his own rich recollections. No matter how logical might be the speculations for a Second John, they must fall under the Hammer of Truth. How could we dare to imagine a Second John taking over the role of "beloved disciple" at some point without undermining the credibility of the Apostle John, Peter and the Synoptics? Furthermore, it is easy to explain why the humble Apostle John would write himself out of the story under the guise of the "beloved disciple"--not so easy to explain why John would not literally BE the "beloved apostle" himself. True, younger minds among John's disciples likely helped him edit his Gospel. But for John, or for any of his faithful disciples, to introduce fiction of any kind within the Gospel would be a betrayal of John's final testimony at John 21:24: "This is the disciple who gives this witness about these things and who wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true."
his own rich recollections. No matter how logical might be the speculations for a Second John, they must fall under the Hammer of Truth. How could we dare to imagine a Second John taking over the role of "beloved disciple" at some point without undermining the credibility of the Apostle John, Peter and the Synoptics? Furthermore, it is easy to explain why the humble Apostle John would write himself out of the story under the guise of the "beloved disciple"--not so easy to explain why John would not literally BE the "beloved apostle" himself. True, younger minds among John's disciples likely helped him edit his Gospel. But for John, or for any of his faithful disciples, to introduce fiction of any kind within the Gospel would be a betrayal of John's final testimony at John 21:24: "This is the disciple who gives this witness about these things and who wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true."