Who Was John The Apostle?

Who was the Apostle John? What can we learn about this “apostle of love?”

John

John, who later came to be known as the Apostle John, was the last of the original apostles. John was the brother of James and they were known for their aggressive behavior in the beginning. John’s mother’s name was Salome who is believed to be a sister of Jesus’ mother Mary, so it’s interesting that John will be called by Jesus. James and John were called the “sons of thunder,” which will be explained later, but they also knew Peter and his brother, Andrew, as they apparently all worked together in the fishing trade. Why the “sons of thunder?” Because of their spontaneous reactions to rejection as in the case where Jesus sent a messenger into a Samaritan village but they “did not want to receive him” (Luke 9:53) so James and John said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them” (Luke 9:54)? Jesus rebuked them for that attitude (Luke 9:55) and besides, Elijah’s situation was different.   When Jesus first called the disciples, imagine them leaving the only thing they had really known and all the security of their financial security and that of their family. All to follow Jesus Whom they yet knew little about. Jesus didn’t give them a Plan B or another option. He simply said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt 4:19). They didn’t stop to think about it, or talk it over with one another, but, “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him” (Matt 4:22).

Jesus Calls John

When it came time for Jesus to begin His earthly ministry, it was “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Immediately they left their nets and followed him.  And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him” (Matt 4:18-22). John never sought out Jesus but Jesus sought out John, which shows that God does the calling (John 6:44) and God does the saving (John 3:16). Before his death, the Apostle John would end up writing, five books in the New Testament, which is a substantial portion of it, and these books include the Gospel of John, 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd John, but also the Book of Revelation. In the Gospel of John, he never refers to himself as John but rather, “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23) because he wanted the focus to be on Jesus and not on the author.  In the Book of Revelation John does mention his own name but even that’s for the purpose of clarifying that it wasn’t really his writing but it was “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place [and] He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John” (Rev 1:1).

Apostle of Love

Just before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, John was made pastor of the church at Ephesus where he had close relations with the seven churches of Asia (Rev 2, 3). Late in the Apostle John’s life, he was sent to the island of Patmos as part of his imprisonment, but apparently, there were mines there to work, so the Apostle John apparently had to resort to slave labor to serve part of his sentence for “sedition” and “treason” against Rome for worshiping a different king; King Jesus. It is possible that he was released late in life because of his old age and uselessness for hard labor so may have been sent back to the church at Ephesus. It is there it is believed he died of old age, dying at Ephesus sometime after AD 98 and died a natural death, of natural causes. Tertullian, the second century theologian, records in his book, The Prescription Against Heretics (Chapter 36) refers to “the Apostle John was first plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island-exile!” This took place long before he returned to Ephesus in his old age.

Conclusion

I find it interesting that the disciple whom Jesus loved would live the longest but his brother James would live the shortest, as he was the first apostle to be martyred. Peter, James, and John were among Jesus’ closest disciples as He did things with them that He didn’t do with the other disciples. An example is on the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus revealed part of His Shekinah glory to Peter, James, and John (Matt 17:1-13) but told them to tell know one about it…yet. The Gospel of John is also the only gospel that records Jesus’ extraordinary “high priestly prayer.” The Apostle John’s Gospel is among my favorites for various reasons, chiefly his emphasis on the love of God.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.