JOHN'S LONG LIFE AS AN APOSTLE--CLICK on text to clear up

THE JOHN RYLAND'S FRAGMENT SHOWS PARTS OF VERSES 31- 33, AND 37-38 OF JOHN'S GOSPEL, THE 18TH CHAPTER.

"Pilate said to Him, You are the King of the Jews?’‘ Verse 31
"Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world....You sau correctly that I am a king...I have come to bear witness of the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." Verse 37

WHAT ABOUT THE APOSTLE JOHN AND HIS WRITINGS?

WHAT ABOUT THE APOSTLE JOHN AND HIS WRITINGS?
Can you believe that John really wrote the Gospel and letters, and told the truth?
God does want the believer to believe, but He also provides anchors to hook our belief and trust onto.
A fragment of John’s Gospel, chapter 18, was found deep in Egypt, which dates back to mid 100 AD. That means that John’s writings had spread hundreds of miles in spite of persecution and opposition, in just a few decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection, and much less time after John’s death. It is generally recognized the John lived into his 90s.
Fragment of St John's Gospel: rectoChapter 18, verses 31...33
P. Ryl. Gk. 457. Fragment of a leaf of a papyrus codex, 8.-9 x 5.8 em.; text 6.4 x 6 em.; upper margin and part of inner margin preserved. Written in dark ink on papyrus-light in colour and of good quality. On verso a kollema or perhaps part of a strengthening strip to cover the fold of the sheet. First half of the second century.
The John. Rylands University Library, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, - M13 9PP; UK.
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St John fragment
Greek papyri in the John Rylands Library
An unpublished fragment of the fourth gospel
Fragment of St. John's gospel. Larger versions of both sides, recto and verso are available.This small fragment of St. John's Gospel, less than nine centimetres high and containing on the one side part of verses 31-33, on the other of verses 37-38 of chapter xviii is one of the collection of Greek papyri in the John Rylands Library, Manchester.
It was originally discovered in Egypt, and may come from the famous site of Oxyrhynchus (Behnesa), the ruined city in Upper Egypt where Grenfel and Hunt carried out some of the most startling and successful excavations in the history of archaeology; it may be remembered that among their finds of new fragments of Classical and Christian literature were the now familiar "Sayings of Jesus".


St John fragment
An unpublished fragment of the fourth gospel
"The importance of this fragment is quite out of proportion to its size, since it may with some confidence be dated in the first half of the second century A.D., and thus ranks as the earliest known fragment of the New Testament in any language.
It provides us with invaluable evidence of the spread of Christianity in areas distant from the land of its origin; it is particularly interesting to know that among the books read by the early Christians in Upper Egypt was St. John's Gospel, commonly regarded as one of the latest of the books of the New Testament.
Like other early Christian works which have been found in Egypt, this Gospel was written in the form of a codex, i.e. book, not of a roll, the common format for non-Christian literature of that time."

JOHN THE APOSTLE ON THE WORD.

JOHN THE APOSTLE QUOTES JESUS CHRIST AS SAYING THIS IN JOHN14:1-4:

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many £mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."

THIS PASSAGE WITH STRONG'S EXHAUSETIVE CONCORDANCE NUMBERS:
1Let not yourG5216 heartG2588 be troubledG5015: ye believeG4100 in GodG2316, believeG4100 alsoG2532 in me.

ANALYSIS OF THE GREEK WORDS:
"TROUBLED" G5015 tarassoô tar-as'-so Of uncertain affinity; to stir or agitate (roil water):—trouble.

"BELIEVE" G4100 pisteuoô pist-yoo'-o From G4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ):—believe (-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.

The same Greek word (pisteuosj ) is used in both cases of "believe."

JOHN14:2
In my Father’sG3962 houseG3614 are manyG4183 mansionsG3438: ifG1490 it were not so, I would have toldG2036 you.

"Mansions" G3438 moneô mon-ay'
From G3306; a staying, that is, residence (the act or the place):—abode, mansion.

"...If it were not so, I would have told you."

This self-affirmation of the truth of Jesus Christ’s statement leave little room for speculation. Either Jesus is telling the truth or He’s not.
Jesus also makes an enormous assertion, to say: "...believe in God also (and) in me believe. (Word position in the Greek sentence.)--if Jesus Christ is not equal to God.
Normally, word position in a sentence is not as significant in the Greek language as in English, but the Greeks added strength to their meanings by putting the preposition in the front of the phrase.
"A mere man (if a good man)would never have connected his name with that of God's as Christ does. Moses never said, "Believe in God, believe also in me." Whitelaw in "The Gospel of John

WORD ABOUT THE BIBLE

I believe that the Bible is to be understood and received in the plain and obvious meaning of its passages; since I cannot persuade myself that a book intended for the instruction and conversion of the whole world, should cover its true meaning is such mystery and doubt, that none but critics and philosophers can discover it.
Daniel Webster: Confession of Faith