John the Apostle
A Galilean fisherman, son of Zebedee, and one of the three disciples closest to Jesus. Paul names him as a pillar of the Jerusalem church. Second-century tradition makes him the author of the fourth Gospel and places his last years at Ephesus.
John and his brother James were fishermen whom Jesus called from their father’s boat (Mark 1:19–20). With Peter they form, in Mark, the inner group present at the transfiguration and in Gethsemane (Mark 9:2; 14:33). In Acts John is Peter’s companion in the temple and on a visit to Samaria (Acts 3:1–4) (Acts 8:14–17); the council in Jerusalem regards the two as “unlearned and ignorant men” (Acts 4:13). Paul met him in Jerusalem and counts him with James and Cephas among the “pillars” (Galatians 2:9).
The fourth Gospel attributes its testimony to an unnamed “disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20–24). Irenaeus, about AD 180, identifies that disciple as John, says that he published the Gospel while living at Ephesus, and that he remained there until the time of Trajan (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.1.1) (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.4). Eusebius quotes the earlier writer Papias, who names John twice, once beside Peter, James and Matthew and once as “the presbyter John”; Eusebius concludes that there were two men of that name, notes two tombs of John at Ephesus and suggests that the second John wrote the Revelation (Eusebius, Church History 3.39.3–7). Whether the apostle wrote the Gospel, the three letters and the Revelation that bear the name John is debated; see the Four Gospels Are Written and John of Patmos.
In the timeline
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateJesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee
Mark and Matthew tell how, after John’s arrest, Jesus returns to Galilee, announces that the kingdom of God is at hand, calls four fishermen and makes Capernaum, on the lake, the centre of his teaching and healing.
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateJesus Appoints the Twelve
From his wider following Jesus chooses twelve men to be with him and to be sent out to preach and heal. Mark, Matthew and Luke list their names from Simon Peter to Judas Iscariot; Acts lists the eleven who remained.
- c. AD 29 or 32, estimated dateThe Transfiguration
Mark, Matthew and Luke tell how three disciples on a high mountain see Jesus changed in appearance, his clothes shining white, with Moses and Elijah beside him, and hear a voice from a cloud call him “my beloved Son”. The Gospels do not name the mountain.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Last Supper
On the night before he dies Jesus eats with the twelve in Jerusalem, gives them bread and a cup, calling them his body and his blood of the covenant, and foretells his betrayal. John tells instead how he washed their feet. The Gospels differ on the day.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Crucifixion
Jesus is crucified outside Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha, on the order of Pontius Pilate, under the charge “King of the Jews”, and dies the same afternoon. Tacitus mentions the execution, and so does a passage of disputed wording in Josephus.
- about AD 34, estimated dateThe Gospel Reaches Samaria and an Ethiopian Official
Acts tells how Philip, driven from Jerusalem by persecution, preaches in Samaria, where Peter and John follow him, and then baptises an official of the Ethiopian queen on the road to Gaza. In Acts the message here first passes beyond Judea.
- about AD 65 to AD 100, estimated dateThe Four Gospels Are Written
Four accounts of the words, deeds, death and resurrection of Jesus are written, on the usual dating, in the later first century. None names its author; the names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John come from second-century testimony.