The writer of this Gospel did not identify himself as such in the text. This is true of all the Gospel evangelists. Nevertheless there is evidence within this Gospel, as well as in the writings of the church fathers, that the writer was the Apostle John. ^[2]


The internal evidence from the Gospel itself is as follows: In John 21:24, the writer of "these things" (i.e., the whole Gospel) was the same person as the "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 21:7). ^[3] That disciple was one of the seven disciples mentioned in John 21:2. He was also the disciple who sat beside Jesus in the upper room when He instituted the Lord's Supper and the disciple to whom Peter motioned (John 13:23-24). This means that he was one of the Twelve, since only they were present in the upper room (Mark 14:17; Luke 22:14). The "disciple whom Jesus loved" was also one of the inner circle of three disciples, namely, Peter, James, and John (Mark 5:37-38; 9:2-3; 14:33; John 20:2-10).

James died in the early history of the church, probably in the early 40s (Acts 12:2). There is good evidence that whoever wrote this Gospel did so after then. The writer was also not Peter (21:20-24). This evidence points to John as the "disciple whom Jesus loved," who was also the writer of this Gospel. The writer claimed to have seen Jesus' glory (John 1:14; cf. John 1:1-4), which John did at the Transfiguration. There are several Johns in the New Testament. This John was one of Zebedee's sons, who was a fisherman before Jesus called him to leave his nets and follow Him.



The external evidence also points to the Johannine authorship of the fourth Gospel. Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons (ca. A.D. 130-200), wrote that he had heard Polycarp (ca. A.D. 69-155), who was a disciple of John. It was apparently from Polycarp that Irenaeus learned that, "John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, had himself published a Gospel during his residence in Ephesus in Asia." ^[5] Other later church fathers supported this tradition, including Theophilus of Antioch (ca. A.D. 180), Clement of Alexandria (ca. A.D. 150-215), Tertullian of Carthage (A.D. 160-240), and Tatian of Syria (A.D. 120-180). ^[6] The historian Eusebius of Caesarea (died A.D. 339) also specifically mentioned that Matthew and John, among the apostles, wrote the Gospels that bear their names. ^[7]

Some scholars have rejected this seemingly clear evidence and have refused to accept Johannine authorship. This rejection generally comes from those who hold a lower view of Scripture. Answering their objections lies outside the purpose of these notes. ^[8]

[1] Title: This article is essentially a reproduction from “Notes on John, 2026 Edition, Dr. Thomas L. Constable, www.soniclight.com, of Constable’s explanation of the Authorship of the Fourth Gospel. [Return to Text]

[2] See Marcus Dods, "The Gospel According to John," in The Expositor's Greek Testament, 1:655-78; W. Graham Scroggie, A Guide to the Gospels, pp. 135-38. [Return to Text]

[3] Quotations from the English Bible in these notes are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), 2020 edition, unless otherwise indicated. [Return to Text]

[4] Merrill C. Tenney, "The Author's Testimony to Himself," Bibliotheca Sacra 120:479 (July-September 1963):223. [Return to Text]

[5] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:1. [Return to Text]

[6] See Edwin A. Blum, "John," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, p. 267; Merrill C. Tenney, "John," in John-Acts, vol. 9 of The Expositor's Bible Commentary, pp. 5-6; and George R. Beasley-Murray, John, pp. lxvi-lxxv. [Return to Text]

[7] Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, 3:24:3-8. [Return to Text]

[8] For discussion of these views, see Donald A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, pp. 68-81, and books on Bible Introduction. For a more complete discussion of authorship, see B. F. Westcott, The Gospel According to St. John: The Authorised Version with Introduction and Notes, pp. v-xxxv. [Return to Text]