History of His Gospel

The Gospel according to John was probably the last gospel to be written at about 95 AD and among the apostle John’s last writings. It is the memoir of an aged apostle who knew and loved Jesus the Messiah.

John writes with a clear purpose in mind, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (20:31). John’s gospel is at the same time both simple and deep.

He writes about the life and works of Jesus and organizes his gospel around the signs Jesus performed to give proof of who he was, the unique Son of God and sacrificial Lamb “who takes away the sin of the world.”

Who Was John?

John, one of the “sons of Zebedee” along with his brother James, was among the first disciples of Jesus. The two brothers are almost always are seen together throughout the four gospels. Together, with his brother James and Peter, John constituted an “inner circle” who were closest to Jesus at crucial moments in his ministry.

John is known in church history as the Evangelist, and referred to in the gospels as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John plays a key role in the expansion of the gospel immediately following Jesus' assention into heaven. Both he and Peter preach together in Jerusalem at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple (Acts 3) and stand before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4). Later, he and Peter are sent to Samaria by the Jerusalem church to confer the Holy Spirit on those who believed there and deal with Simon Magus (Acts 8). Paul refers to John in his letter to the Galatians where John continues the mission to the Jews along with Peter and Jesus' half-brother, James while Paul and Barnabas worked among the Gentiles (Galatians 2).

There is no official documentation about John's death. Church history claims that John was the only one of the original apostles that was not martyred. Instead, chuch history teaches that he lived the remainder of his life in exile on the Greek isle of Pathmos.

Israel in the First Century