John 12:44-50 "Then Jesus cried aloud, 'Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him..."

Question:

This looks like a reworked statement from the Gnostic tradition and better attributable to the postresurrectional milieu. A couple of semiparallel examples from the Gospel of Thomas:
(1) And he said, “Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.”
(70) Jesus said, “That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you [will] kill you if you do not have it within you.”
Can it be the insistence by early (mid-second century) Christians who were raised within (or on the margin of) the intertestamental Jewish apocalyptic tradition on saving their ancestral god's, YHWH, reputation and unicity required them to revamp their own nascent Gnosticism? Thus, did the Petrine redactor of John assert the Gnostic savior, sent from the eternal Father, condemns (to what?) those who reject him as a fulfillment of the Judaic eschaton, rather than of inviting the reader to enjoy life's fulfillment by knowing who they are?

Comment:

I'm not really sure what any of that means, but it seems an overly academic approach to a fairly simple, clear and passionate statement of purpose, delivered in the Gospel of John in the final days of Jesus' earthly ministry. Let's put the single verse you ask about (which is only half a sentence) into the larger statement Jesus is making.

  "Then Jesus cried aloud, 'Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and when to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me'" (John 12:44-50).   Given that all four Gospels (five if you count Thomas, as I do) date from the "postresurrectional milieu" in that none of them was written during the lifetime of Jesus, I don't think the statements in this passage offer any conflict or confusion with his role as the Word—the first embodiment of Christ Potential, whose entire purpose was to demonstrate that Potential and awaken each and all of us to the same Christ Presence in ourselves. It is by knowing our true Christ identity that is "saved" from being an experience of lack and limitation ending in death and becomes the joyful and complete spiritual experience it is intended to be. Jesus is not claiming any powers unique to himself. He is claiming Oneness with Source, and calling us to know that about ourselves. If we don't choose to embrace his example and believe his message, then we will continue to experience the limited lives and fearful deaths we continue to believe in. No judgment involved. Just the immutable spiritual law that choices have consequences.   Do the words come from Jesus, John or a “Petrine redactor”? No one can say. Do they help us to understand his message and purpose more clearly? Do they support our own struggles to embrace and express our innate Oneness with God? I would say yes.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed