Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NKJV)

What is the Overview of interpretations?

1)      Expand: These verses apply to Everyone or Anyone

a.       Moses lifted Serpent for all to see; Son of Man lifted for all to see.

b.      That God loved everyone so much that He gave His Son for everyone

c.       Death means something more than physical expiration (ie: punishment) but less than eternal damnation.

d.      Everyone will in the end be saved, but some will be punished by “death” and those who believe will not suffer  “death” but be rewarded with life

e.       Therefore choose to believe now instead of post-punishment belief

==Or==

a.        Moses lifts Serpent for any to see; Son of Man is lifted for any to see

b.      That God loved everyone so much that He gave His Son for anyone

c.       Death means eternal damnation

d.      Anyone who chooses to continually believe will have eternal life

e.       Therefore Choose to continually Believe

2)      Restrict: These verses are restricted to only a certain group

a.       Moses lifted Serpent only for Israel; Son of Man lifted only for Israel

b.      God’s love restricted only for Israelites

==Or==

a.       Moses lifted the Serpent only for a select group of people

                                                  i.      Christ was lifted up only for a select group of people

b.      God’s love restricted only for a select group of people

In both cases

c.       Death is a mark of being outside of that select group of people

d.      Everyone of the select group of people will be saved.

e.       Therefore Only the True “Israelites” or “Select People” will believe

3)      Flattening: These verses illustrate a truth—not an appeal to a truth

a.       Moses lifting the Serpent illustrates the Son of Man’s lifting up

b.      Death is an illustration of eternal damnation

c.       Christ illustrates a fact: whoever does X (believes) shall receive Y (eternal life) with no explanation of how that belief comes about.

d.      Therefore nothing. This is a fact.

Therefore the normal reading of the verse draws key information from the following parts of the verses (1) The Son of Man lifted up, (2) God so loved the world, (3) Death, (4) Belief and Eternal Life

What is the Analysis of the Focal Points
A play by play of exegesis would bloat this post so I’ll hone in on those points mentioned in the previous paragraph. Since point 2 (God so loved the world) might be dependant on what the other statements mean, I will save that to last.

The Son of Man Lifted Up

1)      Seems to read as a metaphor: Christ is lifted up like Moses

2)      Verse 14 focuses first on Moses actively lifting the serpent then on Christ passively being lifted. By swapping it and highlighting the way the lifting up is being done (again, active vs. passive) we must wonder about the author’s intent

3)      Verse 15 culminates in “eternal life” via belief and verse 16 culminates in “eternal life” via belief. Verse 15 is still part of the original thought of Verse 14 yet in verse 16 we have God actively giving the Son with no mention of the Son’s activity at that giving indicating multiple comparisons.

4)      Multiple comparisons with a metaphor is more the language of analogy

5)      As an analogy, Jesus is comparing two separate events by having the listener (Reader or Nicodemus) look at the analogy details. Why use an analogy: the original question stands (outside the scope of the post but have to refer to it: How can a man be born again so as to enter the kingdom of God—how can these things be?) therefore a problem solving method is offered. Moses actively lifted the Serpent as God actively gave the Son. The Serpent didn’t lift itself just as the Son didn’t lift Himself.

Death

1)      The death statement resides in part B of a probable analogy. If it is an analogy there should be a “death” statement in part A

2)      Moses lifted the Serpent in the Wilderness alone does not have a death statement

3)      Therefore either Moses lifting the Serpent in the Wilderness isn’t an analogy or Jesus is asking the “listening” party to provide the missing parts of the analogy (Numbers 21:4-8)

a.       The people all sinned

b.      God sent poisonous snakes to bite the people

c.       Many died

d.      The people needed salvation from death

e.       Some of the people asked for intervention.

f.       God had Moses build a Bronze Serpent that anyone who was bitten and looked could live

g.      Moses lifted the Serpent in the Wilderness

h.      Those who looked, lived; presumably those who didn’t look died.

4)      Jesus’ reference contains a death statement that reinforces the analogy. Death in Part A of the analogy was a physical death from poison coursing through the veins. Death in Part B of the analogy is also a death that is coming upon those who need a cure.

Belief and Eternal Life

1)      Seeing that there are multiple points of convergence within the analogous statement we would look for the same regarding “belief and eternal life”.

2)      In the Serpent situation there was no mention of belief only of people asking for intervention and looking after they were bit

3)      In the Serpent situation there was no mention of eternal life only people living after looking at the Serpent

4)      Since the Serpent appears to be pivotal in this situation (as the Son of Man is in the later argument) it can not refer to the people requesting intervention.

5)      Therefore the analogy is expansive in Part B (as many analogies are).

a.       Savior Moses lifted a bronze item as the Savior God actively gave the Son of man to be lifted up. The passive Serpent was lifted up like the Living Son of Man is passive in his being given. Death came to those in the wilderness from death in their veins just as death is coming for all those who have death coursing in their veins. The ones who looked on the Serpent lived, the ones who believe on the Son lived eternally. The ones who looked on the Serpent trusted that God’s provision was what would ensure life and the ones who believe are the ones who trust that God’s provision would ensure eternal life.

6)      Therefore belief in the Son resulting in eternal life is being compared to seeing the serpent as the only hope resulting in physical life. Therefore some people will definitely live eternally and others will die. Some will rely on the Son and others will not—there is no mention here of how they will rely although in the Moses situation it seems to imply that people could rely on the serpent simply by turning and looking.

God so loved the World

1)      The original reads “In this manner God loved the world”. We’ve already established that this is all occurring in the framework of an analogy so then “God so loved the world” or “In this manner God loved the world” still fits within the comparison.

How does this view compare with the others?

1)      For the sake of categorization I’ll call this the Literary view simply because of focus on a literary model (the analogy).

a.       Just as Moses did this with the Serpent in this situation resulting in life and not death for those who looked; so God did with His Son in this situation resulting in eternal life and not death for those who believe

b.      In this way God loved the world introduces a continuation of the analogy and not a statement of the expanse of God’s love.

c.       Death is likened to that in Numbers (so that means at least physical) but is being used as a foil to the greatness of “eternal life” 

Although I think all the views properly touch on some of the correct data, I do not think that they are completely sound. And in each case, the appeal (or lack of appeal) be it to everyone, a community or no-one doesn’t seem to follow from the discussion in John 3 and seems to draw for information outside of the thought-flow of that chapter.The Flattening view is correct in that those who have X have Y but have an odd position when they see no higher purpose for the transmission of the information (to Nicodemus and to ourselves) than stating a fact of how things work. If so, why bother using an analogy? The Restricting view also has to ask itself why the author decided to include this extremely restrictive discussion in his overall presentation of “that you may believe” without a modifier like “Israelites” or “of the Church” The Expanded View also faces some difficulties when it looks at the complexities of the discussion.  

Just as Moses actively lifted the Serpent in the desert so then the Son of Man must be lifted up in order that any person that relies in Him will have eternal life. Because this is the way God loved the world; He actively gave the only begotten Son that any person that relies on Him will not die but have eternal life.

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