1. Background
It can be seen as ironic, that from the writings of the one referred to as the Apostle of Love, should come interpretations of hatred and antisemitism towards the very people to whom Jesus first came. The mishandling by church leaders of John’s use of ‘the Jews’ in his Gospel has created many doctrines of hate to emerge against Jews, where many in the church believe the Jews are now a cursed race, rejected by God, no longer God’s Chosen People, and without any end-time purpose. This has sadly resulted in vile antisemitism and horrific persecution, even to this present day. Antisemitism has risen extensively since Hamas declared war on Israel on 7th October 2023; a fact frequently ignored by the church. Many antisemitic rants from church leaders, and those they influenced, have come out of a false doctrine that the Jews killed the Christ, so the Jews should be killed in retaliation. The writings of the New Testament, and in particular John’s Gospel, have often been used to support this doctrine of demons, claiming that John shows a divide between Jesus and ‘the Jews,’ with all Jews being opposed to Jesus in his Gospel, and responsible for Jesus’ death. However, a closer look at John’s use of ‘the Jews’ reveals John is not being antisemitic, but using terms of speech and literary styles to encourage his fellow Jews to believe in Jesus.
2) Features of John’s Gospel.
All the main participants of John’s Gospel, including Jesus, are Jews. This concept of one Jew calling another group of Jews as ‘the Jews’ still can be found in modern day Jewish circles, even in Israel, especially one group perceives another as more observant. To translate ‘Jesus in Jerusalem said to the Jews’ is like saying ‘The Prime Minister in Canberra said to the Australians’ or ‘the King in London said to the British.’
John’s stated purpose for writing was to reach those who have not yet accept Jesus as Messiah (cf. 20:31), including Jews who remained within traditional Judaism. John’s focus to reach the Synagogue Jew can be seen by his use of many Jewish phrases (1:38, 42; 4:25; 19:13, 17), and the descriptive aspects of Israel and Jewish life that Gentile readers have initial difficulty understanding.
John wrote in the contrasting and opposing forces style (light and darkness; God and the devil) that is found in other literature of that day (e.g., the Gnostic writings). As the primary players are all Jews, so John has to distance Jesus, and his followers, from the Jewish groups who oppose Jesus. John does this by using an allegorical contrast as if one party is Jewish and the other is not.
John wrote later than the other gospel writers, after the Temple was destroyed. John is not giving another historical account for the sake of record, but writing to deal with cultural and doctrinal issues of his day. John’s believing Jewish community regarded themselves as still Jewish, and not Gentiles. Yet following the destruction of the Temple in 70CE, they were in increasing disputes with Pharisaic Judaism that was then evolving from Biblical Judaism into Rabbinic Judaism. This theme is also found in Hebrews. Thus, John’s challenge is with the religious Jewish authorities of his day, and it is with them that Jesus is also shown to have theological conflict. Neither Jesus nor John is against the common Jew. John records many Jews coming to believe in Jesus (8:30). John wrote as one within the Jewish community dealing with issues from within to bring life, and certainly not seeking any destruction from the outside. His criticisms of Jewish life can be found in other ‘in-house’ criticism recorded in the Dead Sea literature, and even the later
Talmudic writings
3. Textual Issues.
3 a) ‘Of the Jews.’
The phrase ‘of the Jews’ in John’s Gospel describes general Jewish lifestyle, customs, festivals (2:13; 5:1; 6:4; 7:2; 11:55); ceremonial washings (2:6); leaders (3:1); Temple guards (18:12), and chief priests (19:21). A more natural reading of the KJV’s ‘the Passover of the Jews’ (2:13-18), is ‘the Jewish Passover’ (NIV). However, both readings imply the existence of a non-Jewish Passover. The Jewish New Testament (JNT), corrects this by translating, ‘the festival of Pesach in Y’hudah’ (Judea). The use of a locality or a region to explain a Festival was common in those days. Likewise, “Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews” (3:1 KJV; NRSV); or “a member of the Jewish ruling council” (NIV); is better translated as “a ruler of the Judeans” (JNT). This principle can be applied to other occurrences of ‘of the Jews’ in 5:1; 6:4; 7:2; and 11:55, and cannot be seen as antisemitic, but rather a cultural idiom.
3b) “The Jews.”
The use of “the Jews” occurs more frequently in John than in any of the other Gospels (75 times in John; 5 times in Matthew and Luke; 6 in Mark). In attempting to alleviate the antisemitic tone of John, some (JNT) translated all occurrences as being ‘Judeans.’ Yet not all Judeans were hostile to Jesus, just as not all Galileans accepted Jesus.
We can accept Bratcher’s (‘“The Jews” in the Gospel of John’ The Bible Translator 26 1975, p.409) four different ways how ‘the Jews’ is used in John (we have modified some of his verse allocations):
1) Its natural sense, meaning simply ‘Jewish people’: 2:6, 13; 3:1, 25; 4:9, 22; 5:1; 6:4; 7:2; 8:31; 11:55; 18:35; 19:40, 42.
These are non-hostile, and include the Jewish Festivals discussed above.
2) ‘Judeans’: Jews who live in and near Jerusalem: 11:8, 19, 31, 33, 36, 45, 54; 12:9, 11; 19:20.
‘The Jews’ here are non-hostile and frequently supportive of Jesus. As much of John’s Gospel is focused within Judea then these receive more mention than in the other Gospels, which are equally focused in Galilee.
3) People hostile to Jesus: 6:41; 8:48; 10:24, 31, 33; 18:20, 38; 19:7, 12,14.
These occurrences are where ‘the crowds’ begin to subtly turn to ‘the Jews.’ Often their shift from support to opposition can be linked to incitement by the religious authorities.
4) The Religious Authorities in Jerusalem: 1:19; 2:18, 20; 5:10, 15, 16, 18; 6:52; 7:1, 11, 13, 15, 35; 8:22, 52, 57; 9:18, 22; 10:19; 13:33; 18:12, 14, 31, 36; 19:7, 12, 21, 31, 38; 20:19.
These verses and surrounding passages appear to be the thrust of John’s contrasting theme. The religious authorities oppose Jesus as the Messiah and ultimately responsible for his death; as their opposition increases John refers to them as ‘the Jews.’
4. Conclusion.
We have briefly outlined different ways John used ‘the Jews,’ none of which can be interpreted as opposing all Jews for all times, but rather just cultural distinctions they would have understood back then. Only the last two have ‘hostile’ connotations, yet not against all Jews of all times, but as a metaphor against any who stand against Jesus as Messiah, especially the religious leaders. John wrote to challenge his Jewish brethren to accept Jesus, not to seek their destruction, especially when John records Jesus’ declaration that salvation is from ‘the Jews’ (4:22), and 20:31 can be interpreted as referring to Jewish outreach. Whilst there may be difficulties in accounting for every occurrence of ‘the Jews,’ one should not conclude there is any antisemitic tone to John’s Gospel, an important truth in today’s rising tide of antisemitism, even within the church’s increasing ‘Replacement Theology.’
0 Comments