Who Was the Beloved Disciple?
Traditionally the character of the “beloved disciple” in the gospel of John has been identified with the apostle John the son of Zebedee, who was held to be the author of the gospel. In more recent times this has been a less popular theory and a range of alternatives have been proposed (such as the Da Vinci Code’s suggestion of Mary Magdalene).
Ben Witherington, in the above linked blog post, has an interesting idea – that the Beloved Disciple may be in fact be Lazarus of Bethany, the guy who Jesus raised from the dead. Ben’s article presents a quite plausible argument to advance this idea, and is a fascinating read. Identifying Lazarus as the Beloved Disciple really makes sense of the gospel material about this character. Check it out.
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