The Beloved Disciple of Jesus

Manoj Jacob Unification Theological Seminary

The mystery about the identity of the beloved disciple of Jesus, in the Bible is very famous. The word beloved disciple found in the Gospel of John, but the gospel writer never mentioned the actual name of the person referred by the term beloved disciple. This is a much debated issue in the bible. Yet there is no specific conclusion yet on identifying the person. There are many theories on this regard. According to some theologians and historians the beloved disciple is none other than John the son of Zebedee. Many other believe that the so called Beloved Disciple is Lazarus. Another prominent candidate for the position is Mary Magdalene. There are other theories suggesting even Judas Iscariot as the person Jesus loved. Interestingly no other gospel writers mentioned this beloved disciple at all. They dont even mention the circumstances where Beloved disciple present or mentioned in the fourth gospel. This omission add up the mystery and raise some more questions that why the other gospel writers not mentioned these situations? Was it a deliberate attempt to hide something by the other gospel writers? Were they ignorant about these matters? According to the traditional belief of the church the Beloved disciple is Apostle John, son of Zebedee and the brother of James. The traditional concept of Apostle John as the writer of the fourth gospel came from this belief. But now most Biblical writers refuted this concept as Apostle John as the writer of the fourth gospel. There are many reasons for this. The fourth Gospel is written in elegant Greek. Acts 4:13 clearly says that Apostle John is an un-educated man. So the possibility for him to write the fourth gospel is very doubtful, so as the
Acts 4:13 (Acts 4:13) - [Copy][Go][to List] (4:13) When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.

John 19:27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took
her unto his own home Acts 1:14 (Acts 1:14) - [Copy][Go][to List] (1:14) All these continued together in prayer with one mind, together with the women, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

The Beloved Disciple of Jesus

Manoj Jacob Unification Theological Seminary
possibility for him to be the beloved disciple. Also from John 19:27 we can see that after the crucifixion Jesus mother Mary stayed with the Beloved disciple in his house. Also from Acts 1:14 we can see that Jesus Mother Mary stayed in Jerusalem after the crucifixion. That means beloved disciple must have a house in or near to Jerusalem. It is unlikely for a Galilean fisherman to have a house in Jerusalem. So we can deduce that the beloved the beloved disciple is not apostle John it some body else. But there is a chance that Apostle John can have passed the fourth gospel orally and John elder could have compiled it. Then the problem with the formal Greek is solved. That gives a chance for Apostle John could be the Beloved Disciple. Another main candidate for the Beloved Discipleship is Mary Magdalene. Even though many biblical scholars refute the idea of Mary Magdalene being the beloved disciple, many writings and arts portrayed this concept. We also can see that some people even claim that Jesus was secretly married to Mary Magdalene and they had a child. But this concept is far from any evidence. But we can see from the bible that Mary Magdalene had a very personnel relationship with Jesus. In some occasions we can clearly see that she was even more devoted to Jesus and loved him than any of the Apostles. But all the passages about the beloved disciple portrayed the beloved disciple as a male by referring he, him and his. Also John 2:20 pictured the beloved disciple and Mary Magdalene as completely different. But in the non canonical books of the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Philip there are some credible evidences for a very special relationship of Mary Magdalene and Jesus.
Acts 4:13 (Acts 4:13) - [Copy][Go][to List] (4:13) When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.

John 19:27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took
her unto his own home Acts 1:14 (Acts 1:14) - [Copy][Go][to List] (1:14) All these continued together in prayer with one mind, together with the women, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

The Beloved Disciple of Jesus

Manoj Jacob Unification Theological Seminary
Another important figure many people considered as the beloved disciple is Lazarus. Many biblical scholars support this idea. This idea is mostly based on the bible verse John 11:1-3, which is a message from Lazarus sisters to Jesus. It says that Lord, the one you love is sick. Also versus John 11:5 and 11:36 says Jesus loved Lazarus. Also there are many other supportive evidences for Lazarus to be the beloved disciple. Lazarus had a house near to Jerusalem and the fact that Mary Mother of Jesus lived in Jerusalem. Also it reasonable to believe that a man, who lived in Jerusalem, could have known to the high priest could have easily access to Jesus trial room. Also the very fact that the beloved disciple was not afraid to be arrested by the roman soldiers while he was present at the crucifixion also give certain credibility to the concept that the beloved disciple is Lazarus not a known disciple of Jesus. But the reason why he is hiding his identity from the gospel is still a mystery. Some scholars argue that this because of his humility and not to become a celebrity of being a resurrected man by Jesus, thus he wanted to promote Jesus more than him. But this is not very logical. Even if he reveals his identity as Lazarus, a resurrected man by Jesus it is not going to put him above Jesus. This fact will reiterate the authenticity of the gospel. Even by describing as the beloved disciple, he attains a considerable amount of fame. So the argument that the beloved disciple is Lazarus also has some amount of incredibility. There are many other candidates being the beloved disciple such as St. Paul, Judas Iscariot, an unknown priest, a very young boy and John the elder, apart form the popular once I mentioned above, those are candidates dont seem to be any credibility from Biblical sources and also from any other non biblical sources.
Acts 4:13 (Acts 4:13) - [Copy][Go][to List] (4:13) When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.

John 19:27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took
her unto his own home Acts 1:14 (Acts 1:14) - [Copy][Go][to List] (1:14) All these continued together in prayer with one mind, together with the women, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

The Beloved Disciple of Jesus

Manoj Jacob Unification Theological Seminary
Even though there are many supportive evidences for all the three main candidates I mentioned above, I prefer to choose Mary Magdalene as the best possible person to be the beloved disciple for the very fact that the beloved disciple is hiding the identity from the public. But from the way the fourth gospel is written, we can assume that the inner people of that time knew who the beloved disciple is. It is very logical for a lady who loved Jesus more than anything to hide her identity as a lady, to protect the fame of his lord. If she explicitly claims that I am the beloved disciple it can create a bad mark on the image of Jesus, because keeping a close relationship with a lady out of marriage is not considered to be good that time. Even if she identified by herself in the original writing, there is a great chance that later somebody else tried to hide her identity for portraying Jesus as Divine person free from any worldly emotions. Also these later alterations can be because of the mail centered social structure of that time. By accepting Mary Magdalene as the beloved disciple the male centered society especially church had to accept female leaders also, which the men dont wanted. This alteration is possibly done after the fading of the Jewish church in Jerusalem, where May the mother of Jesus stayed. With the above references I would like to summarize that Mary Magdalene is the Beloved disciple.

Acts 4:13 (Acts 4:13) - [Copy][Go][to List] (4:13) When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.

John 19:27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took
her unto his own home Acts 1:14 (Acts 1:14) - [Copy][Go][to List] (1:14) All these continued together in prayer with one mind, together with the women, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.