Question:
When Jesus was taken to be judge and crucified, how many disciples followed him? John 18:15 stated two, one was Peter and another disciple. The question is who was the other disciple?
Answer:
According to other similar statements, it is the apostle John referring to himself. He seems to prefer that, as opposed to writing his own name frequently.
Consider John 21:4-7. “But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore THAT DISCIPLE WHOM JESUS LOVED saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.”
John 13:23 says, “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES, WHOM JESUS LOVED.”
John 18:15 says, “And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did ANOTHER DISCIPLE : that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.”
Notice this whole passage in John 20:18, “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to THE OTHER DISCIPLE, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and THAT OTHER DISCIPLE, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and THE OTHER DISCIPLE did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also THAT OTHER DISCIPLE, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.”
It was John’s way of being humble, rather than writing, “I am the disciple that Jesus loved,” and “I was a faster runner than Peter,” etc. It was a mark of the apostle John’s humility to refer to himself in that way. Let it remind us, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (I Peter 5:6).