A comparison of Mark 16:1 and Matthew 27:56 indicates that John’s mother was Salome. In John 19:25 the third woman at the cross is very likely to be the third woman from the resurrection tomb, the sister of Jesus’ mother, John’s mother Salome. Hence, John and Jesus were first cousins. That explains Jesus provisional command at the cross, “Son, behold thy Mother.”
John was part of the inner circle of Jesus whom Paul identified as one of the pillars of the church (Galatians 2:9). The Almighty gave him the privilege of writing a gospel, three epistles and the Apocalypse. Irenaeus informs us that there were no more apostles in his time and that John died at a very old age in Ephesus. Since the apostles were the one time foundation (Ephesians 2:19-22) who were eye witnesses of the resurrection (Acts 1:21, 22) John would have been the last of the apostles.
After John we move from inspired, infallible biblical history to fragmented church history. John discipled Polycarp and Papias, was a contemporary of bishops Clement, Ignatius and Simeon and was quoted by such second century leaders as Heracleon, Tatian, Irenaeus and Polycrates. That they would recognize John’s writing as canonical so quickly and distribute it to be, “read in all the churches under heaven” (Eusebius) is a testament to the work of the Holy Spirit in the early church.
Calvary Chapel of Richmond is a local fellowship of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit through the continuous study and application of God's Word.
