John 21

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This article is about the chapter of the Bible. For Pope John 21, see Pope John XXI.
John 21
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Papyrus122.jpg
John 21:11–14, 22–24 in Papyrus 122 (4th/5th century)
BookGospel of John
CategoryGospel
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part4
Part of a series of articles on
John in the Bible
"St John the Evangelist" by Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), 1620s
Saint John the Evangelist, Domenichino
Johannine literature
Authorship
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John 21 is the twenty-first and final chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains an account of a post-crucifixion appearance in Galilee, which the text describes as the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples. In the course of this chapter, there is a miraculous catch of 153 fish, the confirmation of Peter's love for Jesus, a foretelling of Peter's death in old age, and a comment about the beloved disciple's future.

Text[]

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 25 verses.

Textual witnesses[]

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:[1]

Later addition?[]

Scholarly discussions[]

According to Helmut Koester (2000), similar to the Pericope Adulterae, 'John 21:1–25, though present in all extant manuscripts, is also widely recognized as a later addition.' A redactor is thought to have later added some text to the original author's work.[4] Arguments in favour of this hypothesis include:

  • The fact that John 20:30–31 seems to be 'the original ending of the gospel, which is repeated in an exaggerated version in John 21:25.'[4] 20:30–31 summarizes the many signs which Jesus performed for his followers, not all of which could be recorded in the Gospel.[why?][citation needed]
  • The fact that John 21 begins with the 'Johannine transition', After these things...[5] (Greek: Μετὰ ταῦτα, romanized: meta tauta) which is used frequently in the Fourth Gospel,[6] has led some scholars to suggest that John 21 was appended in the same way as Mark 16:9–20.[citation needed]
  • The Restoration of Peter (verses 3–19) emphasises the ecclesiastical leadership of Peter, which may indicate that this addition was intended to take a side in 'a later discussion on competing claims of apostolic authorities', especially verses 15–17, in which Jesus instructs Peter to 'Tend my sheep!', meaning to lead the flock (=lay people) as a pastor (literally 'shepherd').[4]
  • The part about the disciple whom Jesus loved (verses 20–24) 'underlines the authority of the special tradition of this gospel as the report of an eyewitness.'[4] In particular, 21:24 shows a close resemblance to the earlier comment about the reliability of the eyewitness in 19:35.[4] This urge to convince the reader of the credibility of the gospel, with the claim that it is based on an eyewitness account, seems to be at odds with the climax of the original gospel, where, after Doubting Thomas comes to believe in Jesus's resurrection, those who believe without having seen are blessed above those who need evidence in order to believe (20:24–29).[4]
  • The Church Father Tertullian wrote, "And wherefore does this conclusion of the gospel affirm that these things were written unless it is that you might believe, it says, that Jesus Christ is the son of God?", which describes the end of Chapter 20, not Chapter 21.[citation needed]

Scholars opposing a later addition by another author have argued the following:

  • No existing manuscript of the Gospel of John omits chapter 21.[4][7]
  • Westcott proposed a theory that the author simply decided to add an additional incident at some time after writing the book, but before final publication. In this view, the redactor and the original author are the same person.[citation needed]
  • Donald Guthrie commented: 'It is unlikely that another author wrote this section since there are several points of contact in it with the style and language of previous chapters.'[8]

Manuscript evidence[]

The Nestle-Åland Novum Testamentum Graece (27th ed.) as well as major translations of the New Testament (e.g. KJV, NASB, NIV, RSV, NRSV) retain this chapter in their editions as original.

In an essay contributed on behalf of scholars unconvinced of any decisive sense of "originality" to John 21 (published in 2007), Jesuit author Felix Just wrote: "We (unfortunately!) do not possess any ancient manuscript of John that actually ends at 20:31."[9] In other words, ancient manuscripts that contain the end of John 20 also contain text from John 21. So if John 21 is an addition, it was so early (which is not in doubt: part of John 21 appears in P66) and so widespread, that no evidence of the prior form has survived. This should however be balanced against the tendency for the first and last pages of codices to be lost: there are just four papyrus witnesses to John 20–21, only three of which date from the 4th century or earlier.[1]

Novum Testamentum Graece (NA28) and the United Bible Societies (UBS5) provide the critical text for John 21.[10]

In 2006 one 4th-century Sahidic papyrus manuscript (Bodleian MS. Copt.e.150(P)) came to light that it may end at 20:31,[11] but this is not conclusive due to its fragmentary state.[12]

Contents[]

Verses 1–2[]

After these things, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself this way.[13]
Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.[14]

Of these seven disciples, the last two remain unnamed. Ernst Hengstenberg suggests they may have been Andrew and Philip, whereas Heinrich Meyer suggests they were non-apostolic disciples from the wider group of those who followed Jesus.[15]

Jesus Restores Peter (verses 3–19)[]

Main article: Restoration of Peter

Jesus restores Peter to fellowship after Peter had previously denied him, and tells Peter to feed Jesus' sheep. This Restoration of Peter occurs in verses 21:3–19.

The Disciple whom Jesus loved (verses 20–23)[]

The description of the "beloved disciple's" (normally assumed to be John the Apostle) fate is presented as an aside to Peter. Jesus says that it is not Peter's concern, even if Jesus should wish that that disciple remain alive until the end of time. The following verse clarifies that Jesus did not say "This disciple will not die", but that it was not for Peter to know.

The last appearance of the 'Disciple whom Jesus loved' in this Gospel, together with his first appearance in chapter 1 form a literary "inclusio of eyewitness testimony" to privilege this witness (in the Gospel of John 21:24) over Peter's, not to denigrate Peter's authority, but rather to claim a distinct qualification as an 'ideal witness' to Christ, because he survives Peter and bears his witness after Peter.[16][17] Bauckham notes the occurrence of at least two specific words in the narratives of both the first and the last appearance of this disciple: "to follow" (Greek: ἀκολουθέω 'akoloutheó') and "to remain/stay" (Greek: μένω 'menó').[18] In the first chapter verse 1:38 it is stated that "Jesus turned, and seeing them following ('akolouthountas'), said to them, "What do you seek?"", then in verse 1:39 they "remained ('emeinan') with Him that day".[18] In John 21, the last appearance of the 'Disciple whom Jesus loved' is indicated using similar words: in verse 21:20 it is written that "Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following ('akolouthounta')", then in verse 21:22 "Jesus said to him [Peter], "If I will that he remain ('menein') till I come, what is that to you?"[18] The appearances are also close to Peter's, as the first one, along with Andrew, happened just before Peter's, who was then given the name 'Cephas' (alluding to Peter's role after Jesus' departure), and the last one, just after Jesus' dialogue with Peter, acknowledging the significance of Peter's testimony within "the Petrine's inclusio", which is also found in the Gospel of Mark and Luke (see Luke 8 under "The Women who sustained Jesus").[19]

Conclusion (verses 24–25)[]

The chapter (and the whole book) is closed by two verses referring to the author of the gospel in the third person ("We know that his testimony is true").

Verse 24[]

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.[20]

Verse 25[]

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.[21]

Although ever since the 2nd century some people have taken verse 21:24 to mean that the author of the Gospel of John himself was the eyewitness (namely the disciple whom Jesus loved), other scholars point out that verse 21:24 indicates that the author is someone else than this disciple, because he's speaking about himself in the first person plural ('we know') and the disciple in the third person ('the disciple... who has written all these things'). Therefore, the author merely claims to have used an earlier written report, allegedly from this disciple, as a source for writing the Fourth Gospel. [22]: 4:37 

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Papyri and Manuscripts related to the Gospel and Epistles of John in The Johannine Literature Web at Catholic-Resources.org.
  2. ^ Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Grec 9 (2012). "Codex Ephræmi Syri rescriptus". Folios 85r and 85v.
  3. ^ WWU, Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung (INTF) /Eng. "Institute for New Testament Textual Research". "New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room - Workspace Doc ID 20004". Folios 1350 (85r) and 1360 (85v).
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Koester, Helmut (2000). Introduction to the New Testament, Volume 2. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 192. ISBN 978-3-11014970-8. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  5. ^ After these things, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself this way. John 21:1 WEB
  6. ^ John 2:12, 3:22, 5:1, 6:1, 6:66, 7:1, 11:7, 19:28, 21:1
  7. ^ Chris Keith, The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John, and the Literacy of Jesus (Brill 2009 ISBN 978-9-00417394-1), p. 258
  8. ^ IVP New Bible Commentary.
  9. ^ Felix Just, 'Combining Key Methodologies in Johannine Studies', in Tom Thatcher (ed), What We Have Heard from the Beginning: The Past, Present, and Future of Johannine Studies, (Baylor University Press, 2007), p. 356.
  10. ^ Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, Jn 21
  11. ^ Gesa Schenke, 'Das Erscheinen Jesu vor den Jüngern und der ungläubige Thomas: Johannes 20, 19–31' in Louis Painchaud and Paul-Hubert Poirier, eds, Coptica – Gnostica – Manichaica: Mélanges offerts à Wolf-Peter Funk (Les presses de l'Université Laval / Peeters, 2006) pp. 893–904.
  12. ^ Kok, Michael J. (2017). The Beloved Apostle?: The Transformation of the Apostle John into the Fourth Evangelist. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 32. ISBN 9781532610219.
  13. ^ John 21:1: NKJV
  14. ^ John 21:2: NKJV
  15. ^ Meyer, H. A. W., Meyer's NT Commentary on John 21, accessed 7 December 2020
  16. ^ Bauckham 2017, pp. 128–129.
  17. ^ Bauckham, R. "The Beloved Disciple as Ideal Author," JNST 49 (1993) 21-44; reprinted in S. E. Porter and C. A. Evans, eds., The Johannine Writings (Biblical Seminar 32; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1995) 46-68; apud Bauckham 2017, p. 128
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b c Bauckham 2017, p. 128.
  19. ^ Bauckham 2017, pp. 129.
  20. ^ John 21:24 ESV
  21. ^ John 21:25 NKJV
  22. ^ Bart D. Ehrman (2002). "5: The Birth of the Gospels". The New Testament. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 6 January 2021.

Sources[]

External links[]

Preceded by
John 20 		Chapters of the Bible
Gospel of John 		Succeeded by
Acts of the Apostles 1
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