Date of the Gospel of John

The Date of the Gospel of John is prior to 70 A.D., and probably contemporaneous with or soon after Jesus's Ministry, rather than the 90-100 A.D. date of origin that is the result of liberal denial.

The Gospel of John is one of the most intellectually innovative works ever, which implies that its author was young, just as other innovations have been by youthful creators:

• invention of calculus: Isaac Newton, age 22–24, and Gottfried Leibniz, late 20s
• development of quantum mechanics: Werner Heisenberg age 23
• author of "To err is human; to forgive, divine": Alexander Pope, age 22 or 23
• invention of the phonograph: Thomas Edison, age 30
• writing of the greatest English novel, Moby-Dick: Herman Melville, age 31
• author of the most influential phrase written in English, "all men are created equal": Thomas Jefferson, age 33
• author of Hamlet: William Shakespeare, age 35-37

Insisting on an author's age of 85 for the Gospel of John constitutes an implicit denial of its brilliant originality as an intellectual work.

Academic Bible scholars typically argue for a later date for all of the New Testament books as a way of detracting from their spectacular authorship, and a way of appeasing the predominantly atheistic faculties at universities. It is unlikely that John the Apostle even lived to 90 A.D., and if he did his mind would not have been as sharp awhen younger and there would be no reason for John to wait until his 80s to write his masterpiece. It is stated in John 5:2 :

“

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.

”

Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. The use of the present tense above indicates that this Gospel of John was written earlier.

The Western order of the Gospels was Matthew-John-Luke-Mark, which is counter-evidence to any inference that by the placement of the Gospel of John last in the current ordering, it must have been written last.

Liberals falsely insist that the Gospel of John could not have been written earlier than 67 A.D., when Peter was crucified, because the 21st chapter of John refers to Peter's martyrdom (as a prophecy). But there are 10 compelling reasons to conclude that the 21st chapter was added later, after the writing of Gospel of John. See John ending.

Date	Reason
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	the Gospel of John has the longest discourses of Jesus, quoting him directly in explaining difficult concepts, including the allegory of the vineyard. Transcription was immediately necessary to be precise.
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	the Gospel of John does not use material from anything else in the New Testament, which suggests that this Gospel may have been written first.
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	the Gospel of John is perfect for evangelizing Samaritans, which was a primary goal successfully attained at the beginning, and thus the Gospel of John would have been written at the beginning for this.
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	more than any other Gospel, interlinear additions were made to the Gospel of John, which implies that it was rewritten more often than other books in the New Testament as an early book.
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	the oldest extant fragment from the New Testament is from the Gospel of John, called the John Rylands Fragment or "P52".
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	the goal was to evangelize others, so John the Apostle would have shared the truth of Jesus as soon as possible.
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	the Gospel of John refers to John the Baptist as merely "John", which suggests a contemporaneous rather than historical account.
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	the risk of martyrdom, and the lack of distractions, would have given John the Apostle the time and incentive to write the Gospel of John sooner rather than later.
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	the Gospel of John uses the present tense extensively, which implies that it was written contemporaneously rather than decades later.
contemporaneous with Jesus's Ministry	Paul's letters, which he wrote beginning in 48 A.D. (merely 15 years after the Resurrection), use concepts from the Gospel of John; they were not travel companions, and it would have taken years for this Gospel to reach Paul and be analyzed, accepted, and incorporated by him. Concepts from this Gospel used by Paul include: (1) the pre-existence of Christ (compare Paul’s "Christ hymn" in Philippians 2 and his Colossians 1 (firstborn of all creation) with John 1; (2) the Agency of Creation, by which the world was created through Jesus (compare 1 Cor 8:6 with John 1:3); life in the Holy Spirit, compare Paul’s "in Christ" language to John’s "abiding in the vine" (John 15); sending of the Son, as both use "sending" terminology (compare Romans 8:3 and Galatians 4:4 with John 3:16); and the "New Commandment," compare Romans 13:8-10 with John 13:34.
prior to 50 A.D.	Thomas the Apostle was evidently a friend of John the Apostle, as John mentions and quotes him several times in the Gospel of John (and far more than in any other Gospel). Thomas left to evandalize India around 52 A.D., and would have needed to have heard and take with him the Gospel of John to guide his successful ministry there.
prior to 68 A.D.	Romans destroyed the Essene community, who were the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the emphasis on "light versus darkness" of the scholarship there suggests a possible influence by the Gospel of John on some in that community.

Rebutting claim of later date of origin

John would have been in his 80s by the mid-90s A.D. From the outset, the theory that anyone wrote such an original masterpiece when older than 80 years is unlikely.

There are only six grounds for a late date of 90-100 A.D. for the authorship of the Gospel of John, and two of grounds depend on the unlikely original authenticity of the John ending in Chapter 21:

Assertion	Rebuttal
John 21:18-19 implies it was written after Peter's martyrdom	Chapter 21 was almost certainly added later. See John ending.
The Gospel of John was written after the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, which is supposedly implied by certain references to places and to the Jews as in John 11:18, John 18:1, and John 19:41	In fact, none of these verses imply anything about a destruction of Jerusalem;
John 21:23 implies that John was elderly when he wrote this Gospel	Chapter 21 was added later and lacks authenticity
that the Gospel of John was written after the three Synoptic Gospels	No evidence for this whatsoever; the lack of use by John of any material in the Synoptic Gospels suggests his was not written last.
the Gospel of John was written in rebuttal of a heresy near 100 A.D. which denied Jesus's divinity	Nothing in the style or substance of the Gospel of John suggests that it was motivated to rebut anyone or any heresy
The Monarchian Prologue, written around 200 A.D. or even later, asserts: "He [sc. the Apostle John] wrote this Gospel in the Province of Asia, after he had composed the Apocalypse on the Island of Patmos." The theory is that John returned to Asia during the final year of Domitian's reign, around 95.	This would the authorship at an implausibly late 96 A.D., plus a few more years to complete it. By then John would have been nearly 90 years old.

Vague "Church Fathers" argument

Some assert that the Church Fathers felt that the date of the Gospel of John was near the end of the 1st century, but those are not contemporary opinions based on any evidence. The term "Church Fathers" applies mostly to Christian leaders who lived hundreds of years after Jesus and John the Apostle.

Ignatius of Antioch, one of the three most important early Church Fathers (the other two being Clement of Rome and Polycarp), appeared to use the Gospel of John but never provided a date for it.