diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/k8s-merge_type-removed.yml b/changelogs/fragments/k8s-merge_type-removed.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..05bf8d7be8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/k8s-merge_type-removed.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+removed_features:
+  - k8s - Support for ``merge_type=json`` has been removed in version 4.0.0. Please use ``kubernetes.core.k8s_json_patch`` instead (https://github.com/ansible-collections/kubernetes.core/pull/722).
diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/k8s/service.py b/plugins/module_utils/k8s/service.py
index 80d52a041d..342ee44149 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/k8s/service.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/k8s/service.py
@@ -145,12 +145,6 @@ def patch_resource(
         namespace: str,
         merge_type: str = None,
     ) -> Tuple[Dict, List[str]]:
-        if merge_type == "json":
-            self.module.deprecate(
-                msg="json as a merge_type value is deprecated. Please use the k8s_json_patch module instead.",
-                version="4.0.0",
-                collection_name="kubernetes.core",
-            )
         try:
             params = dict(name=name, namespace=namespace, serialize=False)
             if merge_type:
diff --git a/plugins/modules/k8s.py b/plugins/modules/k8s.py
index f90d465d31..8645379dbf 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/k8s.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/k8s.py
@@ -57,15 +57,14 @@
     - Whether to override the default patch merge approach with a specific type. By default, the strategic
       merge will typically be used.
     - For example, Custom Resource Definitions typically aren't updatable by the usual strategic merge. You may
-      want to use C(merge) if you see "strategic merge patch format is not supported"
+      want to use C(merge) if you see "strategic merge patch format is not supported".
     - See U(https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/run-application/update-api-object-kubectl-patch/#use-a-json-merge-patch-to-update-a-deployment)
     - If more than one C(merge_type) is given, the merge_types will be tried in order. This defaults to
       C(['strategic-merge', 'merge']), which is ideal for using the same parameters on resource kinds that
       combine Custom Resources and built-in resources.
-    - mutually exclusive with C(apply)
-    - I(merge_type=json) is deprecated and will be removed in version 4.0.0. Please use M(kubernetes.core.k8s_json_patch) instead.
+    - Mutually exclusive with C(apply).
+    - I(merge_type=json) has been removed in version 4.0.0. Please use M(kubernetes.core.k8s_json_patch) instead.
     choices:
-    - json
     - merge
     - strategic-merge
     type: list
@@ -101,7 +100,7 @@
     - C(apply) compares the desired resource definition with the previously supplied resource definition,
       ignoring properties that are automatically generated
     - C(apply) works better with Services than 'force=yes'
-    - mutually exclusive with C(merge_type)
+    - Mutually exclusive with C(merge_type).
     default: False
     type: bool
   template:
@@ -460,7 +459,7 @@ def argspec():
     argument_spec.update(copy.deepcopy(AUTH_ARG_SPEC))
     argument_spec.update(copy.deepcopy(WAIT_ARG_SPEC))
     argument_spec["merge_type"] = dict(
-        type="list", elements="str", choices=["json", "merge", "strategic-merge"]
+        type="list", elements="str", choices=["merge", "strategic-merge"]
     )
     argument_spec["validate"] = dict(type="dict", default=None, options=validate_spec())
     argument_spec["append_hash"] = dict(type="bool", default=False)