The gospels never say that John was the "beloved disciple." That's because Lazarus was the disciple Jesus loved.
1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.�8 “But Rabbi,� they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?�
John 11
Lazarus was the beloved disciple.
Moderator: Moderators
Re: Lazarus was the beloved disciple.
Post #11bjs wrote: [Replying to polonius]
The obvious problem with this is that it leaves us to wonder why the author of John referred to himself as “the disciple that Jesus loved� throughout his Gospel, but called Lazarus by name. If Lazarus and the beloved disciple were the same person, why did the author us overly complex grammatical structures to avoid using his own name – for instance at the Last Supper – but then freely use the name Lazarus when the story focus on Lazarus.
Saying that that Lazarus was the beloved disciple adds an extra layer of complexity without any justification for it. Therefore, Lazarus was probably not the beloved disciple.
RESPONSE: Please quote the passage in the Gospel of John in which he referred to himself as the "disciple that Jesus loved". Or where he referred to himself as a "disciple."
