Beloved Disciple

Calque of Ecclesiastical Latin discipulus dīlēctus, applied as an epithet of John the Evangelist. The term is a summary of the expressions found in the Gospel itself, such as ὁ μαθητὴς ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς (ho mathētḕs hòn ēgápa ho Iēsoûs, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”).

the Beloved Disciple

1. (biblical) A figure in the Gospel of John whose identity is left implicit within the text; traditionally, John the Evangelist himself.
   • 1674, William Bates, The Harmony of the Divine Attributes […], page 90:

     And the beloved Disciple fell down as dead at the appearance of Christ in his Glory.

   • 1872, Thomas Scott, The English Life of Jesus, page 328:

     The idea of the almost immediate return of Christ to judgment still so far retains its force that the Beloved Disciple is represented as probably living to see it […]

   • 1949, Harold Holloway, The Twilight of the Critics: Being Studies and Reflections on the Fourth Gospel, page 76:

     The question of the identification of the Beloved Disciple and that of the discovery of the author of the Gospel are not necessarily identical, for it is quite possible to argue, as we found Schmiedel doing just now, that the two were separate and distinct persons.