Your Father the Devil? A New Approach to John and the Jews
Overview
Who are the Jews in John’s Gospel? Defending John against the charge of anti-Semitism, Stephen Motyer argues that, far from demonizing the Jews, the Gospel seeks to present Jesus as Good News for the Jews in a late first century setting.
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- Examination of the relationship between Jesus and “the Jews” in John 8:31–59
- Exploration of Jesus’ charge in John 8:44 that the Jews are “of your father the devil”
Top Highlights
“(1) The saying about destruction and reconstruction in 2:19 works with deep irony against this background.” (Page 39)
“the emphasis in the latter on the Temple and the Jerusalem festivals” (Page 36)
“John’s engagement with the law undoubtedly signals a ‘point of sensitivity’ for him, as it did for Paul. It is important, however, to set this observation in its proper cultural and religious context. For Paul, the issue of the law arose in the context of his Gentile mission, and therefore focused around the Jewish institutions most relevant to that context, in particular circumcision. For John, the Jerusalem festivals play an analogous role within his theology to that of circumcision within Paul’s: here too the question is, ‘participation or not?’, as we shall see, and Jesus is presented as the fulfiller and superseder in both cases.” (Page 43)
“John allows Jesus paradoxically to employ a form of midrashic discussion in order to terminate all midrashic discussion!’34 The questions of Nicodemus, the crowd and the Pharisees are met, not with midrashic justification of the claims just made, but with proclamation.” (Page 44)
“The point to be made here is that the dialogues of the Gospel, including that in ch. 8, are a kind of parody of the ‘midrashic discussion’ with which many first-century Jews would have been familiar.” (Page 44)
This elegantly-written book breaks fresh ground.
—Graham Stanton
- Title: Your Father the Devil? A New Approach to John and the Jews
- Author: Stephen Motyer
- Publisher: Paternoster Press
- Publication Date: 1997
- Pages: 260