“... The most significant verbal parallel in these passages is the phrase ‘not taste death.’ In §1, Jesus is presumably the speaker, while in John 8:52, it is the Jews’ reiteration of Jesus’ statement in 8:51 [...]. ‘Taste death’ appears to be a relatively common euphemism for dying, however, §1 and John 8:52 are unique in that the soteriological promise—‘not taste death’—is associated with the word(s) of Jesus. S.R. Johnson has argued that the FG is dependent on the Gos. Thom. for this saying and the placement of Jesus’ words from §1 into the mouth of the Jews in 8:52 is a purposeful denigration of the Thomasine community. His primary argument for the FG being dependent on the Gos. Thom. is a negative assessment of the Gos. Thom. being dependent on the FG: “If there was a choice of using John 8:51 or 8:52, it does not make sense for Thomas to have used the version of Jesus’ opponents as Jesus’ own.” Yet it does make sense for the Gos. Thom. to use ‘taste death’ from John 8:52 instead of ‘see death’ from 8:51, since the former is the author’s preferred idiom (§§1, 18, 19, 85(r)), while the latter only occurs once (§111). Furthermore, if John 8:51–52 was dependent on §1, it is difficult to explain why the evangelist altered ‘these words’ from §1 to ‘my word,’ since Jesus is not averse to speaking of ‘my words’ (5x) or ‘my word’ (8x) in the FG. It is more plausible that the Gos. Thom. was influenced by John 8:52 and altered it to align with the author’s idiom and purpose—the Gos. Thom. never refers to Jesus’ ‘word,’ but always his ‘words’ (Prol., §§1, 13 (twice), 19, 38), and the placement of this phrase at the beginning of the work serves as an introductory, soteriological blessing to those who find the interpretation of Jesus’ ‘words’ included in the following collection of Sayings. ...”