Just about every shred of evidence we have from manuscripts and early church fathers identifies John the son of Zebedee as the author of John’s Gospel. But if you read the book by itself, John isn’t explicitly identified by name. He refers to himself as ‘the beloved disciple.’ Because of that, skeptics like Bart Ehrman tell us that we’re clueless about who wrote it.
Ehrman says:Â “The Gospel of John … is completely anonymous. The author does not tell us his name or identify himself in any way.”
But before Bart was a twinkle in his daddy’s eye, 19th-century BF Westcott did some Batman-like detective work. Using only internal evidence, Westcott narrowed things down to John, the son of Zebedee, as the prime suspect for who wrote the Gospel.
In this video, I summarize Westcott’s arguments and conclude that John is the most logical suspect for the authorship of John’s Gospel.
Erik is the creative force behind the YouTube channel Testify, which is an educational channel built to help inspire people’s confidence in the text of the New Testament and the truth of the Christian faith.
