John 3:14

3:14 Just as ¹  Moses lifted up the serpent ²  in the wilderness, ³  so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ⁴ 

John 12:32-34

12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people ⁵  to myself.” 12:33 (Now he said this to indicate clearly what kind of death he was going to die.) ⁶ 

12:34 Then the crowd responded, ⁷  “We have heard from the law that the Christ ⁸  will remain forever. ⁹  How ¹⁰  can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

John 19:18

19:18 There they ¹¹  crucified ¹²  him along with two others, ¹³  one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.

[3:14]  ¹ tn Grk “And just as.”

[3:14]  ² sn Or the snake, referring to the bronze serpent mentioned in Num 21:9.

[3:14]  ³ sn An allusion to Num 21:5-9.

[3:14]  ⁴ sn So must the Son of Man be lifted up. This is ultimately a prediction of Jesus’ crucifixion. Nicodemus could not have understood this, but John’s readers, the audience to whom the Gospel is addressed, certainly could have (compare the wording of John 12:32). In John, being lifted up refers to one continuous action of ascent, beginning with the cross but ending at the right hand of the Father. Step 1 is Jesus’ death; step 2 is his resurrection; and step 3 is the ascension back to heaven. It is the upward swing of the “pendulum” which began with the incarnation, the descent of the Word become flesh from heaven to earth (cf. Paul in Phil 2:5-11). See also the note on the title Son of Man in 1:51.

[12:32]  ⁵ tn Grk “all.” The word “people” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for stylistic reasons and for clarity (cf. KJV “all men”).

[12:33]  ⁶ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[12:34]  ⁷ tn Grk “Then the crowd answered him.”

[12:34]  ⁸ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[12:34]  ⁹ tn Probably an allusion to Ps 89:35-37. It is difficult to pinpoint the passage in the Mosaic law to which the crowd refers. The ones most often suggested are Ps 89:36-37, Ps 110:4, Isa 9:7, Ezek 37:25, and Dan 7:14. None of these passages are in the Pentateuch per se, but “law” could in common usage refer to the entire OT (compare Jesus’ use in John 10:34). Of the passages mentioned, Ps 89:36-37 is the most likely candidate. This verse speaks of David’s “seed” remaining forever. Later in the same psalm, v. 51 speaks of the “anointed” (Messiah), and the psalm was interpreted messianically in both the NT (Acts 13:22, Rev 1:5, 3:14) and in the rabbinic literature (Genesis Rabbah 97).

[12:34]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And how”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[19:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “where they.” This is a continuation of the previous verse in Greek, but contemporary English style tends toward shorter sentences. A literal translation would result in a lengthy and awkward English sentence.

[19:18]  ¹² sn See the note on Crucify in 19:6.

[19:18]  ¹³ tn Grk “and with him two others.”