{"id":2503,"date":"2023-11-09T03:23:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T03:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2503"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:32:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:32:45","slug":"did-lazarus-write-the-4th-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2503","title":{"rendered":"DID LAZARUS WRITE THE 4TH GOSPEL?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal\">What if the traditional assumptions are wrong?<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I hope you find the following question <em><strong>intriguing <\/strong><\/em>rather than controversial:<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Could it be that the real author of the Gospel of John &#8211; known only as the \u201cBeloved Disciple\u201d in the text &#8211; is <strong>not<\/strong> John, the son of Zebedee, as traditionally assumed &#8211; but instead <strong>Lazarus<\/strong>, the brother of Mary and Martha, whom Jesus raised from the dead?<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This possibility has been proposed by Dr. Ben Witherington III, a well-respected New Testament scholar and author who teaches at my alma mater, Asbury Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It seems a strange theory at first, but if it is true, it answers so many questions!<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li>If he&#8217;s just a Galilean fisherman, how does the author of the Gospel gain entrance to the High Priest\u2019s house on the night of Jesus\u2019 arrest?<\/li>\n\n\n<li>If he&#8217;s one of the original 12, how is the author at the cross when the other 3 Gospels make clear the disciples all scattered?<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Why does the author take note of Jesus&#8217; grave clothes at the tomb &#8230; and then believe? Is it because he remembers stumbling out of his own tomb wrapped in similar clothes?<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Why does a rumor get started that the author will not die? Is it because he&#8217;s already been dead once?<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/benwitherington.blogspot.com\/2007\/01\/was-lazarus-beloved-disciple.html\" style=\"color: #2987c2\" tabindex=\"-1\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Dr. Witherington\u2019s blog post<\/strong><\/a> is a fairly lengthy read, but well-worth the effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What if the traditional assumptions are wrong? I hope you find the following question intriguing rather than controversial: Could it be that the real author of the Gospel of John &#8211; known only as the \u201cBeloved Disciple\u201d in the text &#8211; is not John, the son of Zebedee, as traditionally assumed &#8211; but instead Lazarus, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2504,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503\/revisions\/2504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}