The writings of John (the Gospel, 1,2 and 3 John, Revelation) are often assigned the latest dates of all New Testament literature, with some secular scholars placing them well into the second century A.D., and even most conservative scholars dating at least Revelation around 95 A.D., when John would have been over 80 years old. John and James were the sons of Zebedee, and disciples (Apostles) of Jesus.
It would perhaps be best to first establish the case that the same author is responsible for all the books associated with John. The attributions within these books are not at all clear on this point, since the Gospel of John and 1 John are anonymous, 2 John and 3 John are letters from “The Elder”, and the Revelation is given to simply “His servant John” (Rev 1:1).
Unlike the other gospels, John the apostle is never named in the Gospel of John, though his name seems to be deliberately self-obscured by calling himself “another disciple” or the “disciple that Jesus loved” (John 13:23, 18:15-16, 19:26-27, 20:2-4, 20:8, 21:7, 21:20, 21:23-24). The “we” in John 1:14 indicates that the author, along with the other apostles, were eyewitnesses of Jesus.
Finally, Rev 1:1-2 “…John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw“. The author of Revelation was also the author of this Gospel.
Some scholars have argued for different authors for John and Revelation because of differences in how the Greek language is used in the two books. However, this can probably be explained by the circumstances of writing. John, the Galilean fisherman, would have learned Greek not as his mother tongue but as a second or third language. The Greek of Revelation is different and non-standard, probably because John wrote it as a letter without help. The Gospel of John, though clearly coming from John, looks like it was a collaborative effort. John 21:24 says: “This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.” The “his” in this verse at the end of the book is probably John, and the “we” is almost surely the Jewish Christian community working with him to put the book into its final form. A similar reference occurs in John 19:35 “And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe”.
There are different views to the time when the Gospel of John was written. Some believe it was written during the reign of Nero (A.D. 54–68), or during the reign of Vespasian (A.D. 69–79), or during the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81–96). Since Jerusalem and the Temple appear to still be in existence, 65-68 AD appear to be when The Apostle John wrote his epistle
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