John the Apostle

After Jesus' Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost John together with Peter took a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the church. The Dean of New Testament at Wake Forest University School of Divinity Gail R O'Day writes in her introduction to the Gospel in the New Revised Standard Translation of the Bible ". James and John first were disciples of Saint John the Baptist their second cousin.

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 and undoubtedly approved 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. Christian tradition holds that he outlived the remaining apostles—all of whom suffered martyrdom (except Judas Iscariot)—and ultimately died of natural causes "in great old age in Ephesus" at the beginning of the second century.