[YP0534]

Originally Posted by YP0534

Well maybe think about this aloud: John's gospel is the most purely Greek of the bunch and it is markedly distinct in any number of ways. Why and how did that occur?

Reviewing John's gospel account over a few days, a couple of things I've noticed.

Jhn 7:35 The Jews therefore said to one another, Where is he about to go that we shall not find him? Is he about to go to the dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?

Two things are found in this one verse. One is John's use of the phrase "The Jews". Now please take note that I am NOT stating that John uses the phrase "The Jews" solely as or even primarily as a condemning term. But if you review the other three gospel accounts regarding the use of this phrase you cannot detect even a hint of negativity. The most common usage elsewhere is simply in the phrase "King of the Jews." "The Jews" don't seem to be a problem. John, it seems to me, is possibly the likely root of much of the historical antisemitism that we've witnessed throughout Christian history on account of his use of this phrase.

Consider John 7:1, for instance:

Jhn 7:1 And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him.

Not the elders, the rulers, the Pharisees. "The Jews."

The second thing is the musing about going to the Greek diaspora. Luke in Acts makes it clear that the initial 12 remained in Jerusalem after the persecutions intensified. It was Paul who apparently had to sell them on the topic of salvation beyond the children of Abraham. The idea of salvation coming to the whole world and not just the Jews is not unique to John, nor even to he and Paul alone. But as I noted above, John's gospel account is peculiarly Greek in character in a few ways and herein he seems to have intended to record a kind of prophetic speculation that he heard one day about "The Greeks."

Not just the diaspora among the Greeks. "The Greeks."

(On a side note, it is also interesting to see the reference to "the Dispersion" John uses, a term only used elsewhere in the NT by James and Peter.)


My main query at this point along these lines derives from John's use of the term "The Jews" at all. The implication is that he did not count himself among them and I find that quite odd and certainly adverse to the position of those who have speculated that the first believers saw themselves solely as a reform movement within Judaism. Perhaps it might be proposed that some felt that way, perhaps even Paul by some accounts, but I don't think that can be fairly said about John. John seems to be interested in something quite different.

Aside from his joint participation in the activities in Jerusalem (up until whatever point) and being among them in Acts 6, can you point to a single "Jewish" thing that John himself did after the resurrection?