How did the apostle John die?

The "disciple whom Jesus loved," spoken of in the Gospel attributed to John the Apostle, is generally supposed to be a designation of himself (see, further, note on John 13:23). To the disciple so described our Lord when dying bequeathed the care of His mother (John 19:26). This Apostle is, besides, spoken of as one of the "pillars" of the Church at Jerusalem (Gal. 2:19; cf. Acts 15, A.D. 51). The last glimpse we have of him in the New Testament is as an exile in the island of Patmos during the reign, Eusebius (ii. 18) states, of Domitian. Before that time, according to Tertullian (Præscr. Hæret.), while the Apostle was in Rome, he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, from which he emerged unhurt. Ecclesiastical tradition carries on the story of his life, when released from Patmos, by representing him as prominently connected with the churches of Asia Minor, with Ephesus in particular (Irenæus). Zahn supposes that he removed from Palestine during the fatal Jewish war of the year 69, whilst Blass, comparing Acts 15 with John 21 there, considers that he must have finally left Jerusalem by at least the year 54. His residence in Asia Minor has been questioned, on insufficient grounds, by Keim, Scholten, H. Holtzmann, Harnack, Bousset, and Schmiedel, from its not suiting their theory as to the authorship. Amongst other familiar incidents related of that period of his life are the stories of his reclaiming a notable backslider (Eusebius iii. 33), and of his meeting a Gnostic in a public bath, when he at once rushed out of the place. Irenæus's account (iii. 3, 4) gives Cerinthus as the name, but Epiphanius (xxx. 24) says that it was Ebion. The last-named writer states that the Apostle remained unmarried. John is generally reported to have passed away in Ephesus by a natural death soon after the year 98 — i.e., after the accession of Trajan (so Irenæus, ii. 22, 5). Eusebius (vii. 25) states that his grave was shown there, another account is that two graves were shown at Ephesus connected with the name John (see, further, note on John 21:22 f.).

When he left Jerusalem finally we do not know, nor of any apostolic journey, save that to Samaria, could we with authority speak. He was not at Jerusalem on the occasion of Paul's first visit to the metropolis after his conversion near Damascus (Gal. 1:19). Neither was He in the holy city at Paul's last visit to it, of which we have mention in the Acts. He was there, however, in the interval. For, when Paul and Barnabas went up thither from Antioch in Syria about the circumcision of converts from the Gentiles, John, with Peter and James, gave them the right hand of fellowship, and acknowledged the sphere in which those two had been specially called to labour (Gal. 2:9). Tradition makes John to have ultimately fixed his abode at Ephesus, where he ministered till strength failed him. But this, if true, must have been after Paul's decease; for Timothy, it would seem, was labouring there till near the martyrdom of his father in the faith. Then, although one cannot speak of any special evangelistic or missionary work undertaken by the son of Zebedee after that visit with Peter to Samaria, he evidently had converts; for Gaius, his correspondent (3 John), was one; yet not the only one, since John writes him, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth" (3 John 4). Joy then he had in the fruits of personal labour, carried on, we may well be assured, very unostentatiously, no chronicle numbering his converts, nor recounting interesting details of his work. With that joy, however, he had, in common with many another faithful servant, opposition to encounter, and even persecution to endure. In his case opposition came from one Diotrephes, and persecution from the emperor Domitian, under whom he was banished to Patmos. He lived long, and died, it is supposed, in the reign of the emperor Trajan. Peter, his partner in fishing, and his companion in service, was martyred; John, it is supposed, died a natural death. This would harmonise with the Lord's words about him addressed to Peter (John 21:22-23). Peter's martyrdom distinctly foretold, John's exemption from a martyr's death could be as clearly deduced.

Again we have a book written at the end of the apostle's life. We have already said in speaking about his life that he spent time in exile. As far as we know he was the only one of the apostles to die a natural death, after leading a life that was not only long but in which he also had to suffer for the Lord's sake. The Lord had asked John and his brother James whether they could drink the cup that He was about to drink or be baptized with the baptism that He was about to undergo, and they had said, "Yes" (Matt. 20:22-23). James was the first of the apostles to be martyred and John lived and suffered much for the Lord's sake although, as far as we know, he was not one who died a martyr's death. Instead, he was exiled to the isle of Patmos, probably during the reign of the emperor Domitian. Now in Revelation 1 we have the historical account, the setting for this book.

It is traditionally reported that the beloved Apostle John and the then only survivor of "The Twelve," was brought before the Emperor, and after a brief examination, ordered to be cast into a cauldron of flaming oil, but after a few hours came out unhurt. Tertullian, who flourished in the third century, asserts the truth of it, and, it has been asked, which, if any, of the early writers denies it? It is certain, however, that John was doomed to perpetual banishment in the rocky isle of Patmos. In that dreary convict establishment of about 25 miles in circumference, washed by the waves of the Aegean Sea, the worst of criminals were sent to drag out a weary existence by labouring in the mines which then existed in the island. We may be sure that the stern Roman Emperor would allow the prisoner of the Lord no exemption from the hard toil and vicious society of Patmos. There is a Greek monastery in the island, and the lazy monks profess to point out the very cave where John was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, where the visions and sights narrated in the Apocalypse were seen, and where the prophecy was written. On the accession of Nerva, the edicts of Domitian were cancelled, the banished Christians recalled, and their confiscated property restored. John, on the general authority of antiquity, returned from the inhospitable isle of Patmos to Ephesus, the flourishing capital of Asia, and there peacefully ended his days at the advanced age of 100, full of love and labour for his beloved Master.

With reference to this persecution, little is known; though that little is undoubtedly interesting. Among the numerous martyrs who suffered were John, the beloved disciple, and Timothy, whom. Paul had written to with such affectionate solicitude. The former is said to have been cast, by the tyrant's command, into a cauldron of boiling oil, but a miracle was wrought in his behalf, and he came out unscathed. Unable to hurt the body, the emperor banished him to Patmos, where he was forced to labour in the mines. Here he wrote the book of the Revelation; and would doubtless have ended his course, but for the unexpected death of the emperor; who was assassinated by the comptroller of his own household on the eighteenth of September, A.D. 96. Being now set at liberty, the apostle returned to Ephesus, where he wrote his gospel history, and the three epistles which bear his name. Love, as ever, seems to have been the ruling motive of his life here; and when he died, at the advanced age of one hundred years, he left as an enduring legacy this simple charge, "Little children, love one another." A simple word, and uttered many years ago, but which of us has learnt it even now?

On the very day of Domitian's death, Nerva was chosen by the Senate to be Emperor, September 18th, A.D. 96. He was a man of blameless reputation. The character of his reign was most favourable to the peace and prosperity of the church of God. The Christians who had been banished by Domitian were recalled, and recovered their confiscated property. The Apostle John returned from his banishment in the isle of Patmos, and resumed his place of service among the churches in Asia. He survived till the reign of Trajan, when, at the advanced age of about 100 years, he fell asleep in Jesus.

After the ascension of Christ, and the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, John became one of the chief apostles of the circumcision. But his ministry goes down to the end of the first century. With his death the apostolic age naturally closes.

There is a widely spread and generally received tradition that John remained in Judaea till after the death of the virgin Mary. The date of this event is uncertain. But soon after he proceeded to Asia Minor. Here he planted and watched over several churches in different cities, but made Ephesus his centre. Thence he was banished to the Isle of Patmos towards the close of Domitian's reign. There he wrote the Revelation. (Rev. 1:9) On his liberation from exile, by the accession of Nerva to the imperial throne, John returned to Ephesus, where he wrote his Gospel and Epistles. He died about A.D. 100, in the third year of the emperor Trajan, and about one hundred years of age.*

A question has been raised whether John the Apostle died a natural death as generally supposed, or was, like his brother, martyred by Jews (cf. Matt. 20:23; Mark 10:38f.), as alleged in a Fragment of Philip of Side of the fifth century. See English edition of Schürer (p. 59), and a Chronicle of George the Sinner of the ninth or tenth century. Cf. Stanton, p. 167; Burkitt, p. 252. The statement of George the Sinner, which had already been given in Harnack's "Apostolic Fathers" (p. 87 ff.), that distinguished scholar himself discredits ("Chronology," p. 665 f.), because of the silence of Eusebius and Irenæus. Heitmüller, one of the latest writers, joins Schmiedel and others in crediting this mythology. Drummond (p. 223) had remarked, with reference to the Syrian martyrology in Burkitt (p. 254), that it does not imply that the brothers came by their deaths at the same time and place.

394 John 21:23-25. — Harnack supposes that the Evangelist was already dead when verse 23 was added (p. 676), and (as Ewald) that the writer is expressly distinguished from the disciple that "beareth witness and wrote." From verse 23 a curious notion has been derived by Pfleiderer (Scott follows suit) that the Evangelist gave up the chiliastic expectation (Rev. 20:4).

The consideration of such questions as these from a merely intellectual point of view is much to be deplored; so also is the attempt to solve them by any sources of information outside the Word. For apart from the untrustworthy nature of tradition, however ancient, we may be assured that what cannot be proved from the sacred pages themselves is intentionally left dubious by the Holy Ghost, and that we err if we pry into it. The manner of Peter's death (crucifixion) is revealed to us in Scripture. (John 21:18-19.) Complete silence is kept as to that of the disciple whom Jesus loved.

The two disciples were real in their desire. They said they were able to follow Him to death. They are two of the most honoured names of the New Testament. They gave up all to follow the Lord, James was the first of the twelve to die a martyr's death and John was the last to die, after his sufferings on the lonely isle of Patmos. They will indeed have a great place in the Kingdom glory of their Lord. John was used by the Spirit to put on record the most sublime words ever written. They had the common weakness of fallen humanity and for the moment dropped beneath their level. They had a Master that knew them better than they knew themselves and their fall like that of Peter's later was used by Him for nobler work and a greater place in His testimony than they had conceived or their faith had yet laid hold. In saying a word on their failure we must not forget that their desire was to be near their Master and Lord and without doubt they will be near and with Him in the day when with their fellow-disciples they sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel.