Introduction
In John's Gospel there are several different groups of people who are categorised depending on how they respond to Jesus and his challenge to believe.
1. The world (79 times in John, 15 times in synoptics)
The world is the most general category of people, referring to unbelieving, sinful humanity. The mission of Jesus was to the world (3:16-19, 6:51, 8:12, 9:5, 12:47). However, the world at large rejected him (1:10, 3:19, 7:7, 14:17, 15:18, 16:20).
2. The Jews (71 times in John, 17 times in synoptics)
This is John's description of the Jews who did not believe in Jesus, particularly the Jewish religious leaders, and Jewish culture who rejected Jesus as their Messiah, so it is a very negative description. However, some Jews did believe in Jesus, including his disciples, and of course Jesus himself was a Jew.
Many people claim that John’s Gospel is anti-Semitic, having a more negative view of Jews than the synoptics. However Jesus, and John were Jews! John truthfully described the conflicts Jesus had with the Jewish leadership, particularly the Pharisees. However not all Pharisees were equally bad, and some befriended Jesus, like Nicodemus.
3. The disciples of John the Baptist
Some of Jesus's disciples were originally disciples of John the Baptist, including the apostle John himself (1:35). When John the Baptist pointed out the Lamb of God, they left him and began to follow Jesus.
John's role was to prepare the way (1:23), and then to fade out. He summarised his own position as "he must increase, but I must decrease" (3:30). However some people thought John was the Messiah (1:20), and some of these refused to change this belief, and continued to think of John as God's promised Messiah. They appear in the book of Acts (18:24-25, 19:1-4), and according to church writings, groups of John's disciples were still in existence towards the end of the first century. Later they became opponents of Christianity. Some suggest that John wrote his gospel to counter these groups who continued to support John the Baptist.
4. Secret believers
These were those who claimed to believe, but did not confess their faith publicly. They appeared to be more concerned about human opinion than God's opinion (12:42-43), fearful that they would be expelled from the synagogue (9:22). Nicodemus may also come in this category (ch 3).
5. People only attracted by signs and wonders.
They are often described as 'many'. Their faith was based primarily on witnessing miraculous signs (2:23, 11:45). They were happy to eat miraculous bread and fish, but were not willing to accept the exclusive claims of Jesus, and turned away and no longer followed him (6:60-66).
Jesus distrusted these people (2:24), and did not want people to believe in him just because he performed signs. True faith depended on believing his exclusive claims, not on admitting his works of power (20:29). There were even some Jews who are described as believing in Jesus (8:31), but whose faith was shown to be inadequate, when they later rejected Jesus and his outrageous claims (8:33-59).
6. Those with true faith.
These are the people who responded with faith, both after seeing the signs, but also they believed the claims Jesus made. These included eleven of the twelve disciples, and are described by Jesus as 'those whom the Father had given him' (6:67-69, 16:29-31, 17:6-10,20). It was this true faith which brought (and brings) people into eternal life (20:31). It was these who received him and became children of God (1:12). There is a blessing on those who believe without seeing (20:29).