John 12:3 is a verse within the Gospel of John, and the traditional answer is that it was written by John the Apostle , the son of Zebedee, one of Jesus’s twelve disciples.

However, there are some important nuances:

Authorship in a nutshell

  • The Gospel of John itself is anonymous ; it never names its author inside the text.
  • Very early Christian tradition (second century onward) consistently says that John, the disciple of Jesus , wrote this Gospel while in or near Ephesus.
  • Because John 12:3 is part of that Gospel, the standard view in churches is:

John 12:3 was written by John the Apostle as part of his Gospel.

What does John 12:3 actually describe?

John 12 as a chapter tells the story of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus with expensive perfume and wiping his feet with her hair.

  • Mary is the actor in the story, not the author.
  • John (the evangelist) is the narrator who tells us what Mary did in verse 3.

So if you are asking:

  • “Who wrote John 12:3?” → Traditionally: John the Apostle, the evangelist.
  • “Who is doing the action in John 12:3?” → Mary of Bethany, who anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume and wipes them with her hair.

Scholarly caution (if you’re curious)

Modern scholars sometimes question whether the same John wrote the Gospel, the letters of John, and Revelation, and some even think a Johannine community or another “John” (sometimes called “John the Elder”) may have been involved.

But across mainstream Christian teaching and most traditional commentaries, the working assumption remains that the Gospel of John—including John 12:3—comes from John the Apostle or someone extremely close to him.

Bottom line: In church tradition, John 12:3 was written by John the Apostle, and it tells how Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume and wiped them with her hair.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.