itachi15243 posted...
The fact that there are so many disagreements about whether John the baptist was the same person who wrote the gospel of John, who also may not have been the same person who actually followed Jesus, and so on makes it really hard to find the exact verse I'm looking for.
Wait wait wait where did you learn that!? Is this bait? Because this sure smells like a bait. Shit last I checked fandom nuked the religion board. I'm gonna get modded for this
About the author of Gospel of John:
1.) A certain anonymous
Beloved Disciple
followed Jesus. This beloved disciple was most likely one of the Twelve Apostles because they sat next to Jesus during Last Supper. John 13:23
23
One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.
2.) That beloved disciple later wrote a testimony and
someone else
wrote the Gospel of John based on said testimony. Iirc historians call this
someone else
John the Evangelist
. John 21:20,24
20
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.
24
This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
Traditionally the Church holds that:
Beloved Disciple (primary source) = John the Evangelist (author) = John the Apostle
The trouble with John the Baptist idea like you said is the fact that John the Baptist was executed
during
the ministry of Jesus. This is recorded both by the Gospels and by a non-biblical source, Jewish historian Josephus. For example, John 3:22-24, in particular 3:24
22
After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.
23
Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized.
24
(This was before John was put in prison.)
On the other hand the Beloved Disciple was there after Jesus died. John 20:1-2
20
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
2
So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we dont know where they have put him!
There's practically zero chance that John the Baptist was John the Evangelist. Or the Beloved Disciple for that matter.