John 21:24

Most careful students of this Gospel have deduced from this and other oblique references in the book that the Apostle John is the writer in view. This description of the writer stresses the reliability of his witness. [Note: See Thomas D. Lea, "The Reliability of History in John’s Gospel," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 38:3 (September 1996):387-402.] "These things" probably refers to the whole Gospel, not just what immediately precedes. The statement is general, and it occurs at the end of the book.

The identity of the "we" is less clear. They could be writers who recorded John’s verbal witness as he dictated the material in this Gospel to them. They could be editors of the Gospel. Some scholars view these people as the elders of the Ephesian church where John traditionally served late in his life. [Note: E.g., Westcott, The Gospel . . . Greek Text . . ., 2:374.] Others believe that they were influential men in his church though not necessarily in Ephesus. [Note: E.g., Bultmann, pp. 717-18.] Another view is that this is an indefinite reference similar to "as is well known." [Note: C. H. Dodd, "Note on John 21, 24," Journal of Theological Studies NS4 (1953):212-13.] Probably John himself wrote this statement in the plural, as authoritative people sometimes do. It would then be an editorial "we" (cf. John 1:14; John 3:2; John 3:11; John 20:2; 1 John 1:2; 1 John 1:4-7; 3 John 1:12). Since the next verse returns to the first person, this option seems most probable to me.