The expression ‘the Jews’ appears five times each in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, six in Mark and seventy-one in John. This is not necessarily because John reached written form later and is therefore more hostile to Judaism. In its original form John may, indeed, have been the earliest of the gospels. In John ‘the Jews’ appears to mean many different things – the Sadducees, the Pharisees, or both together, the Temple police, the Jewish establishment, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling class – but also the people. The most common meaning is ‘the opponents of Jesus’ teaching’.132 John is
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