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By John, I mean the author of the Gospel of John (whom I believe to be the Apostle John, the beloved disciple: cf. John 21:22).

Anecdotally speaking, in my lay opinion, the same (I would say artfully) simple Greek is consistent throughout both, for example (almost a certain 'innocence' to it).

Question

What are some internal lingustic/literary arguments for and against the John who wrote the Gospel of John and and the John who wrote Revelation being one and the same?

P.S. For the purposes of the question, 1st and 2nd John may also be referenced as 'internal' evidence, if they are found to be relevant.

Thanks in advance.

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  • From what I understand the greek of Revelation is "horrible" suggesting it was written by someone who attended GSL night classes. The gospel is textbook greek but with prominent Hebraisms.
    – Ruminator
    Commented Apr 22, 2018 at 14:56
  • It seems like you might want to add the authorship of the epistles as well but that's up to you.
    – Ruminator
    Commented Apr 22, 2018 at 15:01
  • Revelation defies thorough awareness of the Old Testament, I can tell you that much. And as such, is permeated with 'hebraisms.' I'd rather not deal with the Epistles for now, unless they are found relevant. Thanks for the edit.
    – Sola Gratia
    Commented Apr 22, 2018 at 15:07
  • "defies" or "displays"? By hebraisms I mean writing greek but with hebrew conventions, such as beginning a sentence with "de" ("but") and not meaning "but". It is a prominent stylistic feature that I don't think is in evidence in Revelation. Caveat: All this is "if memory serves"!
    – Ruminator
    Commented Apr 22, 2018 at 15:29
  • 'Defies' as in 'tells of;' and by Hebraism a much wider sense is meant, i.e. inclusive of Hebraistic thought as well. I'm not quite sure that the usage of δε you describe is unique to New Testament or translation Greek, though..
    – Sola Gratia
    Commented Apr 22, 2018 at 15:55

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One gigantic correlation between the Gospel of John and Revelation is John's (Disciple John's) record of Jesus's encounter with John the Baptist.

John 1:29, 35-36

...

on the morrow John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, 'Lo, the Lamb of God, who is taking away the sin of the world;

...

On the morrow, again, John was standing, and two of his disciples,

and having looked on Jesus walking, he saith, 'Lo, the Lamb of God;'

...

(Disciple) John thought this was important enough to record while all the other disciples left it out, and this imagery permeates Revelation.

Revelation 5:6, 8

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and I saw, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb hath stood as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the Seven Spirits of God, which are sent to all the earth,

...

And when he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, having each one harps and golden vials full of perfumes, which are the prayers of the saints,

Revelation 7:14

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and I have said to him, 'Sir, thou hast known;' and he said to me, 'These are those who are coming out of the great tribulation, and they did wash their robes, and they made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb;

...

I just picked three examples but there are many more references to the Lamb in Revelation.

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  • Though not constituting a sufficiently exhaustive answer, this is definitely one of the better points of correlation to be considered—thank you for your input! +1
    – Sola Gratia
    Commented Sep 19, 2018 at 21:52
  • The parallel is not present in the Greek: ἀμνός in the Gospel; ἀρνίον in Revelation.
    – Revelation Lad
    Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 1:43
  • That is true. ἀμνός is more like a sacrificial lamb, ἀρνίον is more like a little lamb - a lamby.
    – colboynik
    Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 3:53
  • The difference could be explained as highly symbolic vision being exaggerated in many ways, but the difference is quite noteworthy.
    – Sola Gratia
    Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 21:36

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