Editing Gospel of John (section)

===Gnosticism===
{{Further|Christian Gnosticism}}
In the first half of the 20th century, many scholars, especially [[Rudolph Bultmann]], argued that the Gospel of John has elements in common with [[Gnosticism]].{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=}} Christian Gnosticism did not fully develop until the mid-2nd century, and so 2nd-century [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|Proto-Orthodox Christians]] concentrated much effort in examining and refuting it.{{sfn|Olson|1999|p=36}} To say the Gospel of John contained elements of Gnosticism is to assume that Gnosticism had developed to a level that required the author to respond to it.{{sfn|Kysar|2005|pp=88ff}} Bultmann, for example, argued that the opening theme of the Gospel of John, the preexisting Logos, along with John's duality of light versus darkness, were originally Gnostic themes that John adopted. Other scholars (e.g., [[Raymond E. Brown]]) have argued that the preexisting Logos theme arises from the more ancient Jewish writings in the eighth chapter of the [[Book of Proverbs]], and was fully developed as a theme in Hellenistic Judaism by [[Philo Judaeus]].{{sfn|Brown|1997}} The discovery of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] at [[Qumran]] verified the Jewish nature of these concepts.{{sfn|Charlesworth|2010|p=42}} [[April DeConick]], as well as some 19th-century theologians,<ref>[[Adolf Bernhard Christoph Hilgenfeld]], {{ill|Gustav Volkmar|de}}, and Davidson, see [https://biblehub.com/john/8-44.htm Pulpit Commentary on John 8:44]</ref> suggested reading John 8:44 in support of a Gnostic theology and that the natural reading would be "ye are of the father of the Devil",{{sfn|DeConick|2016|pp=13–}} but this has been disputed.{{sfn|Llewelyn|Robinson|Wassell|2018|pp=14–23}}

Gnostics read John but interpreted it differently from non-Gnostics.{{sfn|Most|2005|pp=121ff}} Gnosticism taught that salvation came from ''[[gnosis]]'', secret knowledge, and Gnostics saw Jesus as not a savior but a revealer of knowledge.{{sfn|Skarsaune|2008|pp=247ff}} The gospel teaches that salvation can be achieved only through revealed wisdom, specifically belief in (literally belief {{em|into}}) Jesus.{{sfn|Lindars|1990|p=62}} John's picture of a supernatural savior who promised to return to take those who believed in him to a heavenly dwelling could be fitted into Gnostic views.{{sfn|Brown|1997|p=375}} It has been suggested that similarities between the Gospel of John and Gnosticism may spring from common roots in Jewish [[Apocalyptic literature]].{{sfn|Kovacs|1995}}