Acts 4:13 and the Authorship of the Fourth Gospel

 Acts 4:13 and the Authorship of the Fourth Gospel

Introduction

Critics of the Gospel of John insinuate that John, son of Zebedee would not be able to produce such a work since he was a poor fisherman in lower Palestine.[1] In addition to that, Bart Ehrman cites biblical evidence (Acts 4:13) that John (and Peter) was (were) “unlettered” or “illiterate.”[2] In this blog post I will demonstrate why this is a questionable argument and give several reasons as to why John producing the Fourth Gospel is no problem in light of this issue.

 

The meaning of ἀγράμματοί 

 The word ἀγράμματοί is often translated as literally “un-lettered” due to its etymology.[3] However, etymology does not determine the meaning of a word, context does. Paul Rhodes Eddy and Greg A. Boyd note, “[t]he term agrammatoi need imply nothing more than that these two [John and Peter] never received a formal education...”[4] Moreover, ἀγράμματος links to formal rabbinic training since γράμματα relates to the Law (cf. Rom 2:27, 29; 7:6; 2 Cor 3:6; John 7:15).[5]

 Before we delve into additional points on John’s literacy, it must be pointed out that the assumption that because John was a Galilean fisherman he wouldn’t have been able to write the Fourth Gospel is erroneous. Fishermen could actually be quite prominent in society. Craig Keener notes

fishermen were hardly peasants, ranking instead with tax-gatherers, carpenters, and artisans as a sort of middle-income group that comprised much of the upper 10 percent of wage earning in antiquity (of which merchants and land-owning aristocracy were but a small fraction.[6]

Therefore, it is plausible that John would have the financial means to receive some kind of basic education in reading and writing during his childhood or early teenage years.

 Additional Points

It should be pointed out that John would most likely have scribes and editors to help him with his writings.[7] Josephus, even though he was literate, still had difficulties with writing his books and speaking the Greek language.[8] Josephus used scribes to help him with him learn the Greek language and to compose his books in Greek.[9] Additionally, the Greek style of John is not that advanced, especially compared to other New Testament books such as Luke-Acts and James.[10]

For the sake of argument, let’s suppose that John was in fact illiterate in Acts 4. By the time he would be allegedly writing the Fourth Gospel, four to six decades would have passes given him time to learn how to read and write. Rabbi Akiva, one of the most famous rabbis and compilers of the Talmud was completely illiterate until he was 40 years old.[11] Keener deals with objections that John would be too old to produce a literary work like the Fourth Gospel.[12]

 Conclusion

Whiles this of course does not show John, son of Zebedee is the author of the Fourth Gospel, I think the argument from Acts 4:13 is a very poor argument against traditional authorship for this Gospel. For anyone looking for a positive case for traditional authorship of the Fourth Gospel, see here.

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[1] Ehrman, Bart D. Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible. HarperOne, 2010., 105.  

[2] Ibid., 105. Ehrman on his blog elaborates more: “It should come as no surprise that Peter could not write Greek (or Aramaic, for that matter).  As it turns out, there is New Testament evidence about Peter’s education level.  According to Acts 4:13, both Peter and his companion John, also a fisherman, were agrammatoi, a Greek word that literally means “unlettered,” that is, “illiterate.” https://ehrmanblog.org/could-peter-have-written-1-and-2-peter-some-other-way/

[3] The “a” serves as an alpha privative/negative particle, thus negating the “γράμμα” and rendering the word literally “un-lettered.”

[4] Eddy, Paul Rhodes, and Gregory A. Boyd. The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition. Baker Academic, 2008., 249-50.  

[5] Keener, Craig. The Gospel of John: A Commentary. Baker Academic, 2010., 712.

 [6] Ibid., 101. It should also be noted how John’s family was wealthy enough to have multiple servants (Mark 1:20)

[7] Keener cites Susan Treggiari (Treggiari, Susan. “Jobs in the Household of Livia.” Papers of the British School at Rome, vol. 43, 1975, pp. 48–77 at 50) on the complete secretarial staff of the Roman empress Livia’s household which includes those who took dictation and the copyists and clerks. Keener, John, 101 n. 168.

[8] Josephus, Ant. 1.7; 20.263–264

[9] Josephus, Against Apion 1.50

[10] Keener, John, 102.

[11] “What was the beginning of Rabbi Akiva? It is said: He was forty years old and he had not studied anything...He went...and... appeared before a teacher...Said Rabbi Akiva to him: “Master, teach me Torah.” ...The teacher wrote down “aleph bet” and he learned it; “aleph tav,” and he learned it...” (Avot de Rabbi Natan, Version A, chapter 6). Holtz, Barry W. Rabbi Akiva: Sage of the Talmud. Yale University Press, 2017., 39. D.A. Carson also makes this point in his John commentary (Carson, D.A. The Gospel According to John. William B. Eerdmans, 1991., 74)

[12] Keener, John, 102-3 cites several primary sources that provide anecdotal evidence that people could still be intellectually rigorous in their older years.