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Hi Ans57...you mean to say, "It could happen, yes?" The truth is we never heard of this Edgar Jones till you announced his name. Has he been widely received as one who speaks the truth, or do those in the majority reject his scriptural claims?
Hi Ans57...you mean to say, "It could happen, yes?" The truth is we never heard of this Edgar Jones till you announced his name. Has he been widely received as one who speaks the truth, or do those in the majority reject his scriptural claims?
Sorry it took so long to answer your query. This was meant "It could happen, no?" to be facetious...my apology...not very nice
To be honest...many points do support the assessment that Lazarus IS the author. Since I haven't reread the entire four gospels and have not gone to the books of the prophets to see if I can find clues in them, I cannot make a sound judgment as to whether or not it is written by him. If you have additional passages (scriptural) to back this up...share, will you? Christian forums are very useful to our growth as believers in the WORD OF GOD.
If what you require is more proof, then commit some innocent child to take the following scriptural litmus test...remove the current erroneous title traditionally glued to The Fourth Gospel, and then say, "psst, hey kid, have you ever read this book?" If it so happens that their mind has never been predisposed to traditionalistic doctrine, whether by pulpit practice or published intent, don't be surprised if said child proclaims authorship of The Fourth Gospel on behalf of no man or woman except Lazarus of Bethany. God Blessing you.
There are many interesting analyses of some of the extreme reinterpretations of Jesus and His message.
But one which I find fascinating is Witherington's analysis and conclusion as to the identity of The Beloved Apostle. Using only direct quotations from the New Testament, and in particular, from the Gospel of "John" and from Luke, Witherington's conclusion is amazing to me, a Catholic kid who attended 12 years of parochial school.
I wont spoil this discussion with Witherington's conclusion. What I am more interested in is what current thought is regarding the identity of The Beloved Disciple. Can anyone enlighten me as to the who and the why?
Hi Ans57...you mean to say, "It could happen, yes?" The truth is we never heard of this Edgar Jones till you announced his name. Has he been widely received as one who speaks the truth, or do those in the majority reject his scriptural claims?
The question I have is, What had brought on your compulaion to research this out?...
Imagine if Jesus raised you from the dead...would you not desire to follow the voice of him who raised you? or to sit at the same table with him? or to lay in his bosom?
I think you are speaking of the Apostle Bob....a very important and little known member of the retinue. Few people know that we would not have had a Last Supper without Bob as it was he who made a run down to the liquor store and picked-up the wine. He was also the one who hung back when the others left and cleaned-up and settled-up for the room.
And I am glad someone brought up Lazarus being raised from the dead. Little known fact about where Lazarus got his clothes right after he came out of the tomb.....Bob. Apparently Bob had a cousin in the clothing biz who was willing to part with a very nice twill suit on the cheap.
Sure we all know about Paul and Timothy..... everybody knows about them. But if it weren't for Bob and Ralph and a few of the other more obscure followers we wouldn't have what we have today.
Imagine if Jesus raised you from the dead...would you not desire to follow the voice of him who raised you? or to sit at the same table with him? or to lay in his bosom?
I only have one problem with the whole idea of Lazarus being at dinner on the night of Passover with Jesus. Luke clearly records that is was the apostles that reclined with Jesus that night. Jesus set apart 12 of his disciples and called them apostles, and Lazarus was not one of those so designated. On can argue that as a much loved friend and disciple of Jesus, he might have been there, if he wasn't hosting his own Passover meal. Surely if he wanted, he could have hosts Jesus and his apostles at his own house in Bethany, he was rich enough to have done so. The argument that Lazarus was the beloved disciple that reclined on Jesus chest at the Passover meal cannot come from the passage, as the only guests recorded were the apostles. Reading through the rest of the events in any of the Gospels gives us no idea that any other than the 12 were with him at that meal. It would seem especially odd of Lazarus was in the the argument of who would be the greatest among them since he was not part of that inner group of Jesus' disciples.
There is not reason to discount that it was John who was with Peter at the tomb. What was it that was believed? That Jesus was raised and walking about the earth in a glorified human body? Not at all, only that his body was raised by his Father. No one had any idea that the resurrection Jesus spoke of was anything other than being taken into heaven bodily, much as Elijah and most probably Enoch had, and as they probably believed Moses had (which is why they couldn't find his body). So John believed that Jesus body was raised and with his Father. So later, when Jesus showed himself first to Mary, they believed that she saw only his ghost, or spirit, and not an actual body. Thus, when he finally appeared to the 10 apostles, they all believed that it was him bodily, and not just a spirit that Mary saw. But Thomas needed forensic evidence. Not that he didn't believe the other 10 actually saw Jesus, but he wanted evidence that the body they all saw was actually of Jesus, thus the need to actually feel his wounds.
The early church knew the Gospel as from John. Why should we believe anything other than what the first century church believed and knew. It is only with the onset of higher criticism that any doubt as to the authorship of the of John's Gospel was questioned, and that in opposition of the clear understanding and knowledge of the first century church. And higher criticism has done nothing but cast doubt on God's word.
In Christ,
Matthew
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There is only one scriptural answer...
The Truth
