Did John write

 

A man on Facebook recently said to me that “we do not know who wrote the Gospel of John.” I didn't ask him who “we” were. I figured he meant that nobody knows.

His point was that if we can't confirm the historical accuracy of the writing, since we don't even know who the author was, then we can't confirm the words in it attributed to Christ.

I was showing from the Gospel of John that Jesus said things that were in agreement with the Apostle Paul.

There are these claims out there that the Apostle Paul and Jesus are not in agreement.

There is the claim that Jesus and Paul differed on what the terms of salvation/ eternal life are.

I showed that both Jesus (from the Gospel of John) and Paul said that eternal life is through faith in Jesus Christ.

But that got shot down because “we don't know who wrote the Gospel of John”--so the man claimed.

I said to him that we know that the Gospel of John was written by the disciple who leaned on Jesus' breast during the last Passover the disciples had with Jesus right before His crucifixion.

The man said that that was not true.

So I quoted the Gospel of John to him:

“²⁰ Then Peter, turning around,

saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following,

who also had leaned on His breast at the supper,

and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?"

²¹ Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, 'But Lord, what about this man?'

²² Jesus said to him, 'If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.'

²³ Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, 'If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?'

²⁴ This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.”

John 21:20-24

I did not hear again from that man.

It is interesting that one of the oldest manuscript fragments of the New Testament is of the Gospel of John, dating to the early 2^nd Century, possibly even AD 100. It was found in Egypt. The Apostle is believed to have lived into his 90's, dying of old age and not martyrdom like the other Apostles.

What must I do

THE QUESTION:

What must I do to be saved?

THE ANSWER:

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

Acts 16:31

The word saved (or salvation) is used with the understanding that one is not right with God and needs deliverance from the resulting consequence (to be identified later).

The word saved simply speaks of “deliverance.”

The question is seeking the answer (or solution) to one's present situation of not being right with God and the consequence.

The answer is that one is saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for that deliverance.
Sin is why one is not right with God and faces the consequence.

The issue with sin is that it is a violation of God’s nature and moral law.

Everyone is guilty of sin: For all have sinned.... Romans 3:23

Sin is subject to consequence or penalty.

The penalty is also called death: The wages of sin is death.

Romans 6:23

The wages of sin is the penalty of sin, being death.

Death means one is separated from God, and if this is not corrected, it continues forever.

Salvation can also be understood as the forgiveness of sins.

To Him all the prophets witness that, through His [Jesus'] name, whoever believes in Him [Jesus] will receive forgiveness of sins.  Acts 10:43

Forgiveness of sins speaks of being released from the penalty of sin being death.

This release is salvation.

This forgiveness is according to God’s word and promise.

This forgiveness is offered through Jesus because He died for those sins as the substitute for everyone.

This forgiveness through Jesus has the witness of all the prophets.

The death that Jesus died on the cross was to bear the penalty (wages) of sin.

Who Himself [Jesus] bore our sins in His own body on the tree [the cross]. 1 Peter 2:24

This death of Jesus was how God so loved the world.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

It is because of the death of Jesus for our sins that we can be forgiven and be delivered from death, resulting in everlasting life.

Everlasting life is salvation, because the alternative is to perish, which is death.

That death is ultimately being assigned to that place called Hell, apart from God, forever.

Jesus said, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10.28

Hell is destruction of body and soul apart from God, while everlasting life is life with God forever.

Why must it be this way?

It is because God created man with a free will. Man in his free will sinned against God, and the result was separation from God. This separation is death.

Yet God made provision for this through the death of Jesus for our sins who Himself did not sin:

God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21

This forgiveness and life comes through believing in Jesus who was made sin for us.

Consider that we did not choose our parents, and yet our parents usually love us and want a relationship with us, and us with them.

The situation is similar with God.

Most people want to enjoy life and have meaningful relationships.

These things are fulfilled by God through that salvation which is through believing or trusting in Jesus for that salvation.

This life and salvation is the possession of those who believe in Jesus for it:

That whoever believes in Him [Jesus] should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:15

This answers the question as to how to be saved.