A neglected line of evidence for the fourth gospel's authorship is how closely John 19:35, 20:31, and 21:24 align with what Jesus said about the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the work of the apostles, and other issues in John 14-17. What the author of the document says in the passages I cited from John 19-21 seems to allude to Jesus' earlier comments in chapters 14-17. The implication is that the author of the fourth gospel is fulfilling what Jesus predicted. He's suggesting that he's one of the apostles Jesus was addressing in chapters 14-17.
I'll set some relevant passages side by side, with emphasis added:
"After a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also." (14:19)
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." (14:26)
"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me, and you will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning." (15:26-27)
"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak; and he will disclose to you what is to come." (16:13)
"A little while, and you will no longer see me; and again a little while, and you will see me." (16:16)
"even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (17:2-3)
"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word" (17:20)
"And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe." (19:35)
"but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in his name." (20:31)
"This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true." (21:24)
Notice the many areas of overlap in concepts and language: truth, testimony, seeing, belief, Jesus as the object of belief, gaining eternal life, appeal to his name, and the accomplishment of these things through Jesus' disciples.
And not everything that's relevant can be conveyed by highlighting quotes from these passages. The reference to seeing what the world doesn't see in 14:19 likely refers to the apostles' role as eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ, which would help explain why Jesus then goes on to referring to how his disciples will live because he lives. There's not a reference to seeing in 20:31 or 21:24, but the contexts leading up to those verses have the Beloved Disciple seeing the risen Christ. Jesus' comments about remembering what he said is fulfilled in the fourth gospel, not just in the chapters I've quoted from, but more broadly as well. The fourth gospel's author is referred to as a disciple, and the individuals Jesus spoke to in John 14-17 are referred to that way (16:17, 16:29). The references to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and prophecy in chapters 14-17 are reminiscent of what's said about the inspiration of scripture elsewhere (e.g., 2 Peter 1:20-21). The author is producing a document that recalls what Jesus said at length (John 14:26), and that document was widely perceived as scripture among the early Christians.
I'll list some characteristics of John 14-17 that are found in the author of the fourth gospel, with each characteristic numbered in parentheses. He's a disciple of Jesus (1) who's testifying (2) truthfully (3), partly by reporting what he's seen (4) and partly by remembering what Jesus said (5), in a document widely accepted as scripture early on (6), so that others (7) might believe (8) through his testimony and thereby have eternal life (9) in Jesus' name (10). Keep in mind that the three verses about the author of the fourth gospel that I've highlighted - 19:35, 20:31, and 21:24 - are just three verses and relatively short ones. It's significant that so many of the terms and themes of chapters 14-17 are found in those three verses. The best explanation for the parallels between John 14-17 and the author of the fourth gospel is that he identified himself as one of the disciples Jesus was addressing in those chapters.
The next closest parallel I've noticed to the language and themes of chapters 14-17 is John the Baptist. He's referred to as testifying and leading others to belief through that testimony (1:6-8), for example. But I've noticed fewer parallels with the Baptist than we have with the author of the fourth gospel. And there's much more material on the Baptist than there is in the three verses in which the author of the fourth gospel explicitly discusses himself and his activities in the timeframe Jesus was anticipating in chapters 14-17. John the Baptist didn't live in that timeframe, and the language and themes of chapters 14-17 are found less in him than in the author of the fourth gospel, even though the material on the Baptist is so much lengthier than the relevant material on the author of the gospel. Among the gospel's other figures - Nicodemus, the blind man healed in chapter 9, etc. - I've noticed even fewer relevant characteristics than there are in John the Baptist. Besides, the Baptist was an eyewitness of Jesus and a highly significant figure in early Christianity, so being similar to the Baptist would suggest that the fourth gospel's author has a lot of significance. Not only is he similar, but he exceeds the Baptist in this context. So, what's said of the author of the fourth gospel in the three verses in question is highly unusual.
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