John 12:32

12:27-33 The sin of our souls was the troubled of Christ's soul, when he undertook to redeem and save us, and to make his soul an offering for our sin. Christ was willing to suffer, yet prayed to be saved from suffering. Prayer against trouble may well agree with patience under it, and submission to the will of God in it. Our Lord Jesus undertook to satisfy God's injured honour, and he did it by humbling himself. The voice of the Father from heaven, which had declared him to be his beloved Son, at his baptism, and when he was transfigured, was heard proclaiming that He had both glorified his name, and would glorify it. Christ, reconciling the world to God by the merit of his death, broke the power of death, and cast out Satan as a destroyer. Christ, bringing the world to God by the doctrine of his cross, broke the power of sin, and cast out Satan as a deceiver. The soul that was at a distance from Christ, is brought to love him and trust him. Jesus was now going to heaven, and he would draw men's hearts to him thither. There is power in the death of Christ to draw souls to him. We have heard from the gospel that which exalts free grace, and we have heard also that which enjoins duty; we must from the heart embrace both, and not separate them.

John 12:32 . ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς is explained as indicating or hinting, σημαίνων , “by what death He was to die,” i.e. , that He was to be raised on the cross. Cf. John 3:14 . It was the cross which was to become His throne and by which He was to draw men to Him as His subjects. In ὑψωθῶ therefore, although the direct reference is to His elevation on the cross, there is a sub-suggestion of being elevated to a throne. “ σημαίνειν notat aliquid futurum vaticinando cum ambiguitate quadam atque obscuritate innuere.” Kypke. So Plutarch says of the Oracle, οὔτε λέγει οὔτε κρύπτει ἀλλὰ σημαίνει .

Be lifted up (ὑψωθῶ) See on John 3:14. The primary reference is to the cross, but there is included a reference to the resurrection and ascension. Bengel says: "In the very cross there was already something tending towards glory." Wyc., enhanced. From the earth (ἐκ τῆς γῆς) Literally, out of the earth. Will draw (ἑλκύσω) See on John 6:44. All men (πάντας) Some high authorities read πάντα, all things. Unto Me (πρὸς ἐμαυτόν) Rev., rightly, unto myself: in contrast with the prince of this world.

And I, if I be {e} lifted up from the earth, will draw {f} all men unto me. (e) Christ used a word which has a double meaning, for it signifies either to lift up or to get out of the way: for he intended them to think of his death, but the Jews seemed to take it another way. (f) Chrysostom and Theophylact say that this word all refers to all nations: that is, not only to the Jews.

32. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me—The "I" here is emphatic—I, taking the place of the world's ejected prince. "If lifted up," means not only after that I have been lifted up, but, through the virtue of that uplifting. And truly, the death of the Cross, in all its significance, revealed in the light, and borne in upon the heart, by the power of the Holy Ghost, possesses an attraction over the wide world—to civilized and savage, learned and illiterate, alike—which breaks down all opposition, assimilates all to itself, and forms out of the most heterogeneous and discordant materials a kingdom of surpassing glory, whose uniting principle is adoring subjection "to Him that loved them." "Will draw all men 'UNTO ME,'" says He. What lips could venture to utter such a word but His, which "dropt as an honeycomb," whose manner of speaking was evermore in the same spirit of conscious equality with the Father?

Ver. 32,33. However this term of lifting up Christ is taken in some other scriptures, it is by the evangelist himself in this text expounded concerning his death, so as there is no room for any other interpretation of it in this text. The word that is used, is hardly to be found in any place (except where in Scripture it relates to Christ) signifying to die, or put to death; but is very proper, both to express the kind of his death, which was a lifting up upon the cross, from the earth into the air; and to let us know that his death was a lifting up of his name: as it was the lowest degree of his humiliation, so it was nearest to his exaltation. It was his highest act of obedience to the will of his Father, that for which his Father highly exalted him, giving him a name which is above every name, Philippians 2:9 ; and also that which made his name famous over all the world, by the preaching of the gospel; for as the apostles, so all the ministers of the gospel since their times, preach a Christ crucified. Saith our Saviour, If, or although, I be put to death by the hands of the Jews, lifted up upon the cross between heaven and earth, yet this shall not hinder my Father’s glorifying of himself in and by me; for instead of obscuring or hindering my Father’s glory, by this I shall further promote it.

For by the preaching of my cross, and publication of my gospel to all nations, and by the efficacious concurrence of my Holy Spirit, together with the preaching of the gospel, I shall draw (though not all, and every man, yet) multitudes of men and women after me, so as they shall embrace and believe in me, having died and risen up again from the dead, and being by my apostles, and other ministers of the gospel, held forth as the object of people’s faith, to be by them laid hold upon in order to their eternal life and salvation. He used the term of lifting up, (saith the evangelist), to signify the particular death he should die, by being crucified; in which death the bodies of the crucified abode not upon the earth, as when they were at any time stoned, or strangled, or beheaded, &c., but were lifted up from the earth to be nailed to the cross, and hung in the air until they died.

32 . And I ] ‘I’ is very emphatic in opposition to ‘the ruler of this world.’ The glorified Christ will rule men’s hearts in place of the devil. be lifted up ] Raised up to heaven by means of the Cross: we need not, as in John 3:14 and John 8:28 , confine the meaning to the Crucifixion, although the lifting up on the Cross may be specially indicated. The words ‘from the earth’ (literally, out of the earth ) seem to point to the Ascension; yet the Cross itself, apparently so repulsive, has through Christ’s Death become an attraction; and this may be the meaning here. For the hypothetical form ‘ if I be lifted up,’ comp. ‘ if I go,’ John 14:3 . In both cases Christ is concerned not with the time of the act, but with the consequences of it; hence He does not say ‘when,’ but ‘if.’ will draw ] There are two Greek words for ‘draw’ in the N.T., one of which necessarily implies violence , the other does not: it is the latter that is used here and in John 6:44 ; the former is used Acts 14:19 ; Acts 17:6 . Man’s will is free; he can refuse to be drawn: and there is no violence; the attraction is moral. We see from John 6:44 that before the ‘lifting up’ it is the Father who draws men to the Son. all men ] Not only the Jews represented by the Twelve, but the Gentiles represented by these Greeks. unto me ] Better, unto Myself , up from the earth.

John 12:32 . Κἀγώ ) and I , I truly. The antithesis is, the prince of this world .— ὑψυθῶ , I shall have been lifted up ) See John 12:33 , and ch. John 3:14 , “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.”— ἐκ τῆς γῆς ) from the earth . Comp. Acts 8:33 , “His life is taken from the earth .” In the very cross there was already something that tended towards glory.— πάντας , all ) even the Gentiles, John 12:20 [the Greeks, for instance, who applied to Philip, wishing to see Jesus], Satan shall not be able to retain them; and himself shall give way. Here the answer is given to the request mentioned at John 12:21 , “We would see Jesus.”— ἑλκύσω , I will draw ) from earth, upwards. By this word a power is indicated in opposition to the prince of the world, who shall no longer detain his captives.

(32) And I, if I be lifted up from the earth. —The pronoun is strongly emphatic. “And I ,” in opposition to the prince of this world; the conqueror in opposition to the vanquished foe. The conditional form, “If I be lifted up,” answers to the “troubled soul” of John 12:27 . He knows that it will be so, but He leaves the future to declare its own truths. Comp. the phrases, “If it be possible,” “If this may not pass away from Me” ( Matthew 26:39 ; Matthew 26:42 ), and Note on John 14:3 . The words “lifted up” have occurred before in John 3:14 ; John 8:28 ; but the context here shows that they include the thought of the ascension into heaven. It is from the heavenly throne that the Messiah will rule over His spiritual kingdom. Will draw all men unto me.—Better, . . . unto Myself. The words “all men” are not to be limited by interpretations which refer them to nations, or to elect persons within nations; but are to be taken in all the fulness of their width as meaning simply what they say—“all.” The drawing unto Himself is the assertion of His reign over the world, from which the prince of evil shall be cast out. He will Himself be the centre of the new kingdom, from which none shall be shut out. These Greeks who are drawn to Him now are the first-fruits of the harvest of which the whole world is the field, and of which the last day is to be the great ingathering. The word “draw” occurs once in the New Testament, besides this passage, in a moral sense (John 6:44; comp.

Note on it there). It is accomplished in the work of the Holy Spirit, whose mission to the Church was dependent on the ascension of our Lord (John 7:39; John 16:7); and the promise is fulfilled even in the case of those who resist the Holy Spirit’s influence. They are drawn by the moral power of the life and death and resurrection of Christ brought home to them by the Holy Ghost; but no moral power can compel a will which is free. (Comp. Note on John 6:37.) The whole mission-work of the Church and every effort which Christianity brings to bear upon the evil of the world implies this moral drawing; and implies, too, the power of man to reject it. But we may not say this moral power is not leading men to Christ, where we can least trace it, and we may not say that there is any limit where its influence ends. (Comp. Note on 1Peter 3:19.)

Be lifted up - See John 3:14 ; John 8:28 . Will draw - John 6:44. The same word is used in both places. All men - I will incline all kinds of men; or will make the way open by the cross, so that all men may come. I will provide a way which shall present a strong motive or inducement - the strongest that can be presented to all men to come to me.