JOHN, GOSPEL OF
JOHX, GOSPEL OF
and since the two are mentioned last, it is more in accordance witli the usage of the wTiter to understand that tliey did not belong to the number of the eleven apostles.
The opinion that John, who is frequently referred to in the Synoptic Gospels and in the Acts (Ac 3' 4'' S'^-IS ; cf. Gal 2") in conjunction with Peter or with his brother (in Synop.) as at the very centre of the apostolic croup, is not the disciple who pro- duced this wonderful narrative, brings an anoma- lous circumstance to view : that the author, whoever he was, never once mentions the name of John. If he was some philosophic mystic of the 2nd cent., he niu.st have deliberately invented the innumerable touches of the eye-witness, which he introduced with such apparent artles.snesa, unth the view of suggesting th.it he was no other than 'the beloved disciple.' This 8uppo.«ition is so harsh that it cannot be accepted without more cogent reasons than those which have hitherto been advanced. Jleltr ((Inindziige d. Entwick.- Gesch. d. Rdiq. 1883, p. 206) hna argued that the beloved disciple was a friend of .Joseph and Nico- demus and the hi"h priest, resident in Jerus., familiar with the Jerus. life of Clirist, and from his education, higlier than tli.it of the Twelve, better able to appreciate and work into his match- less narrative the deeper teaching of Jesus. In that case some incongruities that have afflicted critics would be dissolved, but many fresh dif- ficulties would he created, e.g. the utter disappear- ance of this rcni.irkable personage from evangelic tradition ; his .icquaintance with Peter, Andrew, Philij) and Thomas, Judas Alpha^i and Judas Iscanot, Nathanael, Martha, Lazarus, and the Marys, to whom he has referred, together with his utter silence about 'John,' who took so hiL'li a place in the early development of the Churtli in the NT and early tradition. It is incumbent upon the student to weigh the indications which otlier literature supplies of the character and personality of John the son of Zebedee, and to see whether they are incompatible with the revelation which the writer has unconsciously oll'ered of himself in the compo.sition of the Fourth Gospel.
It must, however, be acknowledged that the self-revelation is studiously repressed. He never distinctlj' utters his own name, or that of his parents, or of his brother. He allows others to speak for him, and he hides himself behind the shadow of his Lord, and loses him.self in the light of his Miistcr's love. AVe can gather here and there what he thought of ' the Jews,' of the high priest, of .ludas and Pilate. We can gather the; interpretation he put upon certain pcrjilexing sayings of the Lord, so dillercnt from their own lofty tone and fathomless depths, which he was nevertheless able to remember and record. Hut for the most part he conceals his own individuality.
V. The Character and Career of John as
PRK.'^KKVEI) I.V OTHKR LITERATURE. — A. The Synoptic Gii.tprls tell us that a man named Zebedee (Mk ]'»•=») with his wife fSalome had two sons, James and Jnhn, that they lived at Bethsaida, near Capernaum, on the Lake of (Jalilee, and were partners with .Sinmn and Andrew the eims of Jonah (or of John, see KV and crit. notes on P- and SI'"") in a fishing enterpri.te (Mk 1^, Lk o'"). They had fishing-tackle, \ma.\.a, hired servants, and a bouse. We gather from com]mring Mt •_'7"and Mk If)" that Salome wa.s the name of the mother ot Zebcdei's childnn. The I'ourth tiospel makes it more than possible that she was sister of the mother of Jesus, and, if this inference is correct, she and her sons were nearly related to Je.sus. Zebedee accepted, witliout recorded murmur, the departure of his sons and of his partners Simon and Andrew at the summons of .lesus to them. VOL. II. — 4i
The father thenceforth disai)pear3 from view. Salome's devotion and ministry of her substance to the wants of Jesus and His disciples, suggest the religious enthusia.sm and Messianic patriotism with which the family hati been brought up, and it is probable that, through friend.ship and kinship with the holy society ot Nazareth, her expecta- tions had been raised to fever-point. Whether John was called into close companionship with Jesus only once for all, or on two or three separate occasions, belongs to the exegesis and harmony of the (Jospels. .Matthew (SJ-") tells us that Salome presented a request of great compass and audacity, that her two sons might sit on tlie Saviour's right and left hand when He should come in His king- dom. It is most likely that she eheriahed ideas of a temporal and visible sovereignty, and that John at this period liad not been weaned from these materialistic hopes. We gather, however, that the brothers were taught some lessons about the "leat tribulation, the b.aptism of sorrow and blood through wliich they would have to pass to such high fellowship with the Head of the kingdom.
For years before this, John had been in the innermost circle of Chri.st's di.sciples (Mt 10-, Lk 6", Mk 3', Ac l'»). He had been in tlie death- chamber of tlie child of Jairus (Mk 5", Lk S"). He had been taken into the cloud of transfigura- tion (Mt 17', Mk, and Lk), though Peter was the spokesman of the feelings of the three. The two brothers James and John, with Simon and Andrew, had been permitted to hear the discourse upon the last things, which had opened John's proiihetie ej^e to the great world-wide events witn which big Master's kingdom was associated. John was sent with Peter to prepare the passover. With Peter and James, he was a witness of the agony in the garden. There is not a word or a hint in all thia incompatible with the spirit of the author of the Fourth Gospel.