A2 Religious Std – Authorship of the Fourth Gospel
“The author of the Fourth Gospel must have been someone who knew Jesus.” Examine and evaluate. (30 marks)
The authorship of the Fourth Gospel is much of an enigma, as Marsh suggested, “The identity of the author must remain wrapped in anonymity”. Whilst it is difficult to establish the actual author of the Gospel; through the use of internal and external evidence backed up by scholarly views we might be able to agree on our broader position of whether or not the author must have been someone who knew Jesus. We must also decide on the criteria on which to classify someone to have known Jesus. The traditional view claims the author to be an apostle, therefore includes “the disciple Jesus loved”, which is believed to be John (the son of Zebedee) although some suggests it could have been Lazarus or Mary Magdalene. Nevertheless, if it were to have been written by “the disciple Jesus loved”, the author would have been someone who knew Jesus.
There are various strong external evidences (i.e. implied and indirect evidence which cannot be quoted from the bible) pointing in favour of the Gospel authorship being an apostle, someone who knew Jesus. Smalley points to one of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons’ work Against Heresies where Irenaeus personally states that the “witness” behind the Fourth Gospel was “John the disciple of Lord”. Irenaeus believes that John might have delivered the Gospel to the elders in Ephesus before he deceased hence allowing it to be passed on. Smalley believes that such a source is reliable as Irenaeus had received the information directly from Polycarp, Bishop of Smyra who heard from John first hand. In one of Polycarp’s letters he speaks of John being the one who “Reclined on the breast of the Lord” to be “a witness and teacher”. This not only proves John to be the “disciple Jesus loved” but that he had also written the Fourth Gospel.” Westcott also looked at external evidences and concluded that the author had to be a Jew living in Palestine as well as an apostle therefore points to John being the author. Westcott makes a strong case as the author has shown consistent familiarity with the geographical, social and religious condition of Palestine. One example would be John 2:13-22 where the author proves that he has detailed knowledge of the Passover. The fact that the Gospel was written in a Semitic type of Greek also points to John being the disciple. Although a more minor point, unlike the Synoptic, the author of the Fourth Gospel speaks of John the Baptist as “John” and does not feel the need to distinguish between “John the Apostle” and “John the Baptist”. This supports the argument that it was John the Apostle who wrote the Gospel as it would have made sense for him not to have felt the need to distinguish between the two. It is also worth mentioning that the Muratorian Fragment also testifies John to be the author; this adds strengths to the argument as the Muratorian Fragment was a well respected document.