Who Was the “Beloved Disciple”?

Most Christian children could tell you that the “beloved disciple,” the disciple whom Jesus loved, was the apostle John, who authored the Gospel and the three epistles that bear his name. But some are not so convinced. The expression occurs in the following passages:

• John 13:23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus.
• John 19:26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
• John 20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
• John 21:7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.
• John 21:20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”

Ben Witherington, Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary, has created quite the stir by arguing that this unidentified disciple was not John but Lazarus. He does so partially based on John 11:3, where Lazarus is identified as the one whom Jesus loves: “So the sisters sent to him, saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’”

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