Logion 1
| 1. And he said, "Whosoever findeth the interpretation of these words will not taste death." | Cf. Jn 8:51: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, 'If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.'" |
One contrast between John and Thomas is in the origin of the power in one’s life that comes from the teachings of Jesus. Whereas in Thomas’ version we seem to be seeing the Aramaic (Hebrew) concept of knowledge as an intimate experience with the thing known, John seems to be saying that it is obedience, i.e., acting on the teachings, that is all-important. Thomas says that we must interpret the sayings — we must relate them to our own soul. Interpretation then becomes a personal encounter with truth. Another contrast is the different words used for the experiencing of death, which some would suppose to be a barrier to continued consciousness. For Thomas, interpretation dissolves any bitterness in the transition.
Perhaps we may conjecture that this statement of John gave rise to the tradition that John would not pass through death. If indeed it is the case that John himself wrote the gospel attributed to him (and not say John the Presbyter at Ephesus), then this tradition must have begun during his own lifetime, since in Jn 21:23 the author tries to point out that Jesus did not explicitly make such a promise.