Neither does he specifically refer to the “inner three” (Peter, James, and John-see Mark 5:37 Matthew 17:1 Mark 14:33) in his Gospel. It is not at all surprising that John would refrain from directly referring to himself by name. In reading through the four Gospels, one finds that Matthew refers to the Apostle John by name three times Mark ten times Luke seven times, and John not at all. 5 Morris comments, “The basic reason for holding that the author was John the Apostle is that this appears to be what the Gospel itself teaches.” 6 4 This has always been the view of truly evangelical scholarship. This was the conviction of the second century church fathers, who first addressed this matter. 3 There are a number of reasons we should accept the Johanine authorship of this Gospel. To begin, I believe the Gospel of John was written by the Apostle John. Liberal scholarship has tended to the view that this Gospel was not written by John the Apostle, but by some anonymous second century Christian who “never set eyes on Jesus.” 2 If this were true, of what value could a study of John the Apostle be to the study of this great Gospel? I would like to explain why I believe it is of great value.
Hunter, who says, “‘For these and other reasons, scarcely a reputable scholar in this country nowadays is prepared to affirm that the Fourth Gospel was written by John the Apostle.’” 1
In some scholarly circles, this message would not be considered worthy of a hearing.
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