciples, an amanuensis , or Johns community.
Finally, some lodge the complaint that this Gospel was not readily accepted in the early church. This is true.
But we have to reckon with two facts:
In the end, the most likely scenario is that the Gospel of John was written by John son of Zebedee.
Thank you!
The Writer Was In Jesus Inner Circle
- He was familiar with scenes where only the disciples were present. I.e. their calling in John 1:19, the trip to Samaria in Jn 4:1, that there was much grass where Jesus fed the 5,000 in Jn 6:10, or Jesus visits Jerusalem in chapters 7, 8 and 11.
- The writer knows the disciples reactions, and even their thoughts and feelings.
- The author knows both what they said to Jesus and what they said among themselves. and even their misunderstandings. .
- The evangelist even knows where Jesus would go to avoid other people.
All these vivid details bear the marks of someone who was really there. Either the writer or writers of John Gospel were literary geniuses far ahead of their time or we have an eyewitness report. But the historical novel wasnt invented until the Renaissance at the very earliest and wasnt popularized until the 1800s.
Who Translated The King James Bible
The King James Bible is the most widely read translation of the Bible. It was originally published in 1611, and it has been translated into over 650 languages.
The King James Bible is one of the most popular and well-known translations of the Bible. The first edition was translated by John Wilcockson, who also translated a book about his translation experience for others to learn from.
The King James Bible is the English translation produced by scholars of the Church of England in 1611. First published in January of that year, it superseded earlier translations and was inspired by a desire to provide an English translation based on the original Greek texts. The first edition was translated by John Wilcockson, who also translated a book about his translation experience for others to learn from.
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The Man Who Wrote The Bible: John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe was an English scholar and theologian who translated the Bible into Middle English in the 14th century. He is credited with translating and publishing the first complete Bible translation into English.
John Wycliffe is commonly known as the Man Who Wrote The Bible. Wycliffe had the vision to translate scripture into a common language so that everyone could access it without having to hire a priest to read it aloud.
John Wycliffe was born in 1324 in Gloucester, England. His father, John Wyclif, was a wool merchant and his mother, Margaret, came from a family of clergymen. As he grew up he studied at Oxford University and became one of its most distinguished scholars.
He also studied law at Cambridge University for eight years before becoming a teacher in his hometown of London. Wycliffe was one of the first people to translate the Bible into English . He also translated other religious texts, including many books by Thomas Aquinas.
Who Were The Human Writers
So, who were the human writers of the Bible? Thats the most direct way this question was posed. Let me try to answer it as directly.
At least ten of the books of the Bible are unsigned. The authors did not see fit to include their names in the books they wrote. For example, Job and Esther in the Old Testament we dont know who wrote them. In the New Testament, Hebrews we dont know who wrote Hebrews. But the traditional list of authors would go like this:
- Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible and at least one of the Psalms .
- Ezra the scribe wrote the books of Ezra and 12 Chronicles.
- Nehemiah wrote the book of Nehemiah.
- Psalm writers include David, Asaph, the sons of Korah, Ethan, Heman.
- Solomon wrote some of the Psalms, most of the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.
- Agur and Lemuel wrote some of the Proverbs.
Then all the prophets wrote the books by their own name:
- Jeremiah, who also wrote Lamentations
Then the writers of the Gospels in the New Testament:
- Luke, who also wrote Acts
In fact, its interesting: If youd ask most people, Who wrote most of the New Testament? theyd probably say Paul, because he wrote thirteen letters. But actually, Luke wrote most of the New Testament because the books of Luke and Acts together comprise more of the New Testament than any other author which is why we named our first son Luke, but nobody calls him Luke anymore he goes by Karsten.
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Could Someone Else Have Written The Book Of John
Theres good reason to believe that the Apostle John at least wrote some of the gospel that bears his name, but scholars still dispute his authorship.
Some have argued that the gospel is the work of a later Christian writer who wanted to appear to be the Apostle John.
Others suggest its Lazarus, who appears just before the first instance of the one whom Jesus loved. Lazarus is the only person who the gospel explicitly states that Jesus loved. In fact, when Lazarus sisters tell Jesus that he has fallen ill, they dont say, Lazarus is sick they say, Lord, the one you love is sick .
It would be surprising if Lazarus was the author though, because we dont see him until John 11, and we dont hear about him after John 12. Plus, the other gospels dont record him at some of the events the beloved disciple witnessed.
It could also be a man named John Mark, who traveled with Peter, and is believed to have written the Gospel of Mark . . . but John Mark wasnt one of the Twelve, as the one whom Jesus loved seems to be .
Other positions argue John wasnt capable of writing this, or that geographical errors indicate it couldnt have been written by an eyewitness, or that since some of the earliest Christian writers didnt refer to the Gospel of John, it wasnt accepted within the church.
Did John, the son of Zebedee write the Gospel of John? We might never know. But as far as tradition goes, the church at large has been comfortable with attributing this work to him.
When Were 1 2 And 3 John Written
All books of the New Testament refer to events that happened in the first century, such as the life of Jesus, the spread of the gospel, and issues that arose in the infant churches. The New Testament books were themselves written in the second half of that century. The New Testament as a whole is focused on one person who lived in the early third of the first century, Jesus of Nazareth, and the significance of his life, death, and resurrection.
The Gospels telling that story were written some decades later and so are concerned, first, with the events of Jesus lifetime recorded but, second, with what was happening in the churches to which each gospel was addressed and which shaped their content. Thus, it is appropriate to consider what was happening in the churches that were the original recipients of Johns gospel, most likely the last gospel to be written.
The New Testament letters are different from these narrative accounts of the life of Jesus because each letter addressed pressing issues of the moment rather than recounting events from a previous time period. The authors of the letters are addressing real questions, issues, and circumstances that are pressing at that moment of time.
Consequently, they allow us to distinguish three periods of the first century and place the events and the origin of the books within each period:
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The Authorship Of The Rest Of The Old Testament Is Unclear
The Old Testaments section on history is followed by one sections: the Prophets, sometimes divided into Major and Minor . While tradition and, in some cases, teaching hold that they were written by the men whose names they bear, history has come up with a less-straightforward explanation.
For example, consider the major prophet Isaiah: as All Thats Interesting notes, the first part of his book may very well have been written by the man himself. The second part, however, represents a stark tonal shift, and may have been compiled by later editors. The third section bears linguistic similarity to Deuteronomy and may have been written by the author of that text.
For Jeremiah, ascribing authorship is more complicated. Could have been Jeremiah himself, could have been a man he mentions as having been one of his scribes, could have been one of the authors of sections of the Pentateuch. The uncertainty persists throughout the remainder of the Old Testament. Linguistic analysis points to these books having been written or compiled by people other than whom tradition and dogma claim, perhaps having been composed by anonymous authors who contributed to the Pentateuch.
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Who Wrote 1 John
The three letters of John are among the last written in the apostolic era. According to the traditional view of these three letters, they were written by John the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles, most likely the Beloved Disciple in the Gospel of John. He also wrote the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. We know very little about Johns activity after Acts 8 and even there he is only mentioned as a companion of Peter. Even though there is a good argument to be made he did ministry in Samaria, little can be known with any certainty.
The Gospel of John has several hints he led a synagogue of Christian Jews and Samaritans. According to tradition, he left Judea and Samaria in the mid-60s just before the Jewish War began and relocated in Ephesus. He led Jewish Christian congregations there until the late 80s or early 90s when he was exiled to the island of Patmos. He wrote the Gospel of John about 85, the three letters and Revelation about 90. He died in the early 90s and was buried in Ephesus. His grave became Saint Johns Basilica and ruins of this church are still a tourist site in Ephesus.
There are also some complicated theories about how the Gospel of John was formed and how the first letter may be a response to a misunderstanding of an earlier edition of the Gospel. The first letter has been described both as a cover letter for the Gospel and as a hermenutical guide for reading the Gospel.
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Not A Fisherman From Galilee
Several reasons have been suggested. First, the beloved disciple does not appear clearly until chapter thirteen of the Gospel, when he is reclining by Jesus at the Last Supper . But James son of Zebedee had been a disciple as early as Peter and Andrew .
Second, the Gospel of John focuses largely on Jesus ministry around Jerusalem rather than in Galilee. This is what one would expect of the writings of a native of Jerusalem but not so much those of a Galilean like John son of Zebedee.
Third, the beloved disciples residence in Jerusalem may be shown by the fact that he was known by the high priest. This enabled him to enter the high priests court with Jesus. Peter was barred from entering, and the disciple had to intervene to get Peter access to the courtyard . The same high priest does not appear to recognize John son of Zebedee when he and Peter are brought before him in Acts 4.
Fourth, the beloved disciple may have been a priest himself, as illustrated by the fact that he knew the high priest. The second-century Christian writer Polycrates agreed: John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the bosom of the Lord, and being a priest wore the sacerdotal plate . . . also sleeps at Ephesus . But John the son of Zebedee was a fisherman, not a priest.
Plausible And Argued Characters: The Beloved Disciple
On this note, the research sees the need to explore several appearance of the character John in the New Testament which might have an indirect or direct bearing with the discourse in question.
John the Baptist : obviously, John the Baptist is not be the author of this book because he was beheaded by Herod long before the events mentioned in the Gospel of John were completed .7
Thomas: some critics argued that Thomas is the disciple on a contrary, the disciple is described as a witness to the empty tomb and believed , contrary to Thomas who refuses to believe until he sees Jesus in person .8
An ideal Christian disciple: some scholars have suggested that the so called beloved disciple is an idealized literary figure the ideal Christian disciple.9 To a degree this is true, because of the played character-role of faithful and intimate knowledge of Jesus. But this hardly excludes the possibility of a genuine historical person.10
John the father of Peter is not mentioned in any connection which might suggest that he was the author.
John of the Sanhedrin : The only reference in Scripture to this man presents him as an enemy of Christianity, and the presentation of John is anything by antagonistic to the cause of Christ.13
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How Long Did It Take To Write The Original King James Bible
The Bible is the most translated and published book in the world. It is estimated that there are over 2 billion copies of it in circulation. With its popularity, it has been translated into over 1,400 languages.
The original King James Bible took around 11 years to complete. It was written by 40 different authors and translators who were paid a salary for their work. There are 7,000 languages spoken today. The character of the devil is referred to as Lucifer in 1 Chronicle 21:1, Isaiah 14:12, and Ezekiel 28:14.
What Are Some Of The Differences Between The King James Version And Modern Versions Of The Bible
The King James Version of the Bible is the most popular English translation of the Bible. It was published in 1611 and is still in print today. The King James Version has been translated into many languages.
Modern versions of the Bible have been translated into many languages as well, but they are not always published or available in print. Some modern translations are closer to the original Hebrew and Greek texts than others, but there are exceptions to this rule as well.
The King James Version is a translation of the original Greek text, but it is not as accurate as modern versions which use more recent sources for their translations.
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Exploring The Stance Of Modern Critics
If John the Apostle is widely accepted by Church fathers as the author of the fourth Gospel why then is John the Apostles authorship often debated and rejected in modern critical scholarship? Some modern critic claims that the fourth Gospel does not agree with the synoptic accounts .38 The most often quoted argument against St. Johns authorship is that so much of the synoptic Gospel portrait of Jesus is missing from the fourth Gospel account and what is included is very different. In fact, many modern scholars alleged that an Apostle close to Jesus could not have written this very different Gospel account.39
This argument does not address the fact that John may have had good theological and literary reasons for omitting what was covered in the other Gospels. More so, the inspired writer of the this Gospel seems to be addressing these differences when he records in John 20:30,31 There were many other signs that Jesus worked in the sight of the disciples, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name. There was much else that Jesus did if it were written down in detail, I do not suppose the world itself would hold all the books that would be written . To simply put, the fourth Gospel does not claim to record all that Jesus said or did.