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130-584: This epistle was probably written in Ephesus between 95 and 110 AD. The author advises Christians on how to discern true teachers: by their ethics , their proclamation of Jesus in the flesh, and by their love . The original text was written in Koine Greek . The epistle is divided into five chapters . The main themes of the epistle are love and fellowship with God. The author describes various tests by which readers may ascertain whether or not their communion with God

260-574: A gospel free from Jewish Law was received from these three, the most prominent men of the messianic community at Jerusalem . The phrase "the disciple whom Jesus loved as a brother" ( ὁ μαθητὴς ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς , ho mathētēs hon ēgapā ho Iēsous ), or in John 20:2 ; "whom Jesus loved as a friend" ( ὃν ἐφίλει ὁ Ἰησοῦς , hon ephilei ho Iēsous ), is used six times in the Gospel of John , but in no other New Testament accounts of Jesus. John 21:24 claims that

390-455: A Latin accent. Many had lived in Ephesus, and statues and monument of Roman citizens in Ephesus were also destroyed. But when they saw how badly the people of Chios had been treated by Zenobius, a general of Mithridates, they refused entry to his army. Zenobius was invited into the city to visit Philopoemen , the father of Monime , the favourite wife of Mithridates, and the overseer of Ephesus. As

520-642: A Parthian destination for 1 John . This tradition, however, is known only from Latin sources. (Three late Greek manuscripts of 2 John label it "to the Parthians".) On balance, it is likely that John's first letter was written for the Ephesian church and that the Parthian label results from a misreading or misunderstanding. "1 John 4:16" is a song title in the album " The Life of the World to Come ", inspired by this verse, which

650-549: A century until 197 BC. The Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great tried to regain the Greek cities of Asia Minor and recaptured Ephesus in 196 BC but he then came into conflict with Rome. After a series of battles, he was defeated by Scipio Asiaticus at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC. As a result of the subsequent Treaty of Apamea , Ephesus came under the rule of Eumenes II ,

780-401: A few ancient cities, or extensive settlement outside the city walls. This would have been impossible at Ephesus because of the mountain ranges, coastline and quarries which surrounded the city. The wall of Lysimachus has been estimated to enclose an area of 415 hectares (1,030 acres). Not all of this area was inhabited due to public buildings and spaces in the city center and the steep slope of

910-466: A highly emotional style of devotion that, in late-medieval culture, was thought to be poorly compatible with masculinity. After the Middle Ages, feminizing portrayals of Saint John continued to be made; a case in point is an etching by Jacques Bellange , shown to the right, described by art critic Richard Dorment as depicting "a softly androgynous creature with a corona of frizzy hair, small breasts like

1040-523: A huge indemnity, along with five years of back taxes, which left Asian cities heavily in debt for a long time to come. King Ptolemy XII Auletes of Egypt retired to Ephesus in 57 BC, passing his time in the sanctuary of the temple of Artemis when the Roman Senate failed to restore him to his throne. Mark Antony was welcomed by Ephesus for periods when he was proconsul and in 33 BC with Cleopatra when he gathered his fleet of 800 ships before

1170-402: A population between 138,000 and 172,500 . J.W. Hanson estimated the inhabited space to be smaller, at 224 hectares (550 acres). He argues that population densities of 150~250 people per hectare are more realistic, which gives a range of 33,600–56,000 inhabitants. Even with these much lower population estimates, Ephesus was one of the largest cities of Roman Asia Minor, ranking it as

1300-745: A prologue or introduction concerning the Incarnate Word. Like the Prologue to John's Gospel, this introduction tells us that what the author proposes to write about is the Word which is the Life. Anglican commentator Alfred Plummer notes that "the similarity to the opening of the Gospel is manifest", but with a significant difference, in that the gospel refers to the existence of the Ancient Greek : λόγος , lógos , word, before

1430-483: A simple style, without syntactical flourishes, and makes frequent use of asyndeton , where related thoughts are placed next to one another without conjunctions. In contrast to the linear style used in the Pauline epistles , biblical scholar Ernest DeWitt Burton suggests that John's thought "moves in circles", forming a slowly advancing sequence of thought. This is similar to the parallel structure of Hebrew poetry , in which

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1560-655: A successful warrior, and as a king he was able to join the twelve cities of Ionia together into the Ionian League . During his reign the city began to prosper. He died in a battle against the Carians when he came to the aid of Priene , another city of the Ionian League. Androklos and his dog are depicted on the Hadrian temple frieze, dating from the 2nd century. Later, Greek historians such as Pausanias , Strabo and Herodotos and

1690-575: Is White. John, Apostle and Evangelist is remembered in the Church of England with a Festival on 27 December. In Roman Catholic tradition he is considered patron of Turkey, Asia Minor and Turkish people . Until 1960, another feast day which appeared in the General Roman Calendar is that of "Saint John Before the Latin Gate" on 6 May, celebrating a tradition recounted by Jerome that St John

1820-410: Is genuine, and teaches that the proof of spiritual regeneration is a life of active righteousness. It also distinguishes between the world (which is full of evil and under the dominion of Satan) and the children of God (who are set apart from the world). The epistle is not written in the same form as the other biblical epistles, as it lacks an epistolary opening or conclusion. The epistle is written in

1950-603: Is not against us is on our side'. John is traditionally believed to have lived on for more than fifty years after the martyrdom of his brother James, who became the first Apostle to die a martyr's death in AD 44. John is always mentioned in the group of the first four apostles in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts , listed either second, third or fourth. John, along with his brother James and Peter , formed an informal triumvirate among

2080-587: Is said that all in the audience of Colosseum were converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle. This event would have occurred in the late 1st century, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian , who was known for his persecution of Christians. When John was aged, he trained Polycarp who later became Bishop of Smyrna . This was important because Polycarp was able to carry John's message to future generations. Polycarp taught Irenaeus , passing on to him stories about John. Similarly, Ignatius of Antioch

2210-483: Is traditionally held to have been composed by John the Evangelist , at Ephesus , when the writer was in advanced age. The epistle's content, language and conceptual style are very similar to the Gospel of John , 2 John , and 3 John . Thus, at the end of the 19th century scholar Ernest DeWitt Burton wrote that there could be "no reasonable doubt" that 1 John and the gospel were written by the same author. Beginning in

2340-614: The Pope Victor I , Bishop of Rome, defending the Quartodeciman position in the Easter controversy . A legend, which was first mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis in the 4th century, purported that Mary, the mother of Jesus, may have spent the last years of her life in Ephesus. The Ephesians derived the argument from John's presence in the city, and Jesus' instructions to John to take care of his mother, Mary, after his death. Epiphanius, however,

2470-504: The Acts of John , an apocryphal text attributed to John, contributed much to Medieval iconography; it is the source of the idea that John became an apostle at a young age. One of John's familiar attributes is the chalice, often with a serpent emerging from it. This symbol is interpreted as a reference to a legend from the Acts of John, in which John was challenged to drink a cup of poison to demonstrate

2600-492: The Acts of John , which is traditionally viewed as written by John himself or his disciple, Leucius Charinus . It was widely circulated by the second century CE but deemed heretical at the Second Council of Nicaea (787 CE). Varying fragments survived in Greek and Latin within monastic libraries. It contains strong docetic themes, but is not considered in modern scholarship to be Gnostic. The feast day of Saint John in

2730-575: The Beloved Disciple , and testify that he outlived the remaining apostles and was the only one to die of natural causes, although modern scholars are divided on the veracity of these claims. John the Apostle is traditionally held to be the author of the Gospel of John , and many Christian denominations believe that he authored several other books of the New Testament (the three Johannine epistles and

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2860-630: The Book of Revelation , together with the Gospel of John, are called the Johannine works ), depending on whether he is distinguished from, or identified with, John the Evangelist, John the Elder, and John of Patmos. Although the authorship of the Johannine works has traditionally been attributed to John the Apostle, only a minority of contemporary scholars believe he wrote the gospel, and most conclude that he wrote none of them. Regardless of whether or not John

2990-507: The Gospel of John are widely agreed upon as his. However, Eusebius mentions that the consensus is that the second and third epistles of John are not his but were written by some other John. Eusebius also goes to some length to establish with the reader that there is no general consensus regarding the revelation of John. The revelation of John could only be what is now called the Book of Revelation. The Gospel according to John differs considerably from

3120-526: The Goths in 263 AD. This marked the decline of the city's splendour. However, emperor Constantine the Great rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. Until recently, the population of Ephesus in Roman times was estimated to number up to 225,000 people by Broughton. More recent scholarship regards these estimates as unrealistic. Such a large estimate would require population densities seen in only

3250-586: The New Testament list and says that the disciples included Peter , Philip , Thomas , Bartholomew , Matthew , Andrew , James , Jude , John and Simon the Zealot . Notably, narrations of People of the Book (Christians and Jews) are not to be believed or disbelieved by Muslims as long as there is nothing that supports or denies them in Quran or Sunnah. Druze tradition honors several "mentors" and "prophets", and John

3380-668: The Roman Catholic Church , which calls him "Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist", and in the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Calendars, which call him "Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist", is on 27 December. In the Tridentine calendar he was commemorated also on each of the following days up to and including 3 January, the Octave of the 27 December feast. This Octave was abolished by Pope Pius XII in 1955. The liturgical color

3510-523: The Sasanian War , which initiated a drastic decline in the city's population and standard of living. The importance of the city as a commercial centre further declined as the harbour, today 5 kilometres inland, was slowly silted up by the river (today, Küçük Menderes) despite repeated dredging during the city's history. The loss of its harbour caused Ephesus to lose its access to the Aegean Sea , which

3640-573: The Second Coming of Christ as translated beings . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches that John the Apostle is the same person as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, and the Beloved Disciple. As he was traditionally identified with the beloved apostle, the evangelist, and the author of the Revelation and several Epistles, John played an extremely prominent role in art from

3770-608: The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators. Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation . The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils ( Council of Ephesus ). The city

3900-744: The Synoptic Gospels , which were likely written decades earlier. The bishops of Asia Minor supposedly requested him to write his gospel to deal with the heresy of the Ebionites , who asserted that Christ did not exist before Mary. John probably knew of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but these gospels spoke of Jesus primarily in the year following the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist . Around 600, however, Sophronius of Jerusalem noted that "two epistles bearing his name ... are considered by some to be

4030-611: The Twelve Apostles in the Gospels. Jesus allowed them to be the only apostles present at three particular occasions during his public ministry, the Raising of Jairus' daughter , Transfiguration of Jesus and Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane . Jesus sent only Peter and John into the city to make the preparation for the final Passover meal (the Last Supper ). Many traditions identify

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4160-405: The baptism of John the Baptist . Later a silversmith named Demetrios stirred up a mob against Paul, saying that he was endangering the livelihood of those making silver Artemis shrines. Demetrios in connection with the temple of Artemis mentions some object (perhaps an image or a stone) "fallen from Zeus". Between 53 and 57 AD Paul wrote the letter 1 Corinthians from Ephesus (possibly from

4290-460: The battle of Actium with Octavius . When Augustus became emperor in 27 BC, the most important change was when he made Ephesus the capital of proconsular Asia (which covered western Asia Minor) instead of Pergamum . Ephesus then entered an era of prosperity, becoming both the seat of the governor and a major centre of commerce. According to Strabo , it was second in importance and size only to Rome. The city and temple were destroyed by

4420-574: The synaxis of the Apostle John at Diaconissa on 15 February. The Quran also speaks of Jesus's disciples but does not mention their names, instead referring to them as "supporters for [the cause of] Allah". The Sunnah did not mention their names either. However, some Muslim scholars mentioned their names, likely relying on the resources of Christians, who are considered " People of the Book " in Islamic tradition. Muslim exegesis more or less agrees with

4550-467: The " disciple whom Jesus loved " ( ὁ μαθητὴς ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς , o mathētēs on ēgapa o Iēsous ) in John 20:2 . John 21:24 claims that the Gospel of John is based on the written testimony of the "Beloved Disciple". The authorship of some Johannine literature has been debated since about the year 200. In his 4th century Ecclesiastical History , Eusebius says that the First Epistle of John and

4680-505: The " disciple whom Jesus loved " in the Gospel of John as the Apostle John, but this identification is debated. At the meal itself, the "disciple whom Jesus loved" sat next to Jesus. It was customary to recline on couches at meals, and this disciple leaned on Jesus. Tradition identifies this disciple as John. After the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane , only Peter and the "other disciple" (according to tradition, John) followed him into

4810-473: The "Lamb of God", followed Jesus and spent the day with him, thus becoming the first two disciples called by Jesus. On this basis some traditions believe that John was first a disciple of John the Baptist , even though he is not named in this episode. According to the Synoptic Gospels (Matt 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–20; Luke 5:1–11), Zebedee and his sons fished in the Sea of Galilee . Jesus then called Peter , Andrew and

4940-523: The "Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian" on 26 September. On 8 May they celebrate the " Feast of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian", on which date Christians used to draw forth from his grave fine ashes which were believed to be effective for healing the sick. John is also commemorated on 30 June as a member of the twelve apostles. There is also a commemoration of

5070-560: The 'Paul tower' near the harbour, where he was imprisoned for a short time). Later, Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians while he was in prison in Rome (around 62 AD). Roman Asia was associated with John , one of the chief apostles, and the Gospel of John might have been written in Ephesus, c 90–100. Ephesus was one of the seven cities addressed in the Book of Revelation , indicating that

5200-562: The 18th century and based on a critical edition do not include this text, or include it as a footnote. Because the addition supports the doctrine of trinitarianism , it featured in Protestant and Catholic debates on this subject in the early modern period . Plummer suggests that here, "as at the end of [John's] Gospel and the Second Epistle , ' Amen ' is the addition of a copyist". The Textus Receptus version includes "Ἀμήν", Amen , at

5330-417: The 20th century, however, critical scholars like Heinrich Julius Holtzmann and C. H. Dodd identified the Gospel of John and 1 John as works of different authors. Certain linguistic features of the two texts support this view. For instance, 1 John often uses a demonstrative pronoun at the beginning of a sentence, then a particle or conjunction, followed by an explanation or definition of the demonstrative at

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5460-615: The Apostle is honored as a prophet . In the Druze tradition and doctrine, Matthew the Apostle is respected for his contributions to spiritual knowledge and guidance. Druze doctrine teaches that Christianity is to be "esteemed and praised", as the Gospel writers are regarded as "carriers of wisdom". The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) teaches that, "John is mentioned frequently in latter-day revelation (1 Ne. 14:18–27; 3 Ne. 28:6; Ether 4:16; D&C 7; 27:12; 61:14; 77; 88:141). For Latter-day Saints these passages confirm

5590-415: The Apostle wrote any of the Johannine works, most scholars agree that all three epistles were written by the same author and that the epistles did not have the same author as the Book of Revelation, although there is widespread disagreement among scholars as to whether the author of the epistles was different from that of the gospel. John the Apostle was the son of Zebedee and the younger brother of James

5720-699: The Apostles through the Roman Empire 's provinces . A messianic community existed at Ephesus before Paul's first labors there (cf. "the brethren"), in addition to Priscilla and Aquila . The original community was under the leadership of Apollos (1 Corinthians 1:12). They were disciples of John the Baptist and were converted by Aquila and Priscilla. According to tradition, after the Assumption of Mary , John went to Ephesus. Irenaeus writes of "the church of Ephesus, founded by Paul, with John continuing with them until

5850-579: The Attalid king of Pergamon , (ruled 197–159 BC). When his grandson Attalus III died in 133 BC without male children of his own, he left his kingdom to the Roman Republic , on condition that the city of Pergamon be kept free and autonomous. Ephesus, as part of the kingdom of Pergamon, became a subject of the Roman Republic in 129 BC after the revolt of Eumenes III was suppressed. The city felt Roman influence at once; taxes rose considerably, and

5980-580: The Beloved and, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity , Saint John the Theologian , was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament . Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee and Salome . His brother James was another of the Twelve Apostles. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist , John of Patmos , John the Elder , and

6110-525: The Bülbül Dağı mountain, which was enclosed by the wall. Ludwig Burchner estimated this area with the walls at 1000 acres. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor uses an estimate of 345 hectares for the inhabited land or 835 acres (Murphey cites Ludwig Burchner). He cites Josiah Russell using 832 acres and Old Jerusalem in 1918 as the yardstick estimated the population at 51,068 at 148.5 persons per hectare. Using 510 persons per hectare, he arrives at

6240-744: The Catholics. It came to be called the Robber Council of Ephesus or Robber Synod of Latrocinium by its opponents. Ephesus is believed to be the city of the Seven Sleepers , who were persecuted by the Roman emperor Decius because of their Christianity, and they slept in a cave for three centuries, outlasting their persecution. John the Apostle John the Apostle ( Ancient Greek : Ἰωάννης ; Latin : Ioannes c.  6 AD – c.  100 AD ; Ge'ez : ዮሐንስ;), also known as Saint John

6370-528: The Cimmerians had been driven away, the city was ruled by a series of tyrants. Following a revolt by the people, Ephesus was ruled by a council. The city prospered again under a new rule, producing a number of important historical figures such as the elegiac poet Callinus and the iambic poet Hipponax , the philosopher Heraclitus , the great painter Parrhasius and later the grammarian Zenodotos and physicians Soranus and Rufus. About 560 BC, Ephesus

6500-440: The Evangelist has been named consistently in the writings of early Church Fathers, "it is hard to pass by this conclusion, despite widespread reluctance to accept it by many, but by no means all, modern scholars." Modern, mainstream Bible scholars generally assert that the Gospel of John has been written by an anonymous author. Regarding whether the author of the Gospel of John was an eyewitness, according to Paul N. Anderson,

6630-482: The Gospel of John is based on the written testimony of this disciple. The disciple whom Jesus loved is specifically referred to six times in the Gospel of John: None of the other Gospels includes anyone in the parallel scenes that could be directly understood as the Beloved Disciple. For example, in Luke 24:12 , Peter alone runs to the tomb. Mark, Matthew and Luke do not mention any one of the twelve disciples having witnessed

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6760-401: The Gospel of John somewhere between AD 65 and 85; John Robinson proposes an initial edition by 50–55 and then a final edition by 65 due to narrative similarities with Paul. Other scholars are of the opinion that the Gospel of John was composed in two or three stages. Most contemporary scholars consider that the Gospel was not written until the latter third of the first century AD, and with

6890-483: The Gospels were written forty to sixty years after the death of Jesus." According to the Book of Revelation , its author was on the island of Patmos "for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus", when he was honoured with the vision contained in Revelation. The author of the Book of Revelation identifies himself as "Ἰωάννης" ("John" in standard English translation). The early 2nd-century writer Justin Martyr

7020-421: The Great . According to church tradition, their mother was Salome . Also according to some traditions, Salome was the sister of Mary, Jesus' mother , making Salome Jesus' aunt, and her sons John the Apostle and James were Jesus' cousins. John the Apostle is traditionally believed to be one of two disciples (the other being Andrew ) recounted in John 1:35–39 , who upon hearing the Baptist point out Jesus as

7150-403: The Greek cities of Asia Minor into the Achaemenid Empire . Those cities were then ruled by satraps . Ephesus has intrigued archaeologists because for the Archaic Period there is no definite location for the settlement. There are numerous sites to suggest the movement of a settlement between the Bronze Age and the Roman period, but the silting up of the natural harbours as well as the movement of

7280-400: The Jews. Most Johannine scholars doubt the reliability of its ascription to Papias, but a minority, including B.W. Bacon , Martin Hengel and Henry Barclay Swete , maintain that these references to Papias are credible. Zahn argues that this reference is actually to John the Baptist . John's tomb is thought to be located in the former Basilica of St. John at Selçuk , a small town in

7410-413: The Kayster River meant that the location never remained the same. Ephesus continued to prosper, but when taxes were raised under Cambyses II and Darius , the Ephesians participated in the Ionian Revolt against Persian rule in the Battle of Ephesus (498 BC) , an event which instigated the Greco-Persian wars . In 479 BC, the Ionians, together with Athens , were able to oust the Persians from

7540-449: The New Testament, beginning in 1522. Bibles translated from his edition integrate the passage, including the King James Version (1611), which renders it as follows ( in italics ): For there are three that beare record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that beare witnesse in earth, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one. Translations made since

7670-432: The Presbyter , an obscure figure in the early church, has also been identified with the seer of the Book of Revelation by such authors as Eusebius in his Church History (Book III, 39) and Jerome . John is considered to have been exiled to Patmos , during the persecutions under Emperor Domitian . Revelation 1:9 says that the author wrote the book on Patmos: "I, John, both your brother and companion in tribulation, ...

7800-437: The biblical record of John and also provide insight into his greatness and the importance of the work the Lord has given him to do on the earth in New Testament times and in the last days. The latter-day scriptures clarify that John did not die but was allowed to remain on the earth as a ministering servant until the time of the Lord's Second Coming (John 21:20–23; 3 Ne. 28:6–7; D&C 7)". It also teaches that in 1829, along with

7930-404: The book could have been put into its present form by the same person(s) responsible for the fourth gospel." There is no information in the Bible concerning the duration of John's activity in Judea . According to tradition, John and the other Apostles remained some 12 years in this first field of labour. The persecution of Christians under Herod Agrippa I (r. 41–44 AD) led to the scattering of

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8060-402: The capital of the kingdom of Arzawa (another independent state in Western and Southern Anatolia/Asia Minor ) was Apasa (or Abasa ), and some scholars suggest that this is the same place the Greeks later called Ephesus. In 1954, a burial ground from the Mycenaean era (1500–1400 BC), which contained ceramic pots, was discovered close to the ruins of the basilica of St. John . This was

8190-402: The centre of ancient Ephesus (as attested by excavations at the Seljuk castle during the 1990s). The mythical founder of the city was a prince of Athens named Androklos , who had to leave his country after the death of his father, King Kodros. According to the legend, he founded Ephesus on the place where the oracle of Delphi became reality ("A fish and a boar will show you the way"). He was

8320-430: The church at Ephesus was strong. According to Eusebius of Caesarea , Saint Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus. In the early 2nd century, the church at Ephesus was still important enough to be addressed by a letter written by Bishop Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians which begins with "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in

8450-437: The circumstances of the believers for whom they were intended. For instance, John's feminine features are argued to have helped to make him more relatable to women. Likewise, Sarah McNamer argues that because of his status as an androgynous saint, John could function as an "image of a third or mixed gender " and "a crucial figure with whom to identify" for male believers who sought to cultivate an attitude of affective piety ,

8580-401: The cities of Ionia was ceded again to Persia. These wars did not greatly affect daily life in Ephesus. The Ephesians were surprisingly modern in their social relations: they allowed strangers to integrate and education was valued. In later times, Pliny the Elder mentioned having seen at Ephesus a representation of the goddess Diana by Timarete , the daughter of a painter. In 356 BC

8710-454: The creation, whereas here the point is that the word existed before the incarnation . A Trinitarian gloss (marginal note) known as the Johannine Comma , added to Latin translations of the epistle in the 4th century, was interpolated (added to the main text) within 1 John 5:7-8 over the course of the Middle Ages . Although no Greek manuscripts before the 15th century include the passage, Erasmus added it to later editions of his edition of

8840-419: The crucifixion. There are also two references to an unnamed "other disciple" in John 1:35–40 and John 18:15–16 , which may be to the same person based on the wording in John 20:2 . Church tradition has held that John is the author of the Gospel of John and four other books of the New Testament – the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation . In the Gospel, authorship is internally credited to

8970-405: The death of Lysimachus the town again was named Ephesus. Thus Ephesus became part of the Seleucid Empire . After the murder of king Antiochus II Theos and his Egyptian wife in 246 BC, pharaoh Ptolemy III invaded the Seleucid Empire and the Egyptian fleet swept the coast of Asia Minor. Ephesus was betrayed by its governor Sophron into the hands of the Ptolemies who ruled the city for half

9100-468: The debate over Jesus's nature: the debate over "flesh" or the incarnation . In early Christianity , some advocated for docetism , a view that Christ had been a purely divine being. Most notably, the group that would eventually become the Gnostics were docetic. 1 John fiercely denounces this belief in favor of the view that Jesus had a real appearance "in the flesh" on Earth. Chapter 4 writes that "every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in

9230-431: The earliest possible date of AD 75–80: "...a date of AD 75–80 as the earliest possible date of composition for this Gospel." Other scholars think that an even later date, perhaps even the last decade of the first century AD right up to the start of the 2nd century (i.e. 90 – 100), is applicable. Nonetheless, today many theological scholars continue to accept the traditional authorship. Colin G. Kruse states that since John

9360-507: The early Christian period onward. He is traditionally depicted in one of two distinct ways: either as an aged man with a white or gray beard, or alternatively as a beardless youth. The first way of depicting him was more common in Byzantine art , where it was possibly influenced by antique depictions of Socrates ; the second was more common in the art of Medieval Western Europe , and can be dated back as far as 4th century Rome. Legends from

9490-532: The empty tomb after Mary Magdalene bore witness to the resurrection of Jesus . After Jesus' Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost , John, together with Peter, took a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the church. He was with Peter at the healing of the lame man at Solomon's Porch in the Temple and he was also thrown into prison with Peter. Later, only Peter and John went to visit

9620-634: The end but critical editions do not. Around 415, Augustine of Hippo wrote a commentary in Latin On the Epistle of John to the Parthians (in Latin, ad Parthos ), in which he identifies the addressees of John's letter as Parthians . It has occasionally been suggested that this refers to a community of converts in the Jewish community of Babylonia . Around 730, Bede wrote that Athanasius of Alexandria had also believed in

9750-453: The end of the sentence—a stylistic technique which is not used in the gospel. The author of the epistle also "uses the conditional sentence in a variety of rhetorical figures which are unknown to the gospel". This indicates, at the very least, the linguistic characteristics changed over time. Today, following the work of J. Louis Martyn and Raymond Brown , the majority of scholars believe that John and 1 John were written by different members of

9880-426: The epistle have been lost; some of the earliest surviving manuscripts include: The Muratorian fragment , dated to AD 170, cites chapter 1, verses 1–3 within a discussion of the Gospel of John. Papyrus 9 , dating from the 3rd century, has surviving parts of chapter 4, verses 11–12 and 14–17. Different versions of the Greek manuscript have different wording for some verses. Verses 1-4 of the first chapter constitute

10010-454: The epistle is really John's commentary on a selection of traditional parallel couplets. While this theory, first propounded by Ernst von Dobschütz and Rudolf Bultmann , is not universally accepted, Amos Wilder writes that, "It is at least clear that there are considerable and sometimes continuous elements in the epistle whose style distinguishes them from that of the author both with respect to poetic structure and syntactic usage." The epistle

10140-673: The first time in 1390. The Central Asian warlord Tamerlane defeated the Ottomans in Anatolia in 1402, and the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I died in captivity. The region was restored to the Anatolian beyliks . After a period of unrest, the region was again incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1425. Ephesus was completely abandoned by the 15th century. Nearby Ayasuluğ ( Ayasoluk being a corrupted form of

10270-440: The flesh is from God" (NRSV), and other passages say that Jesus shed blood, and if he could not shed blood then his death was meaningless. Chapter 2 also includes a passage that refers to a group of proto-Gnostics: a group that was once with the church but have since left it and deny that the human Jesus was also the spiritual Christ. The author denounces these secessionists as "antichrists". The introduction possibly also addresses

10400-448: The fracturing of the Johannine community itself". The author wrote the epistle so that the joy of his audience would "be full" (1:4); that they would "not practice sin" (2:1); that they would not be deceived by false teachers (2:26); and that "you who believe in the name of the Son of God ... may continue to know that you have eternal life " (5:13). There are two main approaches to understanding

10530-592: The gospel "contains more direct claims to eyewitness origins than any of the other Gospel traditions." F. F. Bruce argues that 19:35 contains an "emphatic and explicit claim to eyewitness authority." The gospel nowhere claims to have been written by direct witnesses to the reported events. Mainstream Bible scholars assert that all four gospels from the New Testament are fundamentally anonymous and most of mainstream scholars agree that these gospels have not been written by eyewitnesses. As The New Oxford Annotated Bible (2018) has put it, "Scholars generally agree that

10660-488: The greatness and fullness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory" ( Letter to the Ephesians ). The church at Ephesus had given their support for Ignatius, who was taken to Rome for execution. Polycrates of Ephesus ( Greek : Πολυκράτης ) was a bishop at the Church of Ephesus in the 2nd century. He is best known for his letter addressed to

10790-408: The issue, especially if the identification of the author as John, or a pseudepigraphic claim to have been a disciple, is assumed: Chapter 1 writes of having evidence of the truth via eyes and touch. The author may thus be claiming to have known the physical Jesus personally and is emphasizing his physicality as a flesh-and-blood person rather than a spirit or phantasm. The earliest written versions of

10920-499: The king's second wife, Arsinoe II of Egypt . After Lysimachus had destroyed the nearby cities of Lebedos and Colophon in 292 BC, he relocated their inhabitants to the new city. Ephesus revolted after the treacherous death of Agathocles , giving the Hellenistic king of Syria and Mesopotamia Seleucus I Nicator an opportunity for removing and killing Lysimachus, his last rival, at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC. After

11050-484: The largest city after Sardis and Alexandria Troas . Hanson and Ortman (2017) estimate an inhabited area to be 263 hectares and their demographic model yields an estimate of 71,587 inhabitants, with a population density of 276 inhabitants per hectare. By contrast, Rome within the walls encompassed 1,500 hectares and as over 400 built-up hectares were left outside the Aurelian Wall, whose construction

11180-540: The most important city of the Byzantine Empire in Asia after Constantinople in the 5th and 6th centuries. Emperor Flavius Arcadius raised the level of the street between the theatre and the harbour. The basilica of St. John was built during the reign of emperor Justinian I in the 6th century. Excavations in 2022 indicate that large parts of the city were destroyed in 614/615 by a military conflict, most likely during

11310-747: The newly converted believers in Samaria . While he remained in Judea and the surrounding area, the other disciples returned to Jerusalem for the Apostolic Council ( c.  48–50 AD ). Paul, in opposing his enemies in Galatia, explicitly recalled that John, along with Peter and James the Just , were collectively recognized as the three Pillars of the Church . He also referred to the recognition that his Apostolic preaching of

11440-437: The original Greek name ) was turkified to Selçuk in 1914. Ephesus was an important centre for Early Christianity from the AD 50s. From AD 52–54, the apostle Paul lived in Ephesus, working with the congregation and apparently organizing missionary activity into the hinterlands. Initially, according to the Acts of the Apostles , Paul attended the Jewish synagogue in Ephesus, but after three months he became frustrated with

11570-507: The overall purpose of the letter, tests of life (popularized by Robert Law) and tests of fellowship (popularized by John Mitchell and Zane Hodges ). Whereas the Gospel of John was written for unbelievers ( John 20:31 ), this epistle was written to those who were already believers (5:13). Ernest DeWitt Burton found it likely that its audience was largely gentile rather than Jewish, since it contains few Old Testament quotations or distinctly Jewish forms of expression. The epistle also partakes of

11700-448: The palace of the high-priest . The "beloved disciple" alone, among the Apostles, remained near Jesus at the foot of the cross on Calvary alongside myrrhbearers and numerous other women. Following the instruction of Jesus from the Cross, the beloved disciple took Mary, the mother of Jesus , into his care as the last legacy of Jesus. Peter and John were also the only two apostles who ran to

11830-507: The people expected nothing good of him, they threw him into prison and murdered him. Mithridates took revenge and inflicted terrible punishments. However, the Greek cities were given freedom and several substantial rights. Ephesus became, for a short time, self-governing. When Mithridates was defeated in the First Mithridatic War by the Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla , Ephesus came back under Roman rule in 86 BC. Sulla imposed

11960-692: The period of the Mycenaean expansion, when the Ahhiyawa began settling in Asia Minor , a process that continued into the 13th century BC. The names Apasa and Ephesus appear to be cognate, and recently found inscriptions seem to pinpoint the places in the Hittite record. Ephesus was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BC on a hill (now known as the Ayasuluk Hill), three kilometers (1.9 miles) from

12090-562: The poet Kallinos reassigned the city's mythological foundation to Ephos, queen of the Amazons . The Greek goddess Artemis and the great Anatolian goddess Kybele were identified together as Artemis of Ephesus . The many-breasted "Lady of Ephesus", identified with Artemis, was venerated in the Temple of Artemis , one of the Seven Wonders of the World and the largest building of the ancient world according to Pausanias (4.31.8). Pausanias mentions that

12220-508: The possibility that John the Apostle, John the Evangelist, and John of Patmos were three separate individuals. These scholars assert that John of Patmos wrote Revelation but neither the Gospel of John nor the Epistles of John. The author of Revelation identifies himself as "John" several times, but the author of the Gospel of John never identifies himself directly. Some Catholic scholars state that "vocabulary, grammar, and style make it doubtful that

12350-484: The power of his faith (the poison being symbolized by the serpent). Other common attributes include a book or scroll, in reference to the writings traditionally attributed to him, and an eagle, which is argued to symbolize the high-soaring, inspirational quality of these writings. In Medieval and through to Renaissance works of painting, sculpture and literature, Saint John is often presented in an androgynous or feminized manner. Historians have related such portrayals to

12480-602: The practices of magic and astrology. Prophecy was viewed by the Romans as belonging to the same category, whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian. Prophecy with political implications, like that expressed by John in the book of Revelation, would have been perceived as a threat to Roman political power and order. Three of the islands in the Sporades were places where political offenders were banished. (Pliny Natural History 4.69–70; Tacitus Annals 4.30) Some modern critical scholars have raised

12610-465: The resurrected Peter and the resurrected James, John visited Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and restored the priesthood authority with Apostolic succession to earth, though a few ex-Latter-Day Saints claim controversially that previous editions of Latter-day scripture contradict this claim of Priesthood authority and Apostolic succession. John, along with the Three Nephites , will live to see

12740-496: The river Cayster (Grk. name Κάϋστρος) silted up the old harbour, the resulting marshes caused malaria and many deaths among the inhabitants. Lysimachus forced the people to move from the ancient settlement around the temple of Artemis to the present site two kilometres (1.2 miles) away, when as a last resort the king flooded the old city by blocking the sewers. The new settlement was officially called Arsinoea ( Ancient Greek : Ἀρσινόεια or Ἀρσινοΐα ) or Arsinoe (Ἀρσινόη), after

12870-483: The ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Humans had begun inhabiting the area surrounding Ephesus by the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BC), as shown by evidence from excavations at the nearby höyük (artificial mounds known as tells ) of Arvalya and Cukurici . Excavations in recent years have unearthed settlements from the early Bronze Age at Ayasuluk Hill . According to Hittite sources,

13000-422: The same community: the "Johannine Community". Most critical scholars conclude that John the Apostle wrote none of these works. "The Fourth Gospel addresses itself to the challenges posed by Judaism and others outside Johannine circles who have rejected the community's vision of Jesus as preexistent Son, sent by the Father." The New Jerome Biblical Commentary suggests that the three Johannine epistles "describe

13130-419: The second verse of a couplet often carries the same meaning as the first, although in this epistle the frequent recapitulations of already expressed ideas serve also to add to what has previously been said. In summary, the epistle may be said to exhibit a paraenetic style which is "marked by personal appeal, contrasts of right and wrong, true and false, and an occasional rhetorical question". The text refers to

13260-740: The shores of Asia Minor. In 478 BC, the Ionian cities with Athens entered into the Delian League against the Persians. Ephesus did not contribute ships but gave financial support. During the Peloponnesian War , Ephesus was first allied to Athens but in a later phase, called the Decelean War, or the Ionian War, sided with Sparta, which also had received the support of the Persians. As a result, rule over

13390-543: The stubbornness of some of the Jews, and moved his base to the school of Tyrannus . The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary reminds readers that the unbelief of "some" ( Greek : τινες ) implies that "others, probably a large number, believed" and therefore there must have been a community of Jewish Christians in Ephesus. Paul introduced about twelve men to the ' baptism with the Holy Spirit ' who had previously only experienced

13520-467: The surrounding Christian regions were organised, some officially sanctioned by the state and some by private parties. The town knew a short period of prosperity again during the 14th century under these new Seljuk rulers. They added important architectural works such as the İsa Bey Mosque , caravansaries, and hamams (bathhouses). Ephesians were incorporated as vassals into the Ottoman Empire for

13650-499: The temple of Artemis was burnt down, according to legend, by a lunatic called Herostratus . The inhabitants of Ephesus at once set about restoring the temple and even planned a larger and grander one than the original. When Alexander the Great defeated the Persian forces at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC, the Greek cities of Asia Minor were liberated. The pro-Persian tyrant Syrpax and his family were stoned to death, and Alexander

13780-511: The temple was built by Ephesus, son of the river god Caystrus , before the arrival of the Ionians. Of this structure, scarcely a trace remains. Ancient sources seem to indicate that an older name of the place was Alope ( Ancient Greek : Ἀλόπη , romanized :  Alópē ). About 650 BC, Ephesus was attacked by the Cimmerians who razed the city, including the temple of Artemis. After

13910-580: The terms of the surrender, the Turks pillaged the church of Saint John and, when a revolt seemed probable, deported most of the local population to Thyrea, Greece . During these events, many of the remaining inhabitants were massacred. Shortly afterwards, Ephesus was ceded to the Aydinid principality that stationed a powerful navy in the harbour of Ayasuluğ (the present-day Selçuk , next to Ephesus). Ayasoluk became an important harbour, from which piratical raids on

14040-466: The times of Trajan ." From Ephesus he wrote the three epistles attributed to him. John was banished by the Roman authorities to the Greek island of Patmos , where, according to tradition, he wrote the Book of Revelation . According to Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics ) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. It

14170-641: The town in December 1147. In 1206, the city came under the control of the Laskaris . It was an important religious and intellectual center during the 13th century. Nikephoros Blemmydes , a prominent intellectual of the time, taught in the city. However, the Byzantines lost control of the region by 1308. On 24 October 1304, the town surrendered to Sasa Bey, a Turkish warlord of the Menteşoğulları principality. Contrary to

14300-474: The treasures of the city were systematically plundered. Hence in 88 BC Ephesus welcomed Archelaus , a general of Mithridates , king of Pontus , when he conquered Asia (the Roman name for western Anatolia ). From Ephesus, Mithridates ordered every Roman citizen in the province to be killed which led to the Asiatic Vespers , the slaughter of 80,000 Roman citizens in Asia, or any person who spoke with

14430-520: The two sons of Zebedee to follow him. James and John are listed among the Twelve Apostles. Jesus referred to the pair as "Boanerges" (translated "sons of thunder"). A Gospel story relates how the brothers wanted to call down heavenly fire on an unhospitable Samaritan town, but Jesus rebuked them. John was also the disciple who reported to Jesus that they had 'forbidden' a non-disciple from casting out demons in Jesus' name, prompting Jesus to state that 'he who

14560-416: The vicinity of Ephesus. The opening of his tomb during Constantine the Great 's reign yielded no bones, giving rise to the belief that his body was assumed into heaven . Another fact that continues to advance the belief of St. John's assumption into Heaven is the fact that St. John belongs among a few saints who left no bodily relics. John is also associated with the pseudepigraphal apocryphal text of

14690-520: The vicinity of the Temple of Artemis, enlarging the city. Later in the same century, the Lydians under Croesus invaded Persia. The Ionians refused a peace offer from Cyrus the Great , siding with the Lydians instead. After the Persians defeated Croesus, the Ionians offered to make peace, but Cyrus insisted that they surrender and become part of the empire. They were defeated by the Persian army commander Harpagos in 547 BC. The Persians then incorporated

14820-573: The visions of Augustinian sister the Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824). It is a popular place of Catholic pilgrimage which has been visited by three recent popes. The Church of Mary near the harbour of Ephesus was the setting for the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, which resulted in the condemnation of Nestorius . A Second Council of Ephesus was held in 449, but its controversial acts were never approved by

14950-484: The work of a certain John the Elder" and, while stating that Revelation was written by John of Patmos, it was "later translated by Justin Martyr and Irenaeus," presumably in an attempt to reconcile tradition with the obvious differences in Greek style. Until the 19th century, the authorship of the Gospel of John had been attributed to the Apostle John. However, most modern critical scholars have their doubts. Some scholars place

15080-507: The writer's audience several times as "little children" ( Ancient Greek : Τεκνία , teknia ). This affectionate diminutive appears seven times in the letter, once as "my little children" (1 John 2:1), and the phrase also appears in John 13:33 . Paul also uses the phrase "my little children" when addressing the Galatian churches in Galatians 4 :19. Some scholars have proposed the idea that

15210-406: The youngest of the apostles and survived all of them. He is said to have lived to old age, dying of natural causes at Ephesus sometime after AD 98, during the reign of Trajan , thus becoming the only apostle who did not die as a martyr . An alternative account of John's death, ascribed by later Christian writers to the early second-century bishop Papias of Hierapolis , claims that he was slain by

15340-529: Was a small village. The Byzantines resumed control in 1097 and changed the name of the town to Hagios Theologos. Crusaders passing through were surprised that there was only a small village, called Ayasalouk, where they had expected a bustling city with a large seaport. Even the temple of Artemis was completely forgotten by the local population. The Crusaders of the Second Crusade fought the Seljuks just outside

15470-448: Was a student of John. In Against Heresies , Irenaeus relates how Polycarp told a story of John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus , the enemy of the truth, is within." It is traditionally believed that John was

15600-434: Was begun in 274 AD and finished in 279 AD, the total inhabited area plus public spaces inside the walls consisted of ca. 1,900 hectares. Imperial Rome had a population estimated to be between 750,000 and one million (Hanson and Ortman's (2017) model yields an estimate of 923,406 inhabitants), which imply in a population density of 395 to 526 inhabitants per hectare, including public spaces. Ephesus remained

15730-566: Was brought to Rome during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, and was thrown in a vat of boiling oil, from which he was miraculously preserved unharmed. A church ( San Giovanni a Porta Latina ) dedicated to him was built near the Latin gate of Rome, the traditional site of this event. The Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite commemorate

15860-488: Was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League . The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of

15990-528: Was conquered by the Lydians under king Croesus , who, though a harsh ruler, treated the inhabitants with respect and even became the main contributor to the reconstruction of the temple of Artemis. His signature has been found on the base of one of the columns of the temple (now on display in the British Museum ). Croesus made the populations of the different settlements around Ephesus regroup ( synoikismos ) in

16120-493: Was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River . In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake. Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası . In 2015,

16250-440: Was greeted warmly when he entered Ephesus in triumph. When Alexander saw that the temple of Artemis was not yet finished, he proposed to finance it and have his name inscribed on the front. But the inhabitants of Ephesus demurred, claiming that it was not fitting for one god to build a temple to another. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Ephesus in 290 BC came under the rule of one of Alexander's generals, Lysimachus . As

16380-524: Was important for trade. People started leaving the lowland of the city for the surrounding hills. The ruins of the temples were used as building blocks for new homes. Marble sculptures were ground to powder to make lime for plaster. Sackings by the Arabs first in the year 654–655 by caliph Muawiyah I , and later in 700 and 716 hastened the decline further. When the Seljuk Turks conquered Ephesus in 1090, it

16510-638: Was keen to point out that, while the Bible says John was leaving for Asia, it does not say specifically that Mary went with him. He later stated that she was buried in Jerusalem. Since the 19th century, The House of the Virgin Mary , about 7 km (4 mi) from Selçuk, has been considered to have been the last home of Mary, mother of Jesus before her assumption into heaven in the Roman Catholic tradition, based on

16640-463: Was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Adela Yarbro Collins , a biblical scholar at Yale Divinity School , writes: Early tradition says that John was banished to Patmos by the Roman authorities. This tradition is credible because banishment was a common punishment used during the Imperial period for a number of offenses. Among such offenses were

16770-599: Was released by the American band The Mountain Goats in 2009. Ephesus Ephesus ( / ˈ ɛ f ɪ s ə s / ; Ancient Greek : Ἔφεσος , romanized :  Éphesos ; Turkish : Efes ; may ultimately derive from Hittite : 𒀀𒉺𒊭 , romanized:  Apaša ) was a city in Ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia , 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province , Turkey . It

16900-467: Was the first to equate the author of Revelation with John the Apostle . However, most biblical scholars now contend that these were separate individuals since the text was written around 100 AD, after the death of John the Apostle, although many historians have defended the identification of the Author of the Gospel of John with that of the Book of Revelation based on the similarity of the two texts. John

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