John 21:24,25

The two verses before us bring the Gospel to a close. Their authenticity has been much disputed; and not a few who accept the rest of the chapter as John's, refuse to admit that they are the production of his pen. Both external and internal evidence forbid our passing upon them so sweeping a condemnation. John 21:25 is certainly authentic, and the force added to it, when thus viewed in its Johan nine character, will, we trust, appear in the commentary. It is more difficult to speak of John 21:24. To accept the whole of it as our Evangelist's seems impossible. A passage in his Third Epistle has indeed been appealed to (John 21:12); but there the true reading is, ‘We also bear witness, and thou knowest that our witness is true.' The difficulty in the verse before us does not lie in the use of the plural pronoun ‘we:' it is perfectly conceivable that the Evangelist might write ‘we know' even if referring to himself alone. But it seems to us inconceivable that in one and the same sentence he should write, of himself, ‘ This is the disciple which witnesseth...' and ‘ We knew that his witness is true.' We must conclude, therefore, that the last clause of the verse was written by the elders of Ephesus, or other Christians of influence there; and the only question is, whether this clause alone or the whole verse is to be traced to them. If the whole verse be their addition, it must have been intercalated because they wished to explain who the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved' was. The word ‘this' would then refer to him as the writer of the Gospel, who was well known in Ephesus to be no other than the Apostle John: the apostle and the ‘disciple' are thus identified. On the other hand, the addition made by the Ephesian elders may begin with the words ‘and we know.' In this case the appended words are to be regarded as the almost involuntary expression of their confidence in and admiration of one whose Gospel differed so much from the earlier Gospels that some may have doubted how it would be received. The first part of the verse will on this view be John's own statement; and its similarity to chap. John 19:35 is a mark of genuineness. The question at issue is thus reduced within very narrow limits.