John

            Determining from internal evidence the authorship of John’s gospel requires establishing the identity of “the disciple whom Jesus loved”: “This [disciple that Jesus loved] is the disciple that bears witness of these things and wrote them, and we know his testimony is true” (21:24 + 20). A similar comment appears in the account of the spear thrust: “He that has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows he says true things that you may believe” (19:35; cp. 20:30-31). The characteristic description appears five times in the gospel beginning with the night before Christ’s death: 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, and 21:20.1 Other more vague references to unnamed men include the second of “two disciples” of John that heard Jesus speak (1:35-39), the first being Andrew (1:40); and “another disciple,” known by the high priest (18:15).

1.   Emphasizes the corporeality of the resurrected Christ as well as the fleshliness of Jesus