8
false teachers, it makes sense to treat John separately, because of his numerous
theological distinctives.
As with Matthew, many scholars assume John's strong polemic between Jesus and
various Jewish leaders reflects end-of-the-first century tensions between the Johannine
community (probably in Asia minor) and local Jewish synagogues which, among other
things, have begun to expel Christian Jews (thus, e.g., John 9:22 and 16:2).
20
Here such a
theory dovetails better with the external evidence we have for the composition of John
than it did with Matthew.
21
Without following the lead of many who reject a historical
basis in the life of Christ for the disputes John portrays, we may well be meant to do a
little "mirror reading" and see situations in his own church as providing impetus for these
emphases in his gospel.
Thus, while still speculative, it is not implausible to suggest that behind the
inclusion of Jesus' dialogue with Nicodemus (John 3:1-15) lies a group of "secret" Jewish
believers in the synagogues in and around Ephesus that John is encouraging to confess
Christ openly. A similarly conservative group of Jewish Christians no longer in the
synagogues may explain why John goes out of his way to stress the presence of apparent
believers among the Jewish crowds and even within the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem
throughout Jesus' public teaching there (e.g., 7:31, 46).
22
It is indeed puzzling to read
about apparently genuine Jewish believers who "put their faith in" Christ in 8:30, only to
have some of that same group attempt to stone him before the chapter ends (v. 59)!
Stephen Motyer's recent monograph does an outstanding job of rendering the second half
of John 8 historically plausible and theologically intelligible; at least by v. 45 the
20
The classic study is that of J. Louis Martyn, History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel (Nashville:
Abingdon, rev. 1979).
21
See any of the standard New Testament introductions for the external evidence.