The phrase disciple whom Jesus loved or Beloved Disciple is used several times in the Gospel of John. Traditionally, it has been seen as a self-reference to John the Evangelist. It may alternatively be a reference by the author to John the Apostle, if that disciple is not the author of the gospel. Other interpretations contend this refers to a different follower of Jesus. It has even been suggested this was Mary Magdalene, though John 20 has the two together. The Beloved Disciple is never named and his identity remains uncertain. The Gospel of John is the fourth gospel in the sequence of the canon as printed in the New Testament, and scholars agree it was the fourth to be written. ... Categories: Saints | Ancient Roman Christianity | Christianity-related stubs ... John the Apostle (יוחנן The LORD is merciful, Standard Hebrew Yoḥanan, Tiberian Hebrew Yôḥānān) was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. ... DISCiPLE, Miles Gordon Technologys first product, was a floppy disk interface for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer. ... For the genre of Christian-themed music, see gospel music. ... The neutrality and accuracy of this article are disputed. ... Mary Magdalene, which probably means Mary of Magdala, a town on the western shore of the Lake of Tiberias, is described in the New Testament as a follower of Jesus both in the canon and in the apocrypha. ...
The assumption must be that the BelovedDisciple was around long enough to guide the development both of his own community of disciples and of his whole school of thought.
The explanation (I propose) is that the man behind this Gospel (the BelovedDisciple, of course) had in fact been a disciple of John the Baptist and knew that this background of his was common knowledge.
Indeed, the Synoptic evidence points to the conclusion that John-Z became Jesus' disciple on the Galilean seashore and that, therefore, the follower of the Baptist who earlier, down south, had become Jesus' disciple, subsequently to be known as "the disciple whom Jesus loved "--he must have been someone else.