This apostle has been given several titles. He is known as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," as "John the Divine" and as the "Apostle of Love."
Perhaps few things about him are more spiritual than his discernment of the origin and nature of the Christ. In other words he defines as the other evangelists do not the character and power of the Word. He actually states the eternality of the Christ in the first chapter of his Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." What a marvelous chapter that is, that first chapter, breathing the very essence of divinity, and giving us a series of exquisite pictures of how the light was breaking upon human consciousness.
It is well known that certain critics have said that St. John did not write his Gospel and have set forth many arguments to try to prove their point. But there is one argument in the other direction which seems conclusive, and that is that the title of "the Word" given to the Christ with a capital "W" occurs only in the Fourth Gospel, in the first epistle of John, and in Revelation. Consequently each time it occurs it is in the writings of St. John. That John wrote the three epistles ascribed to him has apparently never been questioned.
