John 3:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

By this He teaches them, first, that the ancient events correspond to the new, and that the former are not alien to the latter.

Second, He teaches that He went to His Passion not against His will.

Moreover, He teaches that He Himself suffered no harm from it, and that salvation was granted to many through it.

Indeed, lest anyone say, "How can those who believe in the Crucified be saved, when He Himself was held by death?" He leads us to the ancient history.

If the Jews were saved from death by looking upon the bronze image of a serpent, then believers in the Crucified can certainly receive a still greater benefit.

The Crucifixion took place neither because of the weakness of the Crucified nor because the Jews triumphed over Him.

It took place because "God so loved the world" (Jn 3:16).

The image of the serpent, brothers, served as a type of the divine economy of the Cross.

Just as that image of a serpent had the form and likeness of a serpent, but did not have the serpent's poison and malice, so also the Savior appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh.

According to the divine Apostle, He was a stranger to every sin.

Blessed Isaiah, in agreement with blessed Peter, says of this: "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth" (1 Pet 2:22; Is 53:9).

In Isaiah's words one image has been indicated for you. Let us pass to another image.

See how the truth shines through the images.

Serpents were biting the sons of Israel, and the people were exposed to destruction.

Moses entreats God to give a saving remedy. God points out to His servant the beneficent remedy, saying: "Make for yourself a bronze serpent" and set it before the tabernacle of witness (Num 21:8).

What does this sign mean? Some serpents bite, and another is nailed to the Cross for them?

What does this riddle mean? What does this shadow of the mystery indicate?

Just as there, in the type, although other serpents were biting, a serpent was nailed to the Cross that neither bit nor struck, so here also, although other men sin, the sinless Jesus must suffer for all.

For the serpents that bite, an innocent serpent is crucified. For us who are subject to death, He who is not subject to death is nailed.

Isaiah, together with others, beautifully foretold this when he said: "For the sins of the people He came to death."

And again: "The Lord laid on Him the sins of us all. He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors" (Is 53:12, 6).

Let us repeat again the meaning of the mystery.

As there some serpents bite and another is hung on the Cross, so here all have sinned, and One is crucified for all.

Here is the second image for you. Look also at the third.

"By the word of two witnesses, or by the word of three witnesses, every matter shall be established" (Deut 19:15).

Why is the bronze serpent hung on the Cross? In order to render the bites of the serpents harmless.

Thus one thing is crucified, and another is deprived of its effect.

Do you not discern the radiance of the truth? Do you not glimpse, as through a veil, the power of the divine economy?

The serpent was nailed to the Cross so that the bites of the serpents might become powerless.

Christ was nailed to the Cross so that the actions of the demons might be abolished.

One serpent is set up, and the other serpents are deprived of power.

One, Christ, is nailed to the Cross, and the others, the demons, are abolished.

As there the image of a visible serpent rendered the bites of serpents harmless, so here the death of Christ was the death of death and the abolition of demons.

This is why the Savior rightly applies this image to Himself.

The Savior knew that the Cross is the salvation of men, and that His being raised upon the wood would catch the whole world.

Therefore He says: "If I am lifted up," that is, "if I am crucified on the Cross," "I will draw all men to Myself" (Jn 12:32).

Pay attention, I ask you.

"I will be lifted up." What is this? If He Himself does not explain this saying, I cannot establish its meaning.

The Savior says to Nicodemus: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

What, then, does this riddle mean?

Once in the wilderness the Jewish people murmured about manna.

Having trampled on this food given from heaven, they desired the Egyptian table and said, "We remember the pots of meat that we ate in Egypt" (Ex 16:3).

The Egyptian pots were preferred to the heavenly manna.

What then did God do?

Since the heavenly bread had been rejected, He sent deadly serpents upon the people.

The serpents bit them, and they died.

No other beast was sent, neither lion nor bear, but serpents.

Since in the beginning God had said to the serpent, "You shall eat dust all the days of your life" (Gen 3:14), He sent this beast against those who ate manna and murmured.

It ate and did not murmur.

He sent the venomous serpent, and its bite was followed by death.

They entreat Moses. Moses entreats God. God promises healing for the wounds.

He could have driven away the serpents by a word, but He leaves this calamity and gives healing.

"Make a bronze serpent, and fasten it upon a tree at the doors of the tabernacle of witness.

"Announce it to the sons of Israel and say, 'If anyone is bitten by a serpent, let him come and turn toward this serpent fastened on the tree, and, believing, he shall live'" (Num 21:8).

Could He not have driven away the serpents? Could He not have destroyed them? Could He not have healed by a word?

The word of God could make water gush from the rock, yet the rock did not obey before it saw the sign of the Cross.

So here also: it could have driven away the serpents, but the serpents were not subdued before they saw the image of the Cross, which destroyed the sting of the demons.

Why, then, did He make the serpent an image of the Savior?

What likeness is there between the image and the serpent?

Keep this in mind. When you have to deal with Jews or with certain enemies who begin from Scripture and rise up against Scripture, attend carefully.

They dispute that you receive salvation and blessing from the One crucified on the Cross, since it is written: "Cursed before God is everyone who hangs on a tree" (Deut 21:23).

If a Jew, or another enemy of the Church, snatches a saying from Scripture and arms himself against Scripture, he may say this.

"How do you expect blessing from the Lord crucified on the Cross, when Moses clearly writes that everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed?"

Say to him: "If you read Scripture, understand it.

"Reading is not what is required, but understanding, as Philip says to the eunuch, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'

"And he wisely replies, 'How can I, lord, unless someone guides me?'" (Acts 8:30-31).

If he says, "How do you expect blessing from the One crucified on the Cross, when it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'?" say to him this.

"How did the sons of Israel receive blessing in the wilderness from a serpent, when God said in the beginning, 'Cursed are you before all the cattle of the earth'" (Gen 3:14)?

The serpent is cursed, and everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed.

Do not stop at the arrangement of the words, but note the difference.

The Savior was going to take upon Himself the curse lying upon the world.

The first curse was: "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return" (Gen 3:19).

Therefore He took this sentence upon Himself.

As the Apostle says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us" (Gal 3:13).

And beforehand He uses the image of the serpent, precisely the serpent.

As that bronze serpent had the form and image of a serpent, but did not have the serpent's poison and wickedness, so the Savior appears in the flesh under the form of sin.

This flesh was sinful before Him.

He takes sinful flesh, and, without Himself sinning, He took the sin of the world.

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29).

So also the Savior received flesh having the form and true nature of flesh, but not having the sin of the flesh.

"He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth" (Is 53:9).

What poison is in a serpent, deceit is in man.

Scripture says of the wicked: "The poison of asps is under their lips, and their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness" (Rom 3:13-14; Ps 9:28).

And again: "With their tongue they deceive" (Ps 5:10).

As I repeat again, that serpent had the form and image of a serpent, but did not have poison and wickedness.

So also in the Savior's body there was the human form, but there was no human wickedness.

Here is another comparison.

There some serpents bite, while another suffers for them, because one of the biting serpents had to be taken and crucified on the Cross.

Those that bite are released, while the one that had sinned in nothing is crucified on the Cross.

That which had no share in the corruption or destruction of the other serpents endures being nailed to the wood, because it was an image of the Savior.

Amid the universal sinfulness of men, none of those who sinned is crucified for the sinful, but the Sinless One.

You have understood the explanation. Remember the Lord's words to Nicodemus.

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

Well said: suffering is considered abasement, but the Savior calls it exaltation.

The whole universe was exalted by the Cross. The whole universe, lying below, was set right by the divine economy of the Cross.

Therefore, "The Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength and girded. For He has established the world" (Ps 92:1).

He did not say, "He created." He created it the first time, and the second time He set it right.

"So must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish."

It is necessary to refer to a witness of this exaltation, to the prophet who clearly proclaims that God is exalted.

Hear blessed Isaiah preaching about this exaltation.

He preaches very clearly about the Passion in these words: "As a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent."

And again: "He took upon Himself our sins and bore our diseases," and, "For the sins of My people I came to death" (Is 53:4, 7-8).

Yet elsewhere he calls this Passion exaltation.

What does he say? "Sing to the Lord, praise His name." Proclaim His glory among the nations, "for He has done exalted things."

"Rejoice and be glad, you who dwell in Zion, for the Holy One of Israel has been exalted in your midst" (Is 12:5-6).

On the other hand, He teaches that if the Jews escaped death by looking at the bronze image of the serpent, much more shall we escape the death of the soul by looking upon the Crucified One and believing in Him.

Compare, if you will, the image with the truth. There was the likeness of a serpent, having the form of a serpent but having no venom. So also here the Lord is man, yet free from the venom of sin.

He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, that is, in the likeness of flesh subject to sin, though He Himself is not flesh of sin. Then those who looked escaped bodily death; we escape spiritual death.

Then the one hung up healed from the bites of serpents. Now Christ heals the wounds inflicted by the spiritual dragon.

When you hear, "must be lifted up," understand it as: must be hung up. For He was hung on high so that, having sanctified the earth by walking upon it, He might also sanctify the air.

Understand "to be lifted up" also as "to be glorified." For the Cross truly became the height and glory of Christ. In what He seemed to be condemned, by that He condemned the ruler of this world.

I will explain briefly. Adam died justly, because he sinned. The Lord did not die by a debt of justice, because He did not sin.

Before the Lord's crucifixion, death rightly held dominion over men. But since the Lord proved sinless, what could the devil find in Him that deserved death?

Since He was put to death unjustly, He conquered the one who killed Him. In this way He freed Adam also from the death justly brought upon him as one who had sinned.

There is another way to say it. Two things held dominion over the human race: pleasure and sorrow. The Lord passed through both and proved unconquered.

The tempter first approached Him on the mountain with the offer of pleasure (Mt 4:3, 6, 9). Finding Him unconquerable through this, he used great cunning and brought sorrow upon Him, hoping at least through sorrow to master Him.

For this purpose he stirred up everything against Him: the disciples' denial, the soldiers' mockery, the blasphemy of those passing by, and death from the Jews. Yet even in this he found Him unconquered.

For the sorrow of the Cross could not arouse hatred in the Lord toward those crucifying Him. He continued to love them and prayed for them, saying, "Father, do not count this sin against them" (Lk 23:34).

Do you see how He conquered by the very thing through which He seemed to be conquered? Thus the Cross became both His exaltation and His glory.

Serpents began to attack the Israelites in the wilderness. They fell like ears of grain, terribly struck by the danger that had suddenly overtaken them. With sorrowful voices they called upon God for salvation from above.

Then God, being good and loving toward mankind, commands Moses to raise up for them a bronze serpent. In it He prefigures salvation through faith, since the medicine for the bitten man consisted in looking straight at the serpent.

Thus faith, joined with looking at the serpent, bestowed upon those who looked freedom from death. This is the historical meaning of the narrative (Num 21:6ff.).

But in this event, as in a type, the whole mystery of the Incarnation is also drawn. The serpent indicates tormenting and murderous sin, which oppressed all men on earth, biting the human soul in many ways and pouring in the varied venom of evil.

It was impossible for us to escape the sin that so ruled over us except through help from heaven alone. Therefore God the Word appeared "in the likeness of sinful flesh," in order to condemn "sin in the flesh," as it is written (Rom 8:3).

He also appeared in order to show Himself the Author of eternal salvation for those who direct their gaze toward Him, either by strong faith or by the investigation of divine dogmas.

If the serpent was fixed to a high pole, this undoubtedly indicates the universal glory of Christ, so that He would be unknown to no one. Or it indicates His being lifted up from the earth in the Passion on the Cross, as He Himself says in one place (Jn 12:32).

The mercy of God gave a remedy. This remedy, of course, brought immediate healing, but it also prefigured the Wisdom to come. God says to Moses: "Hang the bronze serpent on a tree in the midst of the wilderness, and say to the people: whoever has been bitten, let him look upon this serpent." And the people who had been bitten looked upon the serpent and were healed.

Such a sign bears witness to the Lord in the Gospel. For when He was conversing with Nicodemus, He said: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish. But have eternal life." This means that whoever has been bitten by the serpents of sins should look upon Christ and receive healing unto the remission of sins.

Therefore, brethren, the very mortality which the Lord received is also necessarily received by the Church, His Body, whose Head is in heaven. Thus the Church undergoes mortality, and this happened through the serpent's persuasion. We owe death to the transgression of the first man. Yet afterward we shall attain eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But when does man come to life and return to the kingdom? At the end of the age.

Thus He accepted death and endured death on the Cross. By this very death, mortals were freed from death. Then the Lord recalls what was done in a figure among the ancients: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life," Jn 3:14-15. A great mystery! Whoever has read it knows it.

Let those now hear who have not read it, and also those who perhaps have forgotten what they read or heard. In the wilderness the people of Israel were attacked by serpents. There was great destruction, the death of many. This was God's punishment, reproving and chastening that people so that they might be corrected.

A great mystery of what was to come was revealed there. The Lord Himself bears witness to this in this passage, so that no one can interpret it otherwise than as the Truth Himself speaks concerning Himself. For the Lord told Moses to make a bronze serpent, raise it on a pole in the wilderness, and direct the people of Israel that if anyone were bitten by a serpent, he should look at that serpent raised on the pole. This was done: people were bitten, looked upon the serpent, and recovered, cf. Num 21:6-9.

What did the biting serpents signify? They are the sins that come from the mortality of the body. And what does the serpent raised on the pole signify? It is the death of the Lord on the Cross. Since death came from the devil, it is depicted in the form of a serpent. The serpent's bite is deadly, but the death of the Lord is life-giving. They had to look upon the serpent so that the serpent could do nothing.

What does this mean? One must look upon death so that death can do nothing. But whose death? The death of life, if one may speak so. The death of life! Yes, that would be a wondrous saying, if one may speak so.

But may one not speak of what had to take place? Shall I not dare to say what the Lord deigned to accomplish for my sake? Is Christ not life? Yet Christ was crucified on the Cross. Is Christ not life? Yet Christ died. But in the death of Christ, death died. For Life, receiving death, trampled down death. The fullness of life swallowed up death. Death was dissolved in the body of Christ. So also shall we say at the resurrection, when we sing triumphantly: "O death, where is your power? O death, where is your sting?" 1 Cor 15:54.

Meanwhile, brethren, that we may be healed from sin, let us fix our eyes upon the crucified Christ. For He says: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life," Jn 3:14-15. As those who fixed their gaze upon that serpent did not perish from the bites of serpents, so those who fix their gaze with faith upon the death of Christ are healed from the bites of sins.

Those people were healed from death for temporal life. Here, however, He says: that they may have eternal life. In this lies the difference between the type and the reality. The type promised temporal life, but the reality to which that type referred promises eternal life.

The history of this serpent is as follows. Once in the wilderness, serpents were destroying the Israelites by their bites. Therefore God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it upon a tree, so that those who were bitten might look at it and remain alive (Num 21:8-9).

The bronze serpent served as a type of the firm body of Jesus Christ, inaccessible to sin. This serpent, having no venom, served as a type of Jesus Christ, Who has no venom of sin.

Raised upon a tree, it was a type of Him Who was raised upon the wood of the Cross. Giving life to those bitten by serpents who looked upon it, it was a type of Him Who grants eternal life to those bitten by spiritual serpents and looking to Him with faith.

Because of this likeness the Evangelist said, "Moses lifted up the serpent," and so forth. Then he indicates the reason for this lifting up.

As Moses lifted up the serpent so that those who looked upon it might preserve their life, so Jesus Christ was lifted up so that those who look upon Him, that is, those who believe, may have eternal life.

There it was a serpent, because serpents had bitten. Here it is a man, because men had been bitten.

Since there the harm came from serpents, through a serpent came healing. Here, since death entered the world through man, through man also comes life, and through a dead man comes the death of that which brings death.

By the words, "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life," he clearly showed that He Whose death gives eternal life to others is undoubtedly God. He dies as man and gives life as God.

He also showed that the One Who does not permit others to perish can Himself never perish. Therefore the Cross is the source of eternal life.

This, however, reason does not easily accept. But faith accepts it, strengthening the weakness of reason. Hence the benefit of faith is evident.

As I have already said, through this He proclaimed the mystery by which He declared that He would destroy the power of the serpent, who caused the transgression through Adam.

He also proclaimed salvation for those who believe in Him Who, through this sign, that is, through the Cross, was to be put to death on the Cross because of serpent bites. These bites are evil deeds, idolatries, and other transgressions.

God commanded that a sign be given in this way through the bronze serpent. It is without guilt, although in the image there lies a curse upon men crucified on a cross.

But upon Christ God there no longer lies a curse. Through Him He saves all who have done things worthy of a curse.

In His being lifted up on the Cross, He healed those bitten by serpents. Therefore it is no wonder that the Redeemer of the human race clothed Himself not in sinful flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh.

In that flesh He endured death on the Cross and freed those who believe in Him from every sin and from death itself.

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so," He says, "must the Son of Man be lifted up." Those who looked at the bronze serpent, raised as a sign of Christ's Passion, were for a time freed from temporal death and from destruction caused by serpent bites.

So those who contemplate the mystery of the Lord's Passion with faith, confession, and a sincere desire to be conformed to Christ are healed forever from the death which, because of sins, they bear equally in spirit and flesh.

For it was manifested in order to be raised, and it is raised in order to become manifest. What is raised? That which was recently hidden in the Place of the Skull and is now honored everywhere.

In its honor we celebrate today. For its sake we keep festival. Behold the foundation of the present feast. Behold the manifestation of the mystery.

For it was necessary that this hidden and life-establishing Tree be manifested on high, just as a city set on the top of a mountain, or a lamp placed on a lampstand, is visible.

That the words "be lifted up" here mean the lifting up of Jesus Christ on the Cross is clear from the comparison itself with the serpent lifted upon the tree. It is also clear from other places in John's Gospel where this word is used in precisely this sense.

A particularly clear passage is Jn 12:32. Christ says to the Jews: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself." The Evangelist himself notes: "This He said, signifying by what death He would die" (Jn 12:33; cf. Jn 8:28 and elsewhere).

Yet this does not exclude the idea of the Lord's Ascension into heaven. Through the lifting up on the Cross, the Ascension into heaven became both possible and necessary. The first was both the foundation and condition of the second, and the second was the necessary consequence of the first.

"But why did He not say directly, 'I shall be crucified,' but refer His hearers to the ancient type? By this He teaches them, first, that the events of old have a relation to the new, and that those are not alien to these. Second, He teaches that He went to His Passion not against His own will. Besides this, He Himself suffered no harm from it, and through it salvation was granted to many. Indeed, lest someone say, 'How can those who believe in the Crucified One be saved, when He Himself was held by death?' He leads us to the ancient history. For if the Jews were saved from death by looking at the bronze image of the serpent, then certainly those who believe in the Crucified One can receive a still greater benefaction. The Crucifixion took place not because of the weakness of the Crucified One, nor because the Jews triumphed over Him, but because God loved the world" (Chrysostom).

When the image is explained by the event, it is perfectly clear. Christ had to suffer and die on the Cross according to the Scriptures (Lk 24:25-27; Mt 27:39-44; 1 Cor 15:3), and He did suffer and die.

"The correspondence between the type and the truth" is as follows. "There the Jews are saved only from temporary death; here believers are saved from eternal death. There the suspended serpent heals from the bites of serpents; here the crucified Jesus heals from the bites of the spiritual serpent. There the one looking with bodily eyes receives healing; here the one looking with the eyes of the soul is freed from all sins. There bronze is hung up, representing the likeness of a serpent; here is the body of the Master, fashioned by the Spirit. There a serpent bit, and a serpent healed. So also here: death destroyed, and death saved. But the serpent that destroyed had venom, while the one that saved had no venom. So again here: the death that destroyed had sin, as the serpent had venom. But the Master's death was free from every sin, as the bronze serpent was free from venom" (Chrysostom).

But first, this would not lead the Pharisee Nicodemus out of his mistaken opinion about the Messiah as a glorious earthly king. It would confirm him in error.

Second, verse 16 clearly speaks of God's love for the world, which gave the Son of God over to death for the salvation of men.

Third, even the Jews understood such sayings of the Savior in no other way than as referring to His death, without excluding the thought of its saving fruits (Jn 12:32, 34).

Fourth, the Evangelist himself explains his own words in the same way in other places (Jn 12:33; Jn 8:28).

Why, then, do people fall? From the weakening of faith. When Christian convictions weaken, moral energy also weakens.

As this weakening proceeds, grace is driven out of the heart, while evil impulses lift up their head. At a convenient hour one inclines toward these latter things, and this is the fall.

Be watchful, then, and guard faith in its whole composition, and you will not fall. In this sense St. John says that one born of God does not commit sin.