John 3:14 BSB — MannaFest

John 3:14

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up;

KJV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

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Commentary

3 voices

Ambrose of Milan

On the Holy Spirit 3.8.50 (397)

It was good that the Lord ordained that, by the lifting up of the brazen serpent, the wounds of those who were bitten should be healed; for the brazen serpent is a type of the cross.… In the same way, the world was crucified in its allurements. Therefore not a real but a brazen serpent was hung. This is so because the Lord took on himself the likeness of a sinner in his body but, in actuality, was without sin.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

(2.) As one that is justly condemned to die for an unpardonable crime is a dead man, he is dead in law; and, in reference to this part of our danger, Christ came to save as a prince or judge, publishing an act of indemnity, or general pardon, under certain provisos; this saving here is opposed to condemning,

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

It was the last miracle that passed through the hand of Moses before his death. Now in this type of Christ we may observe, First, The deadly and destructive nature of sin, which is implied here. The guilt of sin is like the pain of the biting of a fiery serpent; the power of corruption is like the venom diffused thereby.

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

As Moses lifted up - He shows the reason why he descended from heaven, that he might be lifted up, i.e. crucified, for the salvation of man. kind, and be, by the appointment of God, as certain a remedy for sinful souls as the brazen serpent elevated on a pole, Num 21:9, was for the bodies of the Israelites, which had been bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness. It does not appear to me that the brazen serpent was ever intended to be considered as a type of Christ.

J.C. Ryle

1816–1900

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)

Voices on this verse

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Hebraic traditional view

Nicodemus, and why “born again” baffled a teacher of Israel

Nicodemus is “a man of the Pharisees... a ruler of the Jews”: a member of the Sanhedrin, the seventy-one-member high council that governed Jewish religious life from Jerusalem. His night visit is respectful and searching, and he is the standing proof that the Pharisaic movement contained honest seekers; John follows his arc from this conversation to his protest on Jesus' behalf (John 7:50-52) and finally to the seventy-five pounds of burial spices (John 19:39).

Why does “ye must be born again” baffle “the teacher of Israel”? The tradition had rebirth language of its own, but for GENTILES: a convert to Judaism “has the legal status of a newborn child,” as the Talmud words the principle (Yevamot 22a). Rebirth was intelligible for an outsider entering Israel. Jesus applies it to a son of Abraham, a Pharisee, a member of the council: even Israel's teacher must be born of water and the Spirit, words that stand on Ezekiel 36:25-27's promise of clean water and a new spirit. The tradition's convert-rebirth is reception history; what Jesus claims from it is the verse's own Christian confession, new birth from above for everyone.

Sources: Yevamot 22a (Babylonian Talmud: the convert as a newborn)

Original language & word study

16 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
καὶ	kai	And	G2532 →
καθὼς	kathōs	even as	G2531 →
Μωϋσῆς	Mōusēs	Moses	G3475 →
ὕψωσεν	hupsōsen	lifted up	G5312 →
τὸν	ton	the	G3588 →
ὄφιν	ophin	serpent	G3789 →
ἐν	en	in	G1722 →
τῇ	tēa	the	G3588 →
ἐρήμῳ,	erēmō	wilderness,	G2048 →
οὕτως	houtōs	thus	G3779 →
ὑψωθῆναι	hupsōthēnai	to be lifted up	G5312 →
δεῖ	dei	it behooves	G1163 →
τὸν	ton	the	G3588 →
υἱὸν	huion	Son	G5207 →
τοῦ	tou	<the>	G3588 →
ἀνθρώπου,	anthrōpou	of Man,	G444 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk5

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
John 8:28
So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own, but speak exactly what the Father…
leads to
- John 5:19
  So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.
- John 5:30
  I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
- John 6:38
  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
- John 12:49–50
  I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15–16
  who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,

Featured studies on this passage

On John 3:14

The Bronze Serpent

Christ's own chosen picture of his death. A four-moment story across 1,400 years: sin and plague, command and cure, idolatry and smashing, crucifixion and fulfillment.

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