1. Evidence that the author stands removed from Judaism

2:13; 11:55	"the Passover of the Jews"
5:1; 6:4; 7:2	"feast of the Jews"

2. Negative Portrayal of "the Jews"

• "The Jews" used 71 times in John (and only 16 in the Synoptics), usually by the narrator
• typically the Jews are on the side of the "world"--those who do not believe

3:1-4; 6:52; 7:35; 8:57	the Jews fail to understand Jesus
5:16-18; 7:1; 10:31, 39; 11:8, 53	the Jews persecute Jesus and seek to kill him
5:39-40; 7:19; 8:39-44; 10:31-39	the Jews are untrue to their tradition/Torah

• possible referents:
  • all Jews (but the disciples and other followers were Jews; cf.9:22)
  • the religious leaders at the time John wrote
  • the majority of Jews at the time John wrote
  • the leaders and/or the masses at the time of Jesus' ministry

3. Negative Portrayals of the Leaders

19:15	the leaders seem more faithful to Caesar than to God
9:40-41; 11:46-53	the Pharisees are blind, false teachers
4:1; 7:32; 8:13; 12:42	the Pharisees oppose Jesus
12:10; 19:6, 15, 21	the chief priests oppose Jesus

4. Jewish Responsibility for Jesus' death

18:3, 12, 19-24; 19:15-16	Jewish responsibility declared
18:31, 38-40; 19:4-8, 12-16	Pilate succumbs to the desires of the Jewish leaders
18:38; 19:4, 6, 12	Pilate declares Jesus innocent

5. Jewish Links with the Devil

John 8:44: "You are of the [= your?] father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, because truth is not in him. Whenever he speaks the lie, he speaks of his own [voice, nature, native language], because he is a liar and the father of it."

6. Occasional Positive Portrayals

7:15; 10:24; 11:26-27	neutral or positive stance toward Jesus
3:1-15; 7:50-52; 19:39	Nicodemus seeks Jesus, defends Jesus, helps bury him

7. Possible Historical Setting for the Composition of John's Gospel

It is commonly suggested that John's Gospel was composed during a period of intense Jewish/Jewish Christian conflict, perhaps shortly after the Jewish-Christian community was expelled from the synagogue, at a time when the synagogue community itself was struggling for its identity in the aftermath of the temple's destruction in 70 CE. If so, John's Gospel may afford glimpses not only into the Jewish cultural milieu in which Jesus ministered, but also into the Jewish-Christian conflicts of a later period.

• How much does John's account tell us about the historical Jesus, his teachings and conflicts? Is Hays justified in claiming that "Jesus' 'revelation discourses' should be read less as reports of what Jesus said once upon a time than as prophetic-theological commentary directed to readers of the evangelist's own time" (MVNT 425)?
• Has the author's historical context shaped the language of synagogue expulsion in John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2?
• Do Jesus' teachings in John reflect the language and dynamics of a synagogue/church dispute and its aftermath? Does John reveal a church seeking to establish its identity now that it is cut off from its Jewish roots? Hays: "we see the struggle for ownership of the tradition" (MVNT 425)
• Does a dual setting help to explain aspects of John's Gospel?
  • the book's polemical tone (written in midst of heated debate, when the church felt its existence threatened)
  • the Christological focus (Jesus' identity would be at the heart of the debate)
  • the dualistic framework (battle lines are rarely blurry)
  • the alleged "anti-Judaism" of John's Gospel
• Does John's polemical rhetoric read like an in-house prophetic critique (cf. Israel's OT prophets) or an extramural (outsider's) denunciation?

• the author of John knows very well that Jesus and the earliest followers were Jewish, and that salvation is essentially Jewish: 1:41, 45, 49; 4:9, 22; 3:1
• sometimes the Jews did respond positively to Jesus (11:36, 45; 12:9?), though more often the believing masses are called the multitudes (6:2, 5, 24; 7:31, 32, 40, 49; 11:42; 12:9, 12-13, 17-18)
• sometimes the Jews and the Pharisees seem to function synonymously; elsewhere the Jews may stand for the priestly classes. All this suggests the Jews refers principally (though not exclusively) to members of the establishment / leadership / heirarchy / power-wielding classes. It is well established from the Synoptic tradition that the Pharisees were Jesus' principal sparring partners during his ministry, and that the priests were instrumental in his death.

the Pharisees	the Jews	the chief priests
7:32	7:35
8:13 (& 19)	8:22
9:13-16, 40	9:18, 22
18:3	18:12
	19:7	19:6
	19:14	19:15

• but Jews are not always equated with Pharisees: contrast John 11:45 and 11:46, and note how Nicodemus is described ("a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews")
• John links the death of Jesus most directly to Pilate and the Roman guard: 19:14-24
• the rare use of Sadducees, priests, scribes, Zealots and Herodians in John may suggest that by the time he wrote (late first c.) these designations had largely ceased to be meaningful, and that those formerly called Pharisees were becoming the principle shapers of what would become the dominant form of Judaism

	Matthew	Mark	Luke	John
the Jews (plural)	5	6	5	67
Pharisees	30	12	27	19/20
Sadducees	7	1	1	---
priests	3	2	5	1
high priest	25	22	15	21 (14 in Jn 18-19)
scribes	23	21	14	(1) (Jn 8:3)
Zealots	---	---	1	---
Herodians	1	2	---	---

• it is highly unlikely that John meant the Jews as an ethnic slur, and unlikely that his first readers took it as a sweeping denunciation of all descendants of Jacob. More likely the term was loose designation for Jesus' opponents--those who rejected him and his message, part of the world--especially but not exclusively the nation's (priestly and lay) leaders
• it is very difficult to read John today without importing later developments, enmity, and Christian oppression of Jews back into the narrative, but it must be attempted.
  • Jewish Christians saw themselves as insiders who were being forced out; now the church (and Jews as well) sees Christianity as thoroughly distinct--a separate religion
  • Jewish Christians saw themselves as a persecuted minority; in subsequent years, the church was often the persecuting majority
  • John could used Jew and Judaism without implying anti-Semitism, and without commending hostility; today any theological critique of the Jewish religion is likely to be heard as an ethnic critique of the Jewish race