Immediately following the Apostle John’s Prologue (Jn 1:1-18), he begins filling out the historical witness of the characters and narrative he introduced in his Gospel. As in any good story, there are good guys and bad guys. These two groups have been alluded to in the Prologue, but at the beginning of the body of the Gospel, the Apostle names names.
The heart of the battle concerns who has the right to be called “Son of God.” Since at least the time of their bondage in Egypt, Israel has been called “son of God.” When Yahweh sent Moses to Pharaoh, he commanded Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Israel is my son, my firstborn. So I say to you, let my son go they he may serve me…” (Ex 4:22-23).
Though Israel never lost its sonship as a nation, it eventually became embodied in David’s son, who was the son of God (2 Sam 7:14).
Being the Son of God meant being a new Adam, who was himself the son of God (Lk 3:38). This meant that you were the true image of God and the one to whom the Father had given dominion over the earth. God’s Son has the right to rule over the nations and demand their submission.
Anyone coming along claiming to be “the Christ” (Greek) or “the Messiah” (Hebrew) was claiming to be God’s Son. The Jews, therefore, had a particular interest in these claims. That’s why they sent Priests and Levites to find out if this wooly man, the son of Zechariah, the priest, claimed to be the Christ or some figure related to him (Jn 1:19-28). Will he line up with how the Jews believe themselves to be the Son of God or not?
The Apostle John introduces the Jews and hints at what he will fill out more throughout his Gospel: the Jews are the bad guys. John the Witness (that’s the Apostle’s emphasis; he is John the Baptizer) is one of the good guys and gives testimony to the true Son of God. The contrast may be subtle at first, but it is there. The Jews sent the priest and Levites (Jn 1:19). “There was a man sent from God whose name was John” (Jn 1:6). John the Witness comes with the authority of heaven. Where do the Jews derive their authority? That answer will be plain as the Gospel unfolds.
The Apostle John doesn’t use “Jews” in a univocal way. There are times the name is used neutrally. When speaking about Jewish practices of purification in John 2:6, he is simply referring to what a particular group of people do without ascribing good or bad to it. Sometimes, “Jews” is positively. “Salvation is from the Jews,” Jesus says in John 4:22. Jesus himself is a Jew (Jn 4:9). Some Jews are believers (Jn 11:45; 12:11). The apostles are Jews. In John’s second volume to his Gospel, Revelation, the names of the twelve tribes of the Jews are on the gates of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21–22).
However, most commonly in the Gospel, “the Jews” is used for the cultural powers-that-be, both official and unofficial. This is not every single Jew head-for-head, but the Jews as a collective represented by their authorities. There will be Jews who follow Jesus, but the Jews will also condemn him so that he can be crucified. The Jews represented in their governing authorities (the Sanhedrin) are the enemy of the Christ, trying to maintain the title “Son of God” for themselves.
Recently, in Reformed and similar circles, the Jews have lived rent-free in many heads, creating a significant amount of angst and anger. There has been a rise in animosity toward the Jews as a race or ethnicity. (These are not the same. Ron Dodson does a good job summarizing the differences between these two here.) It is often pointed out that some of the most sinister power players in the world are Jews. George Soros, the Jewish rabbit who owns Pornhub, and other Jews have wealth and power being used to destroy Western–Christian–culture. The Jews, they say, are uniquely evil. Some will even say that maybe Hitler was a Christian Prince who was justified. To top it all off, they will go to the Scriptures and find all the negative things said about the Jews to justify their hatred.
Well, there is plenty in the New Testament about the wickedness of the first-century Jewish “nation.” They killed Jesus, persecuted the church, and were the synagogue of Satan. All true. For these things, their temple and city were destroyed in AD 70. Eventually, all of their records were destroyed so that they will never be able to reestablish any semblance of an Aaronic priesthood. That group of Jews is finished.
There are those who claim to be Jews now who hate Christ and his church just as their namesake did in the first century. Many of these individuals are particularly evil. Ultra-right-wing orthodox Jews persecute Christians in Israel. As far as I know, it is not state-sponsored persecution, but it is persecution, nevertheless. Inasmuch as any modern-day Jews reject Christ and persecute his church, they are our enemies.
However, they shouldn’t be counted as any more of an enemy than Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, or atheistic communists. You can be like the Apostle John and recognize when particular groups and individuals do evil without making univocal, blanket racial or ethnic statements.
If I were to say, “America is evil because she condones sexual deviancy (e.g. Obergefell) and slaughters millions of innocent children,” I’m not saying every American citizen is evil and should be treated with righteous vitriol. We should be angry with “America,” but those individual Americans and the government that legitimizes evil through laws. But we need to make distinctions.
Young men, especially, who have all this pent-up frustration, like to find an object for their frustration who will be a scapegoat for all their problems. This kind of anger fomented in the online mob loses perspective and discernment. Call evil “evil,” but be careful that what you call evil is indeed evil.
