Who was John, the son of Zebedee?
“That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ ” ( 1 John 1:3). All commentators, except the most radical of scholars, agree that all three John letters come from the same author. However, the question remains, who was this author? Unlike the other General Epistles , none of these letters gives us the name of the author. Tradition holds that the author of these letters also wrote the Gospel of John . Indeed, there are many discernible syntactical and thematic similarities between the Gospel and the letters that bear John’s name. Some have denied common authorship based on what they call subtle doctrinal differences between the Gospel and the letters. However, a closer investigation reveals no substantial differences exist, although the letters sometimes apply the teachings of Jesus a little differently than John’s Gospel does. But that sh...