That this person was called John, therefore, and that this was the writing of a John, I do not deny. And I admit further, that it was also the work of some holy and inspired man. But I could not so easily admit that this was the apostle, the son of Zebedee, the brother of James, and the same person with him who wrote the Gospel which bears the title according to John, and the catholic epistle. But from the character of both, and the forms of expression, and the whole disposition and execution of the book, I draw the conclusion that the authorship is not his.<\/p>\n
I. For the evangelist nowhere else subjoins his name, and he never proclaims himself either in the Gospel or in the epistle. … whether as of himself directly (in the first person), or as of another (in the third person). But the writer of the Revelation puts himself forward at once in the very beginning, for he says: \u201cThe Revelation of Jesus Christ, which He gave to him to show to His servants quickly; and He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bare record of the Word of God, and of his testimony, and of all things that he saw.\u201d And then he writes also an epistle, in which he says: \u201cJohn to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
II. And from the ideas, and the expressions, and the collocation of the same, it may be very reasonably conjectured that this one is distinct from that. For the Gospel and the Epistle agree with each other, and both commence in the same way. … Thus the attentive reader will find the phrases, \u201cthe life,\u201d \u201cthe light,\u201d occurring often in both; and also such expressions as fleeing from darkness, holding the truth, grace, joy, the flesh and the blood of the Lord, the judgment, the remission of sins, the love of God toward us, the commandment of love on our side toward each other; as also, that we ought to keep all the commandments, the conviction of the world, of the devil, of Antichrist, the promise of the Holy Spirit, the adoption of God, the faith required of us in all things, the Father and the Son , named as such everywhere. And altogether, through their whole course, it will be evident that the Gospel and the Epistle are distinguished by one and the same character of writing. But the Revelation is totally different, and altogether distinct from this;<\/p>\n
III. on the ground of difference in diction, it is possible to prove a distinction between the Gospel and the Epistle on the one hand, and the Revelation on the other. For the former are written not only without actual error as regards the Greek language, but also with the greatest elegance, both in their expressions and in their reasonings, and in the whole structure of their style. They are very far indeed from betraying any barbarism or solecism, or any sort of vulgarism, in their diction. … That the author of the latter, however, … I perceive that his dialect and language are not of the exact Greek type, and that he employs barbarous idioms, and in some places also solecisms.
\n— Dionysius: Extant Fragments ANF06<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
That this person was called John, therefore, and that this was the writing of a John, I do not deny. And I admit further, that it was also the work of some holy and inspired man. But I could not so easily admit that this was the apostle, the son of Zebedee, the brother of James, and the same person with him who wrote the Gospel which bears the title […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[35,133],"class_list":["post-1209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dionysius-of-alexandria","tag-authorship-of-the-new-testament","tag-textual-criticism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21877,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/eusebius-dionysius-on-the-apocalypse\/","url_meta":{"origin":1209,"position":0},"title":"Eusebius: Dionysius on the Apocalypse","author":"Nemo","date":"January 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Some before us have set aside and rejected the [Apocalypse] altogether, criticising it chapter by chapter, and pronouncing it without sense or argument, and maintaining that the title is fraudulent. For they say that it is not the work of John, nor is it a revelation, because it is covered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dionysius of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Dionysius of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/dionysius-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21868,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/origen-on-the-authorship-of-new-testament-books\/","url_meta":{"origin":1209,"position":1},"title":"Origen on the Authorship of New Testament Books","author":"Nemo","date":"January 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In his first book on Matthew\u2019s Gospel, maintaining the Canon of the Church, [Origen] testifies that he knows only four Gospels, writing as follows: \u201cAmong the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eusebius of Caesarea"","block_context":{"text":"Eusebius of Caesarea","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/eusebius\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":755,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/on-the-authorship-of-the-new-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":1209,"position":2},"title":"On the Authorship of the New Testament","author":"Nemo","date":"January 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark, the follower of Peter, while Peter publicly preached the Gospel at Rome before some of C\u00e6sar\u2019s equites, and adduced many testimonies to Christ, in order that thereby they might be able to commit to memory what was spoken, of what was spoken by Peter, wrote entirely what is called\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Church Fathers"","block_context":{"text":"Church Fathers","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/church-fathers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21843,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/eusebius-on-the-authorship-of-new-testament-books\/","url_meta":{"origin":1209,"position":3},"title":"Eusebius on the Authorship of New Testament Books","author":"Nemo","date":"January 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On the Authorship of the Epistles One epistle of Peter, that called the first, is acknowledged as genuine. And this the ancient elders used freely in their own writings as an undisputed work. But his extant second Epistle does not belong to the canon; yet, as it has appeared profitable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eusebius of Caesarea"","block_context":{"text":"Eusebius of Caesarea","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/eusebius\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1217,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/dionysius-on-charity-during-pestilence\/","url_meta":{"origin":1209,"position":4},"title":"Dionysius of Alexandria on Charity During Pestilence","author":"Nemo","date":"May 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Certainly very many of our brethren, while, in their exceeding love and brotherly-kindness, they did not spare themselves, but kept by each other, and visited the sick without thought of their own peril, and ministered to them assiduously, and treated them for their healing in Christ, died from time to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dionysius of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Dionysius of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/dionysius-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21880,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/eusebius-excommunication-of-a-heretical-bishop\/","url_meta":{"origin":1209,"position":5},"title":"Eusebius: Excommunication of a Heretical Bishop","author":"Nemo","date":"January 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"[Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch,] held low and degraded views of Christ, namely, that in his nature he was a common man ... 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