John 21:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Why does he alone speak in this way, when no one else does so? Why, now for the second time, does he bear witness concerning himself, though this is unpleasant to hear? What is the reason?

They say that he began to write the Gospel after all the others, being moved and stirred to this by God. Therefore he constantly points to Christ's love for him, thereby hinting at the reason why he resolved to write.

For the same reason he often mentions that his testimony is true. By this he gives credibility to his word and shows that he undertook this by impulse from above. "And I know," he says, "that what he narrates is true."

If this does not persuade many, they may be persuaded from what follows. From what? From what is said next.

None of the other Evangelists bore witness concerning himself. They say that John began to write the Gospel after all the others, having been moved and stirred to this by Christ. Therefore he constantly mentions Christ's love for him, showing the reason why he began to write, and showing that Christ entrusted this work to the one whom He loved more than the others.

"And I know that he speaks the truth," that is: what I have written, I have written with complete certainty, since I was present at everything, at the deeds and words, at the sufferings and the events after the Resurrection. Therefore I speak boldly even about myself, that I am true, and I invite examination and investigation of each event separately.

No reasonable person, I think, will doubt that the Lord would not have loved John if he had not been distinguished by the highest excellence and had not been capable and fully ready for every kind of good. God cannot be inclined toward irrational attractions unworthy of His love.

Such conditions belong only to men. God is wholly inaccessible to any attractions and influences of the passions. He remains unchangeable in every kind of good, or rather, He Himself is every kind of good. Therefore must He not also act in this with most perfect justice, and show His blameless favor only toward one worthy of His love?

I myself, as an eyewitness, know that this testimony is true. Clearly others also knew it. Thus John, fully assured of the truth of what he testified, speaks as though saying: “I know that this may seem suspicious to some, precisely because there is no mention of it in the other Evangelists.”

And it is clear that he refuted the claim that he is immortal, and confirmed that he will remain until the Second Coming.

Only when Peter followed Jesus at His command, and noticed that John was also following Him, did his fervor prevent him from keeping silent. He asked, “You told me to follow You, that is, to suffering and death. Is this one also to follow You?” Or, “Will he wait for the full revelation of Your Kingdom in glory?” “What is that to you?” the Savior answered. “You follow Me.” And after this, the Lord was hidden from sight.

When Peter was walking with Jesus, he looked back and saw John following them. The Evangelist John, narrating this, does not name himself. He says that this was the disciple whom Jesus loved, who at the Paschal supper leaned upon His breast and asked, "Lord, who is it that will betray You?"

He then says that this disciple both testifies to these things and wrote this Gospel. After such explanations by the Evangelist himself, there is no doubt that he was speaking about himself when he related how Peter saw the disciple following him.

"This is the disciple who testifies," and so forth. This conclusion refers not only to what has been narrated in this twenty-first chapter, but to the whole Gospel. This is evident from the following verse and from the solemnity of the attestation contained in this verse itself.

"He testifies," and so forth. See the note on Jn 19:35.

In the introduction to this chapter we indicated that the following twenty-fourth verse apparently belongs to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus, who received the Gospel from John's hands with the additional twenty-first chapter. In our opinion, the very inscription of this verse is also documentary testimony from the Church of Ephesus that chapter 21 was written by John himself.

"This is the disciple who testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true." We are not entirely certain whether this inscription, plainly made during John's lifetime, refers to a confession of faith concerning the whole Gospel, or exclusively to the preceding twenty-third verse.

What should be said of John, who reclined on the breast of Christ? He left one Gospel, observing that the whole world could not contain what he might have written. He also wrote the Apocalypse, but he was commanded to keep silent and not write what the seven thunders said (Rev 10:14). There remains from him also an Epistle of a few lines, perhaps two or three. Not all acknowledge them as genuine. Taken altogether, they contain no more than a hundred lines.