John, the Apostle Who Had Been With Jesus

Who John Is, and When He Lived

John is an apostle of the New Testament era, active AD 29 to AD 100 according to Ussher, Annals of the World (1650). He is the son of Zebedee (Matthew 4:21) and of a wife of Zebedee who is never named (Matthew 20:20), and the brother of James (Matthew 4:21). His name runs across thirty-five verses in twenty-four passages, first at Matthew 4:21 and last in Revelation, with the heaviest concentration in Mark and Acts, then Luke, Revelation, Matthew, and a single verse in Galatians. That spread tells its own story: a man who appears at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, again in the earliest days of the church, and once more in the book of Revelation.

Named in the Upper Room

The clearest picture of John after the resurrection places him in a room with the other apostles. "When they had come in, they went up into the upper room where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James" (Acts 1:13). John is second in that list, but he is one of a company. The text gives him no speech and no separate errand here. He is simply present, and being present is what the verse records.

Peter and John at the Temple

The scene that gives John the most sustained attention pairs him with Peter. "Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour" (Acts 3:1). Two men keeping the hour of prayer, doing nothing remarkable. Then a man asks them for help: "Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive gifts for the needy. Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, 'Look at us'" (Acts 3:3-4). Notice how the verse is built. Peter speaks; John is fastened on the man with him. The command is plural, "Look at us," and John is inside that "us" without a recorded word of his own.

The aftermath keeps the pair together: "As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering" (Acts 3:11). A crowd gathers, and the healed man holds on to both of them.

Then comes the assessment that says the most about John. "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). Two things are set side by side and neither is softened: John is unlearned and ignorant, and John is bold. The explanation offered is not talent or training but company. He had been with Jesus.

Under pressure he does not go quiet. "But Peter and John answered them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves'" (Acts 4:19). The answer is joint, and it refuses to make men the final court.

Mentions Without Scenes

Much of John's footprint is names in verses rather than narrated scenes, and honesty requires saying so rather than filling them in. His name stands in Matthew 10:2 and Matthew 17:1; in Mark 1:19, Mark 1:29, Mark 3:17, Mark 5:37, Mark 9:2, Mark 9:38, Mark 10:35, Mark 10:41, Mark 13:3, and Mark 14:33; in Luke 5:10, Luke 6:14, Luke 8:51, Luke 9:28, Luke 9:49, Luke 9:54, and Luke 22:8; in Acts 8:14 and Acts 12:2; in Galatians 2:9; and in Revelation 1:1, Revelation 1:4, Revelation 1:9, Revelation 21:2, and Revelation 22:8. The wording of those verses is not before us here, so this article does not retell them. A reader who wants them should read them.

What the Record Does Not Hide

The verses quoted above do not record a sin of John's, but neither do they flatter him. He is called unlearned and ignorant by those who examined him (Acts 4:13). He is repeatedly the second name beside Peter, silent while Peter speaks (Acts 3:3-4). Scripture is willing to describe a chosen apostle as an uneducated man whose only credential is that he had been with Jesus.

What We Do Not Know

No children of John are named. No tribe or people is given for him. His father Zebedee is named, his mother is not (Matthew 20:20).

The Line to Christ

John's connection to Jesus is not argued in these texts; it is observed by outsiders. The council looked at an unlearned man speaking boldly and drew one conclusion: "They recognized that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). That is the line, and it runs through the temple at the ninth hour (Acts 3:1), through the refusal to prefer men over God (Acts 4:19), and on into the pages where his name appears last (Revelation 1:1; Revelation 1:9; Revelation 22:8).