[B-Greek] IOUDAIOS

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri Jan 30 01:44:58 EST 2004


> It seems to me that in John's Gospel IOUDAIOS often really means
> Judean and not Jew. Here is a good example:
>
> Jhn 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did
> not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews* sought to kill Him.
> NKJV Copyright 1982 Thomas Nelson
>
> Here we see a contrast between Judeans (who are in Judea) and
> Galileans. Jews lived in both Judea and Galilee, but Judeans
> lived in Judea. Here is another example:
>
> Jhn 11:7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to
> Judea again."
> Jhn 11:8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews
> sought to stone You, and are You going there again?"
> NKJV Copyright 1982 Thomas Nelson
>
> Here "the Jews" also can mean Judeans, because the Galileans who
> were around Him at that time were also Jews, but they were not a
> threat for Him.
>
> In these examples the word should definitely mean Judeans from the
> context. And it is very probable that in many other passages with
> not so clear context it means the same. After all, John was a Jew
> himself, and it was he who wrote down Jesus' words that
> "salvation comes from the Jews". Plus, in John's gospel he shows
> Jesus' enemies mostly, if not only, in Judea, and he as Galilean
> himself dislikes proud "spiritual" Judeans. So IOUDAIOI in his
> Gospel seem to be in contrast not only to so called Christians
> (who were also Jews) but also to Galileans.

I think these are questionable and hurried conclusions based on limited
data.

It is commonly recognized that John very often uses the term IOUDAIOI in a
restricted sense referring to the Jewish leaders who were opposed to Jesus
and did not believe in him. That is why most modern, idiomatic translations
use "Jewish leaders" in these contexts (TEV: Jewish authorities, NLT and
NET: Jewish leaders). To translate by "Judeans" (meaning inhabitants of the
province of Judea) would be incorrect and misleading. It is true, though,
that the Jewish antagonistic leadership was concentrated in Jerusalem which
was in Judea.

I was appalled by the misleading BDAG entry-cum-commentary and can only
suggest that people also refer to the older edition of BAGD which for this
and probably other entries is much better and more accurate.

For IOUDAIOI in John BGAD says:
"e. in J the IOUDAIOI are the enemies of Jesus 1:19; 2:18, 20; 5:10, 15f;
6:41, 52; 7:1, 11, 13; 9:18, 22; 10:24, 31, 33; 11:8; 13:33; 18:14."

This should not be taken to mean that ALL references to IOUD. in John has
this restricted sense as can be seen from the references taken from John in
the other subentries in BAGD. I have excerpted the relevant parts:

"IOUDAIOS, -AIA, -AION ....Jewish.
1. as a real adj. ... —GH J 3:22; here, however, it is to be taken of Judaea
in the narrower sense (s. IOUDAIA 1), and means the Judaean countryside in
contrast to the capital city...

2. as a noun (so predom.)—a. hO IOUDAIOS - the Jew (w. respect to birth,
race, or religion. The term is used by non-Jews also; ... J 3:25; 4:9;
18:35...

c. hOI IOUDAIOI - the Jews ... TO PASCA TWN IOUDAIWN  J 2:13; cf. 5:1; 6:4;
7:2; ... ARCWN TWN I. J 3:1; SUNAGWGH TWN I. Ac 14:1a. Cf. J 2:6; 4:22."

The situation is actually fairly simple from a lexicographical point of
view. The word IOUDAIOS has the two common senses Judean and Jewish and
which sense is intended can only be seen from context. Of these two, the
broader sense "Jewish" is much more common than the narrower "Judean". In
addition, John uses it in a even narrower third sense to refer to those
Jewish (and Judean) leaders who were his enemies, but that is a special,
rather idiosyncratic sense demanded by context.

What is not quite so simple is to determine form context when John thinks of
the narrow sense of Jewish antagonistic leaders and when he thinks of
Judeans or Jews in general. In most cases the context is clear, but
sometimes it is not so clear.
For instance, I would put John 3:25 under 2c rather than 2a, but otherwise
agree with BAGD.

Now, BDAG says about John's usage:

"e. in J  IOUDAIOI or 'Judeans' for the most part ... constitute two groups
	a. those who in various degrees identify with Jesus and his teaching
		J 8:52; 10:19-21; 11:45; 12:11 al.
	b. those who are in opposition to Jesus, with special focus on
hostility emanating from leaders in Jerusalem, center of Israelite belief
and cult; ...: 1:19; 2:18, 20; 5:10, 15f; 6:41, 52 (a debate);
7:1, 11, 13; 9:18, 22; 10:24, 31, 33 ... 11:8; 13:33; 18:14."

All the references under b are taken over directly from BAGD, but it was not
intended to be an exhaustive list since this is the most common sense in
John and there are 71 occurrences of the word in John, too many to list all
of them. The references under a. are added by BDAG relative to BAGD. From
context one can see that 8:52 and 10:19-21 are better listed under b, since
they refer to the Jewish antagonistic leaders. The many references to
IOUDAIOI in John 11:19-45 may refer to Jews in general or Judeans, since
they are ordinary Jews from the Jerusalem area.
The references in 12:9-11 also refer to Jews in general or possibly Judean
Jews.

Iver Larsen




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