Background Study: Life and Ministry of John the Apostle

Question 1

Who do most scholars generally agree wrote the gospel of John?

Answer 1

The apostle John

Question 2

What region was John native to?

Answer 2

Galilee

Question 3

What was John’s occupation?

Answer 3

He was a fisherman

Question 4

Who did John fish with?

Answer 4

His father Zebedee and his brother James

Question 5

Who was John’s mother Salome a devoted follower of?

Answer 5

Jesus

Question 6

Who was John originally a disciple of?

Answer 6

John the Baptist

Question 7

How many years of Jesus’ ministry was John an eyewitness to?

Answer 7

3 years

Question 8

Who does John refer to himself as?

Answer 8

The disciple whom Jesus loved

Question 9

What small group was John in that granted him a close relationship with Jesus?

Answer 9

He was in Jesus’ inner circle

Question 10

What name did Jesus give John and his brother James and what does it mean?

Answer 10

Boanerges, which means “Sons of Thunder”

Question 11

When Jesus was on the cross who did He entrust to John?

Answer 11

His mother

Question 12

What reference tells us that John witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus?

Answer 12

Matthew 17:1-8

Question 13

What reference tells us that John was with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane?

Answer 13

Matthew 26:36-38

Question 14

What reference tells us that John witnessed the raising of a young girl who has died?

Answer 14

Mark 5:35-43

Question 15

What reference tells us that John saw the empty tomb?

Answer 15

John 20:1-8

Question 16

What reference tells us that John witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus?

Answer 16

John 19:16, 25-27

Question 17

What reference tells us that John and Peter were arrested because they spoke the truth?

Answer 17

Acts 4:1-13

Question 18

What reference tells us that John received the revelation of Jesus Christ?

Answer 18

Revelation 1:1-2

Question 19

At what church is John described as being the pillar of?

Answer 19

Jerusalem

Question 20

Where did John write 1 2 3 John?

Answer 20

Ephesus

Question 21

What heresy did 1 John address?

Answer 21

Gnosticism

Question 22

What did Gnosticism deny about Christ?

Answer 22

That He had come in the flesh

Question 23

The Gnostics believed all physical matter was ___________?

Answer 23

Evil

Question 24

John was tortured and exiled to where?

Answer 24

Patmos

Question 25

While on Patmos what book did John write?

Answer 25

Revelation

Question 26

How did John die?

Answer 26

A natural death

Question 27

Eusebius wrote that the Romans armies descended on Jerusalem to quell an uprising. What year did this happen?

Answer 27

AD 66

Question 28

What direction did Christians flee over the Jordan river?

Answer 28

Northeast

Question 29

What city did the Christians flee to?

Answer 29

Pella

Question 30

Who was Irenaeus a disciple of?

Answer 30

Polycarp

Question 31

Who was Polycarp a disciple of?

Answer 31

John

Question 32

Who’s writings verify John’s residence in Ephesus?

Answer 32

Irenaeus

Question 33

When did John come to Ephesus according to Irenaeus?

Answer 33

After Paul’s death

Question 34

Who founded the church in Ephesus?

Answer 34

Paul

Question 35

What church father says that from Ephesus John visited neighboring churches, appointing bishops and setting churches in order?

Answer 35

Clemens Alexandrius

Question 36

What speaks of John’s travels?

Answer 36

John’s epistles

Question 37

Between what two years did Domitian often banish Christians to the island of Patmos?

Answer 37

AD 81 and 96

Question 38

Of what descent was the emperor Domitian?

Answer 38

He was Roman

Question 39

What two things/people confirm that John was exiled to Patmos?

Answer 39

Scripture (Revelation 1:9) and Eusebius

Question 40

Where did John die?

Answer 40

We don’t know

Question 41

According to Revelation 1:11, what are the 7 cities John may have ministered to when he lived in Ephesus?

Answer 41

Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Ephesus, Laodica, and Smyrna

Question 42

What direction is Ephesus, the city where John pastored, from Jerusalem?

Answer 42

Northwest