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Tag: apostle

Reintroducing John – a Biography and Background
Biography of a Man

I wrestle with my own autobiography, let alone writing about the ancestry of such an important man of God as John.

We struggle to understand anyone once we read such titles or relational roles of JESUS or any of the Lord’s Apostles.

For instance, who do you see when I refer to:
- ‘Jesus’ DISCIPLE John’ or
- ‘John, one the the TWELVE‘, or
- even including John with Peter and his older brother James as one of just three disciples in JESUS’ inner circle?
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And that only covers three years of John's life during Jesus' incarnation, overlooking John's earlier time as a disciple of John the Baptist. 
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Call him: SAINT John or John the Elder — give John reverence for receiving the very word of God in the Gospel — look at this man in awe, who later on Patmos was given the Revelation of Jesus Christ as an Elder of the first century Church.

But when all is said (or even little) about John, he was just a man like us, a man chosen by JESUS CHRIST, the Son of God.

Picturing John accurately – Painting a True Portrait

I have searched endlessly for a painting of the Apostle John more truly representing the one Jesus loved at various important times in his long life.

Of course we have no photo or ‘selfie’ of John from any time.
Some renaissance depictions (often commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church) depict a very young John (even holding a cup of communion) making him appear similar to a French altar boy.

The Apostle John
Peter Paul Rubens, 1610-12 A.D.
Jesus’ description of James and John as, ‘sons of thunder’ suggests two tough Galilean fisherman, tenaciously seeking the Messiah of captive Israel — two disciples of an Elijah-like prophet John the Baptist, who instructed these sons of thunder in the Judean wilderness.

The young Apostle John, who accompanied Peter to preach in the Temple just after Christ’s ascension, certainly was not so silent as to be overlooked by powerful Jewish leaders, who included this young Disciple ofJesus with Peter in their summons to defend their public witness (or rather be silent about Jesus).

Both Apostles would be imprisoned for the Gospel and then released by an angel to once again proclaim Jesus as the Messiah to the Jews and the all the world.
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IF YOU can suggest any painting or art which paints a true picture of JOHN at any stage of his life, how about letting us know in a COMMENT following this post. - RH 
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So in order to get a better picture of John, let’s look back at a few brief biographical facts mixed in with some scholarly speculation, hoping to see into the heart and life of ‘the one Jesus loved.’

Family and Ancestry

John grew up in a small village (as it happened I did too). Everybody typically knows everyone (and much of everyone’s business). Family, of course, was important to the Jews as our families tend to identify ‘who we are’ to our own neighbors.

When I was a young man my dad was a volunteer fireman and one of the older firemen always addressed me as, “Chief.” Our family name was attached to the business of Dad and his brother. John was in business with his brother James, both known to all as the sons of Zebedee, head of his family fishing business.

Ancestry and Connection of Names

‘Chief,’ immediately connected me to my dad, our volunteer fire chief and to his father whose name identified Dad’s family business.

Certainly John’s vocation, faith and identity were rooted in his upbringing and like me, growing up as John the Son of Zebedee would identify Jesus’ Disciple into his early manhood.

In fact, the younger of Zebedee’s sons probably felt more like ‘the brother of James , son of Zebedee;’ similar to an earlier unnoticed, Son of Jesse not even introduced to an important man such as Samuel.

About Zebedee:
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Let's connect these family names: 
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- Ζεβεδαῖος – Zebedee
  - From זֶבֶד (H2065) – endowment (or my gift)
- Ἰάκωβον τὸν τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου – James (son of Zebedee)
  - The same as Ἰακώβ (G2384), Jacob (meaning ‘supplanter’)
- Ἰωάννης
  - pronounced: ee-o-an’-nace {original Greek doesn’t really sound at all like, “John,” in English}
  - from Hebrew: יוֹחָנָן Yôwchânân, yo-khaw-nawn’; a form of H3076; Jochanan, the name of nine Israelites:—Johanan.
  - John = “Jehovah is a gracious giver”
    
    Same name as John son of Zacharias, ‘the Baptist’
    
    root meaning: “Jehovah has graced”
Source: Strong’s Concordance / BlueLetterBible.org

Later we’ll connect some other Biblical names, but first let’s learn more about the fisherman father of James and John.

the ‘Sea of Galilee’

The Sea of Galilee provided a livelihood for many families, and fishing was a respected trade. Zebedee’s ability to employ hired men suggests a level of affluence and stability, which may have afforded his sons the opportunity to leave and follow Jesus without jeopardizing the family’s welfare.

source: Biblehub.com

Sometimes landmarks in the Bible can be as confusing as names, because in context over time the names change.

Let’s zoom in on the home and livelihood of Zebedee —

(James and John, Andrew and Simon, hired servants – local carpenters, boat builders, sail and tent makers, and more).

Many families lived just north of Galilee’s most important body of water where the Jordan River flowed down from inland hills.

Note some names of the inland body of water on our map.
- ‘The sea of Chinnereth,’ Numbers 34:11,
- ‘The sea of Genesar’
- ‘The sea of Tiberiah.’
  - Source: BibleHub.com
Herod Antipas, wanting to make a big name for himself, named this body of water the “Sea of Tiberius” after the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar.

Once it was renamed, it was considered treason against Caesar for a Roman citizen to call the lake anything else.

Non-Romans, however, were not held to that standard. Because the Jews hated Rome and their occupation of Israel they were not in any hurry to call their lake the Sea of Tiberius. So they continued calling the lake by the name most familiar to them and already widely accepted among the people who lived in the region of Galilee:

“The Sea of Galilee.”

source: NTBCStafford.org

Rome controlled the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and inland commerce. The strategic importance of the Sea of Galilee held military importance, perhaps even more than Jerusalem.

Although sudden storms from winds sweeping down upon the sea could make it dangerous even for seasoned fishermen, in fact two other names more accurately described it:
- Genezareth or Kineret Lake
The lake has a surface area of 64 square miles .. Extending 13 miles (21 km) from north to south and 7 miles (11 km) from east to west, it is pear-shaped. Its surface elevation was long given as 686 feet (209 metres) below sea level..

Source: Britannica
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The Sea of Galilee is a FRESH WATER LAKE, the largest in Israel, fed by the Jordan River and undground springs, with its surface ~700 feet below sea level making it the lowest fresh water lake on earth. From this important lake the lower Jordan flows south into the lowest body of water on earth - the Dead Sea. 
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Successful fishing businesses such as Zebedee’s were vital to the Roman army, even Jerusalem in the hills above the Jordan, as well as locally in villages of the rural Galilean hills.

James and John Sons of Zebedee

When John followed his older brother James to become a disciple of John the Baptist it seems not to have affected the larger merchant enterprise of their father’s fishing business. They may have even traveled to Jerusalem previously with their father to deliver and sell fish to some of Jerusalem’s ruling families.

Zebedee employed servants in his fishing enterprise and likely worked with other fishing families. Capernaum and Bethsaida are situated strategically (for fishing) less than three miles apart on the north shore of the lake.

Sons and servants of other fishing enterprises, such as that of Jonah (also: Jonas or John), father of Andrew, who also had followed John the Baptist before becoming Jesus’ first Disciple, certainly all knew each other (as those in small towns tend to do).

Sons of Salome

Zebedee was married to Salome, who is believed to have been a follower of Jesus and possibly one of the women who supported His ministry.

Source: BibleHub.com

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark mention Salome’s presence along with others at the Cross of Jesus.

Some commentators speculate that Salome may have been the sister of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Therefore the soldiers did these things.
But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Gospel of John 19:25 LSB

It would be consist with the Apostle’s humility of not mention his own name in his Gospel for John to not mention his own mother by name.

The Gospels reveal further evidence that Salome (wife of Zebedee) accompanied her sons.

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.

And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.”

Gospel of Matthew 20:20-21 LSB

John’s early days

He was possibly born around 6 A.D. in the city of Bethsaida.

If this is true, he would have been about twenty years old when he and Jesus met for the first time in late 26 A.D. .. What few realize is that Salome and Jesus’ mother Mary were likely sisters.

“This means that Christ and John were first cousins as far as legal matters were concerned among the Jewish people” (Restoring the Original Bible, pg. 313).

John’s possible bloodline relationship to Jesus also means that he and is older brother James the Greater (Matthew 4:21) were full cousins to the Lord’s half-brothers James and Jude. Both James and Jude wrote New Testament books and were leaders in the early New Testament church (see Acts 1:14, 15:13).

source: BibleStudy.org

John in his 20’s and 30’s

Everything we read in the Gospels about John, beloved Disciple of Jesus, takes place when John is in his early twenties. Most of what we witness about John from Acts of the Apostles takes place when the Apostle is still in his late twenties or thirties.
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NEXT - We will observe Jesus' young Disciple John from the witness of all four Gospel writers, followed by observations of an Apostle sent out by the risen Christ in ACTS of the Apostles. 
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March 19, 2026
The Longest Faithful Apostolic Journey of John
How do you picture the Apostle John?
- From familiar Scripture as a young man near Jesus,
- or an old man on Patmos;
- or do you see a faithful man following Jesus on an extraordinary journey lasting many years?
INTRODUCTION to JOHN’s Apostolic Faith

late A.D. 20’s at the Jordan river near Bethany

John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” And when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

Jesus turned and saw them following.

“What do you want?”

“Rabbi”

“where are You staying?”

“Come and see,”

So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him.

Gospel of John 1:35-39 excerpt, BSB

James and his young brother John were not sleeping when the Messiah of Israel came to their Rabbi, John the Baptist.

In fact, these two sons of Zebedee had sought the savior of Israel, and then found and followed John the Baptist (who many Jews believed could be the one).

Then they would join the Master of whom John spoke, and follow Him when the Lord sought His own disciples from their own little fishing village far removed from Jerusalem.

Introduction to Jesus’ Disciple John

John is a familiar and beloved Disciple of Jesus, well-known to Christians and unbelievers alike through the Gospels, as well as numerous illustrations and paintings often commissioned by the Roman or Orthodox Church many centuries later.

~ in the year of our Lord 30
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He and others likely didn't have a visible halo over their heads. And art such as DaVinci's, 'The Last Supper,' — with young John clinging to Jesus, which illustrates John's actual devotion — shows a long table and chairs never used in upper rooms of the A.D. first century. 
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A.D. 30’s – A.D. 50’s

Perhaps Christians will recall that prior to His crucifixion, JESUS sent the Twelve out to some cities to proclaim the Gospel.

And some may recall that the APOSTLE John was with Peter when both Apostles had been sent to preach in the Temple after Pentecost (~A.D. 30), were witnessed to work miracles.

“How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language?

Acts of the Apostles 2:8 CSB
- Here is one brief look [October 2021 C.E.] from our TalkofJESUS SERIES from Acts of the Apostles.
  - Perhaps five years later you will still recognize some of the faces.
Be saved from this perverse generation!

Three Score Years of John’s Apostlic Faith

Followers of Jesus Christ in these last days will generally picture the Apostle Jesus loved as he began his faithful path of life in the early years of John’s life (when he was only in his twenties).

Even in Acts of the Apostles, our early focus turns from Peter (and John, somewhat) primarily to Paul.

Although John’s Gospel details key witness of the Lord Jesus Christ prior to the Lord’s death, resurrection and ascension, the Apostle wrote his Gospel for the Church many years later, around the year of our Lord (A.D.) 85 – fifty some years after Pentecost.

~ A.D. 50 – ~ A.D. 100

The Apostle John wrote his final letters near the end of the A.D. First Century!

Written between a mid-first century Council in Jerusalem and his own natural death near the end of the A.D. First Century, the Epistles of John reveal a familiar festering of indignancy between Jerusalem’s Jews and occupying Roman legions.

Christians were caught in a new light leading them to dangerous intersections of worldly clashes affecting the lives of Jews, Romans, Greeks and every saint seeking Christ.
Pictured: A.D. 70 burning of the Temple in Jerusalem by the occupying Roman army.
Writing to the Jews, the saints and the Romans

The saints of the Church witnessed Apostolic faith in a Roman governed world with diminished Jewish influence throughout Syria, Asia, and Europe (including Rome) — and even in Rome’ s local Herodian tetrarchies which included Galilee and Judea, with the city of Jerusalem.

The Apostle John wrote to saints who came to Christ from all of these varied backgrounds — saints and their Elders new to the Gospel, in need of sound teaching and vulnerable to temptations of false teaching.

Introduction to John’s Epistles

In order to further understand a turbulent historic setting for this SERIES on the final LETTERS of JOHN, we will first take a brief look at the first century Church and also look ahead to John’s other well-quoted book, Revelation.

FINALLY — with God’s help and that of theologians more studied than me —I hope to tie it all together by studying the two briefest letters in the New Testament: the Epistles of Second John and Third John.
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COMMMENT with your QUESTIONS and observations about the THREE Letters of John at anytime. 
Your input may be important to our understanding of John's letters. 
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NEXT: Reintroducing John, the man, disciple, Apostle and Elder

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
March 11, 2026
2 Timothy – Apostolic Faith and Pastoral Oversight by Paul
Introduction

God and Christ became incarnate in order to restore Their personal relationship with sinful man.

Roger@TallkofJesus.com

God and Apostles, Disciples of men

Our purpose in introducing Paul’s final epistle to a pastor is:

1. to reintroduce you to the Apostle Paul and

2. to reacquaint you with Timothy, a disciple of Paul who served him in varying roles,

BOTH whom we’ve met in Acts of the Apostles and other epistles.

Let us begin with God
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(says the teacher to his class). 
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God — YHWH the LORD — Is One.

One in Being. One in Essence. One in Substance.

There IS no other god.

God IS the Creator of all things and of all mankind.

He had a relationship in the beginning of time — before which He Exists and after which He Exists — the LORD’s relationships are perfectly personal.

God IS: Father, Son — Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Christ, Apostles and Disciples

The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy in his first epistle:

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

First letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy

Jesus, the incarnate Son of God the Father, taught the Gospel with all perfection to men for three years.

The Twelve Disciples (which included neither Paul nor Timothy) followed the Lord, ate and slept with Jesus — they all knew the incarnate Son of God personally.

Consider the interpersonal relationships connecting each of these roles as defined by Scripture and what the Lord Jesus, our Teacher, instructs:

Disciple (follower), Master (teacher), Servant (slave) and Lord

The Disciples Matthew, John and Peter were all present with the incarnate Christ Jesus personally when the Lord said this:

The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

Gospel of Matthew 24:14 – Jesus’ to The Twelve Disciples; Instructions for Service & meaning of discipleship – KJV

μαθητής – mathētēs – disciple (268x) – a learner, pupil, one who follows one’s teaching:

The Twelve followed JESUS for three years, discipleship at its most personal.

Furthermore, many others would follow JESUS’s teachings as ‘Christians’ chosen by God for the Way of eternal life.

Apostles to the Jews and Gentiles

Of course from the beginning Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him and that a disciple Mathias would be chosen to replace the betrayer of Christ as a twelfth Apostle to the Jews.

Christ had taught and trained the Twelve how they would become Apostles — primarily, but not exclusively, to their fellow Jews —after His death, resurrection and ascension.

We last looked at the Apostle Simon Peter

Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

2 Peter 1:1 KJV

Paul also refers to himself as an Apostle, greeting his disciples (followers) in his first epistle and this final letter.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my dearly beloved son:

2 Timothy 1:1-2a KJV

So who are apostles?
Apostolos – a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders

specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ

in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers

– of Barnabas of Timothy and Silvanus
Apostles are ‘sent out’ by Christ.

As in the case of the Twelve and the Apostle Paul, the Lord himself instructed them Personally — that is, the Person of Jesus sent these Apostles out into the world personally.

Other apostles continued to be ‘sent out into all the world’ by the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ ascension, as Luke records for us of the day of Pentecost in ACTS 1.

As we learned from Acts of the Apostles that after the AD 49 Council in Jerusalem, Peter, Paul, John and all others were sent out ‘first to the Jews,’ but also into gentile areas of the Roman Empire (mostly Hellenist or Greek provinces) to include ALL as follows of Christ as part of each local church.

Jesus is Lord

Note that Jesus Christ refers to the Father as Lord (Kyrios in their common Greek language of the Roman Empire) with an authority and meaning no different than the original Hebrew scripture (Yahweh).

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And He said to him,

“‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

Matthew 22:36-37 LSB

Saul, a Jew of Jews, sent out by a Master crucified and risen!

About five years after the Jews of Jerusalem had crucified Jesus, a young disciple of Gamaliel witnessed the stoning of a follower of The Way.

They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.

Acts of the Apostles 7:59-60 LSB

Stephen, even in his dying breath, called JESUS, “Lord” – twice.

And this young disciple of the rabbi Gamaliel had witnessed it personally.

Saul of Tarsus would become an apostle of the Sanhedrin specifically sent out to continue persecuting Christians.

But then, as we know, Christ appeared to Saul and instructed this new and unwilling (at first) Apostle to go to the Gentiles.

Damascus Road: Witness into all the World

Paul frequently writes that He is a slave (doulos) of JESUS or God(or of the gospel). The Lord Jesus himself points to the service required of this most personal relationship.
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Many translations prefer servant to slave, but it is the same Greek word: doulos. 
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The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

Gospel of Matthew 10:24 KJV

The Apostle Paul describes himself in another pastoral epistle written about the same time as his two letters to Timothy:

Paul, a servant^G1401 of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

Epistle of Paul to Titus 1:1

Timothy – Paul enlists a disciple of The Way

Now Paul also arrived at Derbe and at Lystra.

And behold, a disciple was there, named Timothy,

the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer,

but his father was a Greek,

Acts of the Apostles 16:1

During Paul’s second missionary journey, which had begun inland through the mountains northwest of Tarsus in rural Galatia. While visiting churches established by Barnabas and him on a first missionary journey, the Apostle meets a young Timothy — a Greek, because of his father, but brought up as a Christ-follower by his mother(a Jew, as Paul had been) and Timothy’s grandmother.

A brief introduction of Timothy (Τιμόθεος – Timotheos)
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Timothy's early journeys are found in Acts of the Apostles. 
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~AD 49

Second Missionary Journey – Acts 16

Timothy joined Paul and Silas on mission, staying behind at Berea for a time with Silas. Paul, later commands the two by the Spirit to join him in Athens from where the trio proceed to Macedonia.

Paul then ‘sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.

Acts 19:22 KJV

We observe how personal all of the mentoring relations of the Apostle remain to Paul as Luke records those with the Apostle when once again the Jews laid wait to capture and kill him.

Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea,

Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica,

Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus

and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

Acts of the Apostles 20:4 Berean Standard Bible
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We will mention more of Timothy's crucial later pastoral roles later in this epistle.  
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Timothy wrote other epistles with Paul :

It is important for us to note that these Pastoral Epistles make known the Spirit-directed teaching of the Apostle Paul we must study, rather than focus on any pastors or saints to whom Paul writes, such as Timothy.
- ~AD 50-51
Thessalonians and the Righteous Judgment of God
- ~AD 55-56 the Apostle Paul writes:
  - 1 Corinthians with Sosthenes and
  - 2 Corinthians with Timothy
The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians with Sosthenes and a second time with Timothy
*graphic from a 2024 TalkofJESUS SERIES Post: Rebuke of ministers that perish without the Cross
- ~AD 60-62 The Apostle Paul writes to:
  - the Ephesians
  - the Philippians
Archaeological Site of Philippi: General view of the forum with adjacent agora marketplace

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

Philippians 1:1 NIV
- the Colossians, with Timothy
- and a personal plea along with Timothy to Philemon, concerning Onesimus.
NEXT: 2 Timothy 1:

timotheos agapētos teknon

To Timothy, my beloved son

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
January 6, 2026