The Jews
The Jews is a phrase used 182 times in the Bible (ESV), in both the Old Testament (54 times) and New Testament (128 times). The Gospel of John uses it by far the most often (60 times), but even the Gospel of Matthew uses this phrase. Paul uses it only 4 times. According to the Jews for Jesus, a prominent Messianic Judaism organization, the phrase "the Jews" used in the Gospel of John was in reference to the Jewish leadership, likely the Pharisees and scribes,[1] rather than referring to Jewish people en masse.[2]
At the time of Jesus there was a sharp split between the Samaritans and Judeans, and John tended to be more sympathetic to the Samaritans with several favorable references to them. John's frequent references to "the Jews" may have been based on that underlying tension.
Throughout history, antisemites have taken negative references to "the Jews" entirely out of context and out of character with the nature of the New Testament. In contrast to their vile distortions of Scripture, the New Testament demonstrates God's love for the Jewish people and His desire to bring them to salvation, particularly emphasized in the Pauline Epistles:[3]
| â | For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. | â |
âRomans 1:16 | ||
It is likely that John the Apostle was a Gentile and a young child at the time of being trained by Jesus. Therefore, his frequent vague usage of "the Jews," in comparison to the other Gospels' specification of "the Pharisees and scribes," may be an indication that John was a young Gentile child at the time of being trained by Jesus, and did not fully understand Jewish culture and different factional disputes to the extent of the other Gospel writers, and therefore tended generalize the Jewish opponents of Jesus from different specific groups (aka Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, etc.) simply as "the Jews."
See also
External links
References
- â The Synoptic Gospels mostly clarify that Jesus was specifically denouncing the Pharisees and scribes, unlike the Gospel of John much more frequently using the phrase "the Jews."
- â Damato, Catherine (April 23, 2018). Is the New Testament Jewish? Jews for Jesus. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
- â Romans 1:16. Bible Hub. Retrieved December 24, 2022.