The ‘beloved disciple’ is an unnamed individual mentioned only in the Fourth Gospel.  He first appears at the Last Supper, where he reclines on Jesus’ bosom.  He asks about Jesus’ betrayer, is entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother, discovers the empty tomb of Jesus, and identifies the risen Jesus in Galilee.  He appears to have been a close companion not only of Jesus but of Peter.  References to the ‘other disciple’ may also refer to the beloved disciple.  He (assuming it was a man) is often regarded as a key witness behind the Fourth Gospel, and was possibly its author.

The identity of the ‘beloved disciple’ is one of the most intriguing problems of New Testament scholarship.

John Nelson lists seven candidates:

1. John, the son of Zebedee

This is the traditional identification.  It goes back at least as far as Irenaeus (late 2nd century).

Since this disciple was evidently close to Jesus, it is natural to assume that he was one of the inner circle of three.  It could not have been Peter or James (for different reasons), and this leaves us with John the son of Zebedee.

It is objected, however, that an ‘illiterate’ Galilean fisherman (Acts 4:13) would have been able to write such a Greek work.

The ‘sons of Zebedee’ are actually introduced in Jn 21:2 in such a way as to suggest that the beloved disciple was not one of them.  Rather (it is maintained) the beloved disciple is more likely to have been one of the two anonymous disciples mentioned in the same passage.

2. Lazarus

Ben Witherington suggests that the beloved disciple may have been Lazarus.

We know that Jesus loved Lazarus, Jn 11:5.  Moreover, the Gospel gives us a Judean, rather than a Galilean, perspective.

But Lazarus was not the only person that Jesus loved: he loved Mary and Martha, for example.

3. Mary Magdalene

Esther de Bouer observes that there are several anonymous characters in John.  We know that Jesus had female disciples, and it is natural to suppose that a number of these remained anonymous precisely because they were women.  Of these female disciples, Mary Magdalene is the best candidate, because she was not only a witness of the crucifixion, but also the first to proclaim the resurrection.

This theory has a number of weaknesses.  Mary was probably illiterate.  The beloved disciple is repeatedly portrayed as a man.  In Jn 20:2, Mary and the beloved disciple are clearly distinguished from one another:

‘So she went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”’

4. James, Brother of Jesus

James Tabor has defended this view.

James is never named in the Fourth Gospel (unlike Mary and Lazarus).  As Jesus’ brother, he was a natural choice to be entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother.  He became prominent in the early church, as a leader in Jerusalem.

But, according to Jn 7:5, even Jesus’ own brothers did not believe in him.  James was martyred quite early on; yet the beloved disciple was thought to be one of the last remaining disciples, Jn 21.  The beloved disciple is described as reclining on Jesus’ breast, but there is not evidence that James was even a follower of Jesus, cf. Mk 3:21.

5. Another John?

Richard Bauckham identifies the beloved disciple with was Papias calls ‘John the Elder’.  This person would have been an actual disciple of Jesus (though not one of the Twelve).  He was based in Jerusalem.  This explains his absence in the first twelve chapters and his access to the High Priest.

However, it is difficult to explain why early tradition attributed the Fourth Gospel to the son of Zebedee, showing no knowledge of this putative other John.

According to Hugo Mendez, we should see the author of John’s Gospel (and of the Johannine epistles) as forgeries.  The ‘beloved disciple’ is an invented witness, intended to legitimise the theological agenda of the Fourth Gospel.

It is generally accepted that pseudononymous writings abounded in the early church.  The Fourth Gospel may well be one of them.

Moreover, this Gospel departs from earlier tradition in a number of striking ways: it excludes Jesus’ ministry of exorcism, has Jesus and the other characters speaking in a distinctive idiom, relates a different set of miracles, and has its own alternative view of salvation and eschatology.

But it is difficult to dismiss John’s Gospel as a work of fiction, given (for example) the accuracy of many of its historical and geographical details.

7. The Ideal Disciple

The beloved disciple may be seem as an ideal disciple in that he reclines on the bosom of Jesus, is the only male disciple to witness the crucifixion, and is a prominent witness to the resurrection (outrunning Peter).

Andrew Lincoln regards the beloved disciple as a literary device, testifying not so much to historical events as the the significance of Jesus.

This view is consistent with the idea of the Fourth Gospel as a forgery.  But it is also consistent with the notion that there was an unnamed disciple behind the text, who may have been the founder of a group of Christians.

Comment

I think that the identification of the beloved disciple with John the son of Zebedee has a lot going for it.  It has a lot in its favour, and the perceived objections are not fatal, as they are sometimes supposed to be.

At the same time, I find Bauckham’s arguments for option 5 to be quite compelling.  I have given a fuller account of these arguments in a separate post.