05 / 6 Proofs First-Century Jews Loved Jesus (and were not part of the conspiracy to kill him)

Everyone knows the Jews—all Jews from all time—killed Jesus, right? That was certainly the conclusion of many of the Church Fathers. 

🟠 Justin Martyr said to Trypho (a 2^nd century Jewish man), referring to him and his ancestors, “You have slain the Just One.”  

🟠 The scholar Origen claimed that not only was that small band of Jewish leaders guilty of killing Jesus, but “every generation of the Jews following after, until the end of the world.”   

🟠 Augustine wrote, “Christ … is killed by the … the Jews.”

🟠 According to Bishop John Chrysostom, “You Jews did crucify him.”¹ 

🟠 Bishop Melito of Sardis popularized deicide theology (the killing of God) and blamed the Jews collectively. 

🟠 Later, the Cappadocian Father, St. Gregory of Nyssa, said, “Jews are slayers of the Lord … a congregation of demons, sinners, wicked men, haters of goodness!" 

But the New Testament teaches it was a small group of Jewish leaders who implored Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, to crucify Jesus. So I guess, technically, it was the Romans who killed Jesus! But anyone who understands the Gospel or the mission of Yeshua understands that his purpose was to be killed—without it, we are dead in our sins. 

When John uses the term, “the Jews” (Ioudaios), he is referring to the Jewish ruling council around Caiaphas, the high priest—not all the Jews of Israel. How do I know this? John himself defines who he means. He tells us that Caiaphas made a statement to the Sanhedrin (John 11:49–52)—a ruling council of about seventy men, not the Jewish people as a whole. When referring back to that meeting in John 18:14, he says, “It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews.” Here “the Jews” refers only to the Sanhedrin!  

Caiaphas had no access to the whole nation—no email or messaging app! When John uses the term the Jews, he is most often referring to the leadership, not the people. Some have even argued that, since Ioudaios is both Jew and Judean, he was differentiating between Judeans, where there were many Pharisees, and the Galileans, where it was largely common people.  

What we will see here is that the Am Ha'aretz (The People of the Land)² loved Yeshua, and thousands upon thousands of Jewish people believed he was the Messiah. This idea that all of Israel rejected Jesus is completely and utterly unsupported by the New Testament. No, the Jews collectively did not kill Jesus, but most adored him.  

1. All of His Disciples Were Jewish 

And not just the official ones, but all the women— Miryam from Magdala, Miryam, the mother of Yeshua and Jacob (James) and John’s mother, Miryam, as well as Shlomit (Salome), Yohanna, Shoshana, and the sisters of Lazarus, not to mention El‘azar (Lazarus) himself. His entire entourage consisted of Jews loyal to him. 

2. Jewish Crowds Believe in Him 

According to John, “Many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.” (John 2:23). Without doubt, the “many” were not Korean or Norwegian (though we love them!), but Jewish. Later on, John adds, “Many of the people (Am Ha’aretz) believed in him” (John 7:31).

In Capernaum, it says there were so many Jewish people seeking to get to him that several men had to make an opening in the roof to break into the meeting on behalf of their friend. “And many [Jewish Galileans] were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door” (Mk 2:2).

The Bible reports that great crowds came to be healed and delivered. The writers assume that the reader understands that these were Jewish people coming to see the One whom they believed could be the Jewish Messiah. When they were not Jewish, the writer mentions it as with the centurion (Matt. 8:5-13) and the Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:21-27) because it was not the norm.

The four thousand and five thousand he fed supernaturally were all Jewish. Matthew says, “his fame spread,” and Jewish people brought “all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them” (Matt. 4:24).

3. Jewish Leaders and Pharisees Believe 

We know that Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin and a Pharisee, came to believe he was the Messiah (John 3:1–2, John 19:39). Early Church tradition strongly associates Nicodemus with the Johannine community³, and the Gospel of John presents him as a genuine disciple. 

And who is it that is advocating on behalf of the centurion? The text tells us that it was Jewish elders! His servant was sick, and these Jewish elders clearly believed that Jesus had the power to heal him. They pleaded with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue” (Luke 7:4-5).

John tells us that “Many even of the authorities believed in him,” (John 12:42) though fear kept some silent. Joseph of Arimathea, a respected Jewish council member, honors Jesus in burial. (Luke 23:50–51). And many years after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, Luke reports that there were Messianic Jewish Pharisees at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15:5). 

4. The Original Jerusalem Congregation Was Entirely Jewish 

After Peter’s powerful sermon in Acts 2:41, “About three thousand souls”— all Jews from the diaspora⁴ who had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost). We find Jewish believers worshipping daily in the Temple, praising God (Acts 2:46–47). After Peter and John heal the lame man, 2,000 more Jews are added to the Jerusalem congregation.

“Many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand” (Acts 4:4).

When Paul visits Jerusalem almost two decades later, he finds tens of thousands of Jewish believers who are still living as Jews, practicing Temple Judaism. None of the original apostles saw that as a contradiction, and even urged Paul to make it clear that he himself continues to live according to the traditions of Israel, in the law of Moses (see Acts 21:21-25).

5. The Pharisees Were Afraid of the People 

The New Testament is clear that the Pharisees and other leaders did not act with the unanimous support of the Jewish people. Again and again, the Gospels report that the religious authorities hesitated to move against Jesus precisely because they feared public reaction. Why would they be afraid of the public if all the Jews were against Jesus? Because they weren’t! 

Matthew records that the chief priests and Pharisees “were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet” (Matt. 21:46). Mark likewise notes that they wanted to arrest him, “but they feared the people” (Mark 12:12). Luke adds that after Jesus’ parables exposed their hypocrisy, “they feared the people” who were listening (Luke 20:19). 

These repeated statements undermine the claim that “the Jews” as a whole rejected Jesus or demanded his death. On the contrary, large numbers of ordinary Jews admired him, followed him, and protected him by their presence. The decision to hand Jesus over was made by a small group of leaders acting under political pressure, not by a united Jewish populace.

Luke is clear that “all the [Jewish] people were hanging on his words” (Luke 19:47-48). 

6. Jews Were Mourning His Death  

If indeed the Jews killed Jesus—as the Church Fathers attest, and that would include me since they say all Jews of all time—then who are these Jews mourning his death? Luke writes, “A great multitude [of Jews] followed him, and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him” (Luke 23:27). This directly contradicts the idea of a hostile Jewish populace. The classic movie Ben Hur powerfully portrayed the brokenness in Jerusalem over the death of Jesus amongst the Jewish people. Ironically, it is on the very day that Ben Hur finally gets back to Jerusalem that the crucifixion takes place. 

Take three minutes and watch this! 

Conclusion 

The New Testament tells a radically different story from later Christian tradition. Jesus was loved by the Jewish people, followed by Jewish disciples, defended by Jewish crowds, honored by Jewish leaders, and proclaimed by tens of thousands of Jewish believers. The claim that “the Jews killed Jesus” is not biblical—it is theological fiction with tragic historical consequences.

As from the 2016 version of Ben Hur, when Judah Ben-Hur, the Jew, seeks to respond to the Roman guard, Jesus is clear that he gives his life of his own free will. Interesting right? This portrays a Roman killing Jesus while a Jew is defending him. Too bad the Church Fathers couldn’t watch Ben Hur, which portrays a far more biblically accurate crucifixion than their anti-Jewish ones that have spurned so much hatred, persecution, and even deaths over the centuries.

[1] Interestingly, the proof that God blamed Israel for the death of Jesus, according to Chysostom, was the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish people. What then do we make of the regathering of Israel and the restoration of Jerusalem? Is that not then God’s favor on Israel?

[2] The Am Ha’aretz were the common people and made up the vast majority of Galileans and Judeans. They were deeply religious, but not like the Pharisees—obsessing over purity laws (see 2 Kings 11:14, Jer. 1:18). In the time of Yeshua the Am Ha’aretz were the religious majority. 

[3] By the “Johannine community,” scholars mean the early group of Jewish believers shaped by the teaching and witness of John the disciple of Jesus (not John the Baptist).

[4] Diaspora—Jews scattered throughout the world from the different exiles.