JOHN
Evg. Salvatore Frisella | 24SEP26 | @frisellahq
When most people hear the name John, they probably think of the apostle who wrote, “God is love.”
That is certainly true.
But there is much more to John than that.
Before John became the old apostle who wrote about love, truth, and walking with God, he was a young fisherman from Galilee. He had a father, a mother, a brother, a family business, strong opinions, and a lot of passion.
In fact, Jesus gave John and his brother James a nickname:
“Boanerges, that is, ‘Sons of Thunder.’”
— Mark 3:17
That doesn't sound much like the gentle apostle who wrote, “Beloved, let us love one another.”
So what happened to John?
Let's start at the beginning.
We don't know the exact year John was born. The Bible does not give us his birth date.
Most likely, he was born sometime around the beginning of the first century, perhaps around A.D. 5–15. He was born somewhere in Galilee, the region around the Sea of Galilee.
His father's name was Zebedee.
Zebedee was a fisherman, and John and his brother James worked with him.
But this wasn't necessarily a tiny family operation with one old boat and a couple of nets.
Mark tells us something interesting:
“And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.”
— Mark 1:20
Notice those words:
“with the hired servants.”
Zebedee had other people working for him.
So John grew up in a family that had a real fishing business. He knew how to work. He knew how to handle boats and nets. He knew what it meant to get up early and work hard.
John wasn't a religious professional.
He was a working man.
He was a fisherman.
This is where John's story gets really interesting.
Before John became one of Jesus' twelve apostles, it appears that he was already following another important man.
His name was John the Baptist.
John 1 tells us that John the Baptist was standing with two of his disciples when Jesus walked by.
John the Baptist looked at Jesus and said:
“Behold the Lamb of God!”
— John 1:36
Two of John's disciples heard him say this and began following Jesus.
One of those men was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
The other man is not named in the passage.
From the earliest Christian tradition, that second disciple has been understood to be John, the son of Zebedee.
That makes sense when we look at the way John's Gospel tells its story. John often does not name himself directly. Instead, he refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
So it appears that before John ever became one of the Twelve, he was already searching for God and waiting for the Messiah.
Think about that.
John wasn't just sitting around fishing when Jesus came along.
He was looking.
He was listening.
He was following John the Baptist because John the Baptist was pointing people toward the coming Messiah.
And then one day John the Baptist pointed directly at Jesus.
“Behold the Lamb of God!”
John followed.
Andrew went and found his brother Simon.
We know him better as Peter.
Andrew told him:
“We have found the Messiah.”
— John 1:41
That was the beginning of something that would change all of their lives.
John had gone looking for the Messiah.
Now he had found Him.
Or, more accurately, the Messiah had found him.
This is one of the first things we should remember about John.
He didn't begin as a famous apostle.
He began as a man who was searching.
John's life was closely connected with another pair of brothers: Peter and Andrew.
All four were connected to the fishing business around the Sea of Galilee.
Eventually Jesus called Peter and Andrew, and then James and John, to leave their fishing work and follow Him.
Matthew tells us:
“And immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”
— Matthew 4:22
John left his old life behind.
He was going to learn what it meant to follow Jesus.
But John was not a perfect disciple.
Not even close.
Jesus gave John and James a nickname:
Boanerges — Sons of Thunder.
Why?
We get a pretty good idea from an event recorded in Luke 9.
Jesus and His disciples were traveling through Samaria. One village refused to receive Jesus.
James and John didn't respond by saying,
“That's too bad. Let's pray for them.”
They asked Jesus:
“Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them...?”
— Luke 9:54
That's John!
The same John who would one day write:
“God is love.”
At this point in his life, John had plenty of zeal.
He loved Jesus.
He believed Jesus was the Messiah.
But John still had a lot to learn about what it meant to love people who didn't agree with him.
That's important.
John's story is not the story of a naturally perfect man.
It is the story of a man Jesus changed.
John and James had another problem.
They wanted an important place in Jesus' kingdom.
Their mother came to Jesus and asked that her sons sit on His right hand and His left when He came into His kingdom.
The other disciples were not very happy about this.
Why?
Because they wanted those important positions too!
John wanted Jesus.
John wanted the kingdom.
But John also wanted to be important.
Jesus used the moment to teach them something they desperately needed to learn.
Greatness in God's kingdom isn't about being above everybody else.
It's about serving.
John would spend the rest of his life learning that lesson.
As John's relationship with Jesus developed, something remarkable happened.
John became one of the three disciples who were especially close to Jesus.
Peter, James, and John were present at some of the most important moments in Jesus' ministry.
They were there when Jesus raised Jairus's daughter.
They were there when Jesus was transfigured.
They were with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And John was also present at the Last Supper.
John's Gospel describes him as:
“the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
John never seems to use that title to brag.
Instead, it seems to describe the relationship that had become the center of his life.
John knew that Jesus loved him.
And that knowledge would eventually shape everything he taught.
Here's something we often miss when we picture John as a simple fisherman.
John's family may have had more connections than we realize.
His father's fishing business had hired workers.
And John's Gospel tells us something especially interesting about the night Jesus was arrested.
Peter followed Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.
But there was another disciple there first.
John 18:15 says:
“And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: now that disciple was known to the high priest...”
That disciple was able to enter the high priest's courtyard and then help Peter get inside.
The Gospel doesn't name that disciple.
Christian tradition has generally understood him to be John.
If that identification is correct, John had some kind of connection that allowed him access to the household of the high priest.
How did a Galilean fisherman know the high priest?
We don't know for certain.
Maybe it was through business.
Maybe John's family had connections in Jerusalem.
There is even an early Christian tradition that John had some connection with the priesthood.
We shouldn't turn those possibilities into facts.
But we can say this:
John may have been much more connected socially and economically than our usual picture of a fisherman suggests.
And that makes his presence in the high priest's courtyard even more interesting.
When Jesus was arrested, most of the disciples ran away.
John stayed close enough to follow.
He entered the courtyard of the high priest.
Peter came in too.
John was there when Jesus was questioned.
And then came the moment that would change John's life forever.
Jesus was crucified.
John was there.
John 19 gives us one of the most personal moments in the entire New Testament.
Jesus looked down from the cross.
His mother Mary was standing nearby.
Jesus said to her:
“Woman, behold your son!”
Then He said to John:
“Behold your mother!”
And from that time forward, John took Mary into his home.
Think about that.
Jesus was dying.
He knew His earthly ministry was coming to an end.
And He entrusted His mother to John.
John wasn't simply a disciple who had listened to Jesus preach.
He was someone Jesus trusted with His mother.
That tells us something about their relationship.
This is where John's story becomes especially beautiful.
Remember the young John?
The fisherman?
The Son of Thunder?
The man who wanted to call fire down on a Samaritan village?
That man eventually became the elderly apostle who wrote:
“Beloved, let us love one another...”
— 1 John 4:7
And:
“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
— 1 John 4:8
John didn't become a different person because his personality disappeared.
Jesus changed what John did with his passion.
The thunder was still there.
But now it was being used to defend truth.
John still cared deeply.
But now he understood that truth and love belong together.
He had learned what it meant to follow Jesus.
John appears to have lived much longer than most of the apostles.
His brother James was killed by Herod:
“Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.”
— Acts 12:2
John, however, continued living and serving Christ.
Early Christian writers connect John with the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor.
The early Christian writer Irenaeus said that John remained among the churches of Asia until the time of the Roman emperor Trajan, who became emperor in A.D. 98.
If John was born sometime around A.D. 5–15, that means he could have been in his 80s or 90s when he died.
So John may have lived long enough to become an elderly man who personally remembered walking with Jesus decades earlier.
Imagine sitting down with him.
He could tell you what Jesus sounded like.
He could tell you what Jesus looked like.
He could tell you what it was like to eat with Jesus.
He could tell you what happened in the Garden.
He could tell you what happened at the cross.
He could tell you what it was like when Jesus rose from the dead.
John wasn't simply writing theology.
He was writing as someone who said, in effect:
“I was there.”
There is also an old Christian tradition that John was taken to Rome and thrown into a vat of boiling oil.
According to the early Christian writer Tertullian, John survived.
He was then sent into exile.
This is a very old Christian tradition, but it is important to understand that the Bible does not tell us this happened.
We can say:
Scripture doesn't record John's death by martyrdom.
Early Christian tradition says an attempt was made to kill him by boiling oil, but he survived.
Later tradition connects his exile with the island of Patmos.
And here we do have Scripture.
John himself writes:
“I, John... was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
— Revelation 1:9
While John was on Patmos, he received the revelation that became the book of Revelation.
John is traditionally connected with five books of the New Testament:
The Gospel of John
1 John
2 John
3 John
Revelation
That's an enormous legacy.
John gave us the Gospel that begins not with Bethlehem, but with eternity:
“In the beginning was the Word...”
He gave us letters about truth, obedience, love, and assurance.
And he gave us Revelation, the final book of the Bible, pointing us toward the return and victory of Jesus Christ.
So when we study John, we shouldn't just think about a writer.
We should think about a man.
A young fisherman.
A son.
A brother.
A businessman.
A disciple of John the Baptist.
A man searching for the Messiah.
A disciple of Jesus.
A Son of Thunder.
A man who wanted greatness.
A man who stood near the cross.
A man entrusted with Mary.
A witness of the resurrection.
A preacher.
A shepherd.
An exile.
An elderly apostle.
And finally, the man who kept pointing people back to Jesus.
John's life can almost be summed up in one sentence:
He started out wanting to bring down fire, but after walking with Jesus, he spent the rest of his life teaching people how to love.
And perhaps that's one of the greatest lessons John's life gives us:
Jesus doesn't merely call us to follow Him. He changes us as we follow Him.
John is one of the most fascinating figures in the New Testament because the biblical evidence, early Christian testimony, and later church tradition together give us a remarkably rich picture—but they do not all have the same historical weight.
I would suggest we build this as a full character study of John the Apostle, separating what Scripture explicitly says, what can reasonably be inferred, and what comes from early church tradition.
John was the son of Zebedee and the brother of James. Jesus called these two brothers together, and they became two of the Twelve Apostles.
“James the son of Zebedee and John his brother...”
— Matthew 4:21, NKJV
John is therefore the same man commonly called:
John the Apostle
John the son of Zebedee
John the Evangelist
“the disciple whom Jesus loved”
the author traditionally associated with the Fourth Gospel
the traditional author of 1, 2, and 3 John
the traditional author of Revelation
He was one of the three apostles in Jesus' innermost circle, together with Peter and James. These three were present at such events as the raising of Jairus's daughter, the Transfiguration, and Jesus' agony in Gethsemane.
The Bible does not give John's birth date or even his exact birth year.
We therefore have to work with historical reconstruction.
John was probably a young man when Jesus called him, and many scholars have proposed that he may have been among the younger members of the apostolic band. However, we should be careful about turning that possibility into a fact.
A reasonable working estimate would place his birth somewhere around A.D. 5–15, although this is necessarily approximate.
That would make him perhaps a young adult when Jesus began His public ministry around A.D. 27–30.
There is also an important chronological clue from the early church.
Irenaeus, writing in the second century, says that John remained among the churches of Asia until the time of Emperor Trajan. Eusebius preserves this testimony. (New Advent)
Trajan became emperor in A.D. 98.
Consequently, the traditional picture of John surviving into the closing years of the first century is quite plausible.
Possibly—but we should phrase this carefully.
The ancient sources do not give us John's birth certificate and death certificate. What they do tell us is that John survived into the reign of Trajan and was associated with the churches of Asia, particularly Ephesus. (New Advent)
If John was born approximately A.D. 6–10 and died around A.D. 98–100, he could indeed have been approximately 88–94 years old.
Thus, saying that John lived into his late 80s or 90s is reasonable as a reconstruction, but saying categorically that he died at age 95 or 96 would go beyond our evidence.
Again, Scripture does not explicitly tell us.
John was the son of Zebedee, a Galilean fisherman. The family operated a fishing business on the Sea of Galilee.
Mark gives us an important detail:
“...they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.”
— Mark 1:20, NKJV
This is significant.
John's family wasn't simply a father and two sons fishing from a little boat to catch enough fish for dinner.
Zebedee had hired workers.
The family therefore appears to have operated a reasonably substantial fishing enterprise. (NET Bible)
John's hometown is often associated with Bethsaida, although the precise identification is not completely straightforward.
John 1:44 says:
“Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.”
John and James were closely associated with Peter and Andrew in the fishing business, and the traditional reconstruction places the Zebedee family in the Galilee fishing economy.
So I would write:
Probable birthplace: Galilee, probably in or near the Bethsaida/Capernaum region
Exact birthplace: Unknown
Zebedee is an important part of understanding John.
He was a fisherman and apparently the head of a commercial fishing operation.
Mark 1:19–20 tells us that James and John were:
in a boat,
mending their nets,
working with their father,
and that their father had hired servants.
That suggests a family business substantial enough to employ other people. (NET Bible)
This gives us a much more interesting picture of John's upbringing.
John was not necessarily an impoverished peasant fisherman.
He appears to have grown up in a working but comparatively prosperous family.
That becomes particularly interesting when we get to Caiaphas.
The Gospels identify a woman named Salome among the women who followed Jesus and were present at His crucifixion.
Matthew says:
“among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.”
— Matthew 27:56, NKJV
Mark identifies the woman as Salome:
“There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome...”
— Mark 15:40, NKJV
Thus the traditional identification is:
Zebedee + Salome → James + John
There is another fascinating possibility.
John 19:25 lists several women standing near the cross, and one interpretation of the Greek wording identifies one of them as Mary's sister. Some interpreters therefore propose that Salome was Mary's sister, which would make John and Jesus relatives.
But this is not certain. The punctuation and identification of the women in John 19:25 have been debated.
So we should mark this as:
Possible relationship: Salome may have been Mary's sister, making John Jesus' cousin.
Certainty: Not enough evidence to state this as fact.
This is where your observation about Caiaphas becomes extremely important.
John 18:15 says:
“And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: now that disciple was known to the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.”
— John 18:15, NKJV (Bible Gateway)
And verse 16 tells us something even more interesting: this disciple went out, spoke to the doorkeeper, and got Peter inside. (Bible Gateway)
That means this wasn't merely:
“John happened to know somebody who worked there.”
He had enough familiarity with the high-priestly household that he could enter the courtyard and obtain access for Peter.
And this is where identifying the unnamed disciple as John becomes important.
The Gospel of John never explicitly says in 18:15:
“John was known to the high priest.”
It says “another disciple.”
But the traditional identification of that disciple with John is very strong, particularly because of the Gospel's pattern of identifying the beloved disciple.
One scholarly note on the passage observes that the identification with John, son of Zebedee, is the most probable traditional reconstruction, while also noting possible explanations involving Zebedee's economic status and priestly connections. (Bible Gateway)
This is one of the best questions to ask in a John character study.
There are several possibilities.
This is quite plausible.
Fish from Galilee could be processed, preserved, transported, and sold beyond the immediate fishing communities. Zebedee's commercial operation, with boats and hired workers, could have participated in a larger trade network.
John's family therefore could have had commercial relationships in Jerusalem.
Some historical commentators have suggested that this could explain John's connection with the high-priestly household. (Bible Gateway)
This has also been suggested.
The Gospel evidence does not prove it, but it would help explain how a Galilean fisherman could be personally known within the household of the high priest.
This is especially fascinating.
Eusebius preserves a statement from Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, concerning John:
“John, who was both a witness and a teacher... being a priest wore the sacerdotal plate.”
If Polycrates was accurately preserving an ancient tradition, John's family may have had priestly connections.
But again, we need to distinguish this from Scripture.
We cannot confidently say:
“John was a priest.”
We can say:
There is an early Christian tradition that John had priestly status or priestly connections.
That possibility becomes particularly interesting when combined with his apparent access to the high-priestly household.
This is one of the most interesting aspects of his character.
We often picture John as:
“the fisherman.”
And technically, that is true.
But the evidence suggests something more nuanced.
John was:
a fisherman,
part of a family business,
associated with hired workers,
apparently economically established,
connected with Peter and Andrew,
possibly connected with priestly circles,
personally known within the high priest's household,
later associated with major churches in Asia Minor.
So John may have moved between very different social worlds.
He could work the fishing boats of Galilee and yet have sufficient connections to enter the high priest's residence in Jerusalem.
That's a remarkable combination.
Jesus gave James and John the nickname:
“Boanerges,” that is, “Sons of Thunder.”
— Mark 3:17, NKJV
That nickname tells us something about their personalities.
John was not naturally the soft-spoken, sentimental figure that later Christian artwork sometimes portrays.
Look at Luke 9:54.
When a Samaritan village refused to receive Jesus, James and John asked:
“Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them...?”
That's John.
This is extremely important for a character study.
The man who later wrote:
“God is love”
was once ready to call down fire on people who rejected Jesus.
John's transformation is therefore one of the great themes of his life.
He moved from zeal without sufficient love to truth governed by love.
John and James were also concerned about position.
Their mother approached Jesus asking that her sons sit:
“one on Your right hand and the other on the left”
in His kingdom.
— Matthew 20:21, NKJV
Jesus used the occasion to teach the disciples about servant leadership.
So John's early character appears to include:
zeal,
courage,
ambition,
competitiveness,
loyalty,
strong emotional intensity.
This makes his later writings even more fascinating.
John's Gospel repeatedly describes one disciple as:
“the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
This disciple appears at:
the Last Supper,
the crucifixion,
the empty tomb,
the resurrection appearances.
The traditional identification is John himself.
But notice something beautiful.
John doesn't emphasize:
“I was Jesus' favorite.”
Instead, he describes himself relationally:
“the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
That became central to his identity.
His theology of love did not arise in a vacuum.
He experienced the love of Christ personally.
This is perhaps one of the most important events in his life.
John 19:26–27 says:
“When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’
Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’”
And then:
“And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”
— John 19:26–27, NKJV (Bible Gateway)
This is one of the strongest biblical foundations for your point about John caring for Mary.
Jesus entrusted Mary to this disciple.
If the beloved disciple is John—and the traditional identification is John—then John became responsible for Mary.
That would also help explain why John eventually became associated with Ephesus and Asia Minor.
Now we come to the famous story you mentioned.
According to Tertullian, the early Christian writer, John was taken to Rome and placed into boiling oil, but survived unharmed.
Tertullian says John was:
“first plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil”
and afterward was sent into exile on an island. (Tertullian Project)
This is an important tradition because it is not merely a late medieval legend.
Tertullian lived around the late second and early third centuries, and therefore this tradition appears relatively early in Christian literature.
However:
And Tertullian is the earliest surviving source for it.
Therefore, in our study we should classify it:
Biblical: No
Early Christian tradition: Yes
Source: Tertullian
Historical certainty: Cannot be established
The traditional story says John survived the boiling oil and was then exiled to Patmos.
This part is biblical.
Revelation 1:9 says:
“I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
So John was on Patmos.
The connection between Patmos and the reign of Domitian is an early Christian historical tradition. Eusebius places John's exile in the period of Domitian and says that John later returned after Domitian's death. (New Advent)
The later portion of John's life is strongly associated with Ephesus.
Irenaeus says that John remained in Ephesus until the time of Trajan.
Eusebius preserves that testimony:
“the church in Ephesus also, which was founded by Paul, and where John remained until the time of Trajan...” (New Advent)
This places John at the end of the first century as an extraordinarily important surviving link to the apostolic generation.
Imagine the historical significance:
A young fisherman who personally walked with Jesus eventually became an elderly apostolic witness whom Christians in Asia could consult concerning the teaching of Jesus and the other apostles.
Unlike James, John's death is traditionally understood to have been natural rather than martyrdom.
This is striking because Jesus had told James and John that they would drink His cup.
James was killed by Herod:
“Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.”
— Acts 12:2, NKJV
John, however, appears to have survived.
This makes John unique among the Twelve in Christian tradition as the apostle who survived into extreme old age.
We should still phrase the exact circumstances cautiously because our sources are ancient and incomplete.
Traditionally, five New Testament books are attributed to John:
The Fourth Gospel.
A theological and pastoral letter emphasizing:
Christ's incarnation,
truth,
obedience,
love,
assurance,
fellowship with God.
A short letter emphasizing:
truth,
love,
obedience,
guarding against false teaching.
A personal letter dealing with:
hospitality,
Christian leadership,
faithfulness,
Diotrephes,
Gaius,
Demetrius.
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, received while John was on Patmos.
Thus:
Traditional Johannine corpus = 5 New Testament books
That makes John the second-most prolific New Testament author by number of books, after Paul.
Paul is traditionally associated with 13 New Testament letters, while John is associated with five writings.
For our serious character study, we should distinguish:
“What has the church traditionally attributed to John?”
from
“What can we establish historically about authorship?”
The five-book Johannine corpus is traditionally associated with John the Apostle, but the authorship of the Johannine writings has been discussed extensively by scholars.
The Gospel itself never simply says:
“I, John the son of Zebedee, wrote this Gospel.”
Instead, the author identifies himself through the beloved disciple.
Likewise, Revelation explicitly names its author as John, but does not identify him in the text as “John the son of Zebedee.”
So the traditional position is:
John the Apostle = the beloved disciple = author of the Fourth Gospel = author of the three Johannine letters = John of Revelation.
That is the historic Christian identification.
For our study, I think we should preserve that traditional framework while clearly distinguishing it from what each individual biblical text explicitly claims.
Putting everything together, John becomes a remarkably complex character.
Character trait
Evidence
Hard-working
Fisherman and net-mender
Entrepreneurial background
Family business with hired servants
Possibly prosperous
Commercial fishing operation
Socially connected
Known by the high priest's household
Possibly priestly connections
Tradition preserved by Polycrates
Zealous
Son of Thunder
Passionate
Wanted fire called down on Samaritans
Ambitious
Desired position beside Jesus
Loyal
Present at the crucifixion
Courageous
Followed Jesus into the high priest's courtyard
Trusted
Jesus entrusted Mary to him
Intimate with Jesus
One of the inner three; beloved disciple
Theologically deep
Gospel, letters, Revelation
Pastorally concerned
Repeated emphasis on love and truth
Long-lived
Ancient testimony places him into Trajan's reign
Persevering
Patmos and continued ministry
Transformed by Christ
From "Son of Thunder" to apostle of love
And I think there is a particularly powerful theme here:
That isn't a contradiction.
It is sanctification.
The same man who once wanted fire to destroy his enemies eventually wrote:
“Beloved, let us love one another...”
— 1 John 4:7, NKJV
And:
“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
— 1 John 4:8, NKJV
His personality did not disappear.
Jesus transformed its direction.
The intensity remained—but it became intensity for truth, holiness, Christ, and love.
I think we should investigate John's social and economic background much more deeply, because your observation about Caiaphas opens a fascinating door.
We can construct a chronological biography something like:
Birth → family → Galilean fishing business → relationship with Peter/Andrew → possible Jerusalem commercial connections → relationship with the high-priestly household → meeting Jesus → "Son of Thunder" → inner circle → Last Supper → crucifixion and Mary → Pentecost → Jerusalem church → ministry in Asia → Ephesus → Patmos → return from exile → elderly apostle → death and burial → legacy in the Johannine writings.
B = Bible, E = early historical testimony, T = later tradition, and I = reasonable inference. This gives us a very strong academic-quality character biography of John without blurring Scripture and tradition together.
An important addition, and John 1 gives us unusually valuable information about John's life before he became one of the Twelve.
Very early in the chronological biography, before John's formal calling by Jesus.
John 1:35–40 says:
“Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked by, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.”
— John 1:35–37, NKJV
One of those two disciples was Andrew, because verse 40 explicitly says:
“One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.”
The other disciple is not named in this passage.
However, the traditional and very strong inference is that the unnamed disciple was John, the son of Zebedee.
That fits the Gospel's characteristic way of referring to John indirectly as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.”
So our chronology should include:
John the son of Zebedee and Andrew appear to have been disciples of John the Baptist.
This is significant because John didn't simply encounter Jesus as an isolated Galilean fisherman.
He appears to have already been:
Seeking God
Following John the Baptist
Waiting for the Messiah
Present when John the Baptist identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God”
One of the first disciples to follow Jesus
And there is another fascinating detail.
When Andrew finds Peter, he tells him:
“We have found the Messiah”
— John 1:41, NKJV
So John's introduction to Jesus occurs within a Messianic movement already being prepared by John the Baptist.
I would structure the beginning of our biography this way:
c. A.D. 5–15 — Birth and childhood
Born in Galilee.
Son of Zebedee and Salome.
Brother of James.
Raised in a fishing family/business.
Young adulthood — Fisherman
Works with Zebedee and James.
Family fishing business has hired servants (Mark 1:19–20).
Associated with the fishing community around the Sea of Galilee.
Before Jesus' formal ministry — Disciple of John the Baptist
John appears to have become a disciple of John the Baptist.
Andrew is explicitly identified as one of John's disciples.
The unnamed second disciple is traditionally understood to be John.
John the Baptist identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God.”
John and Andrew begin following Jesus (John 1:35–40).
Early encounter with Jesus
Andrew brings Simon Peter to Jesus.
John presumably becomes one of the earliest followers of Jesus.
This precedes the later formal calling of John, James, Peter, and Andrew from their fishing occupation.
Formal calling to apostolic ministry
Jesus calls James and John while they are mending nets with Zebedee.
They leave the boat and their father and follow Jesus (Matthew 4:21–22; Mark 1:19–20).
That distinction is important because John 1 appears to describe an initial encounter and following of Jesus, while Matthew 4 and Mark 1 describe the formal call from the fishing business. We shouldn't flatten those accounts into one event.
And this gives us a wonderful opening theme for John's character study:
John was a seeker before he was an apostle. He was first a disciple looking for the Messiah, then a follower of Jesus, and ultimately one of Jesus' chosen apostles and closest companions.
John 1:29–42 to our foundational passages when we build the full chronological study, because it gives us a glimpse of John's spiritual life before the Twelve were formally constituted.