The idea of some, that the verse may be applied to the lifting up or exalting of Christ by ministers in their preaching, is utterly baseless, and a mere play upon words. That the preaching of Christ will always do good, more or less, and draw souls to Christ by God's blessing, is no doubt true. But it is not the / doctrine of this text, and ought to be dismissed as an unfair accommodation of Scriptural language.
Euthymius observes that the mission of Christ began to draw souls at once, as in the case of the penitent thief and the cen- turion.
S3. — [This he said. ..what death.. .die.'] This explanatory comment of St. John on our Lord's words is evidently intended to make His meaning plain. He spoke of " being lifted up " with a spe- cial reference to His being lifted up on the cross. — Of course it is just possible that the reference is to the drawing all men, and that it means, " He spoke of drawing all men, with a reference to His death being a sacrificial and atoning death, which would affect the position of all men." But I doubt this being so cor- rect a view as the other.
" He should die," is literally, He was " about to die."
It is curious that, in the face of this verse, some, as Bucerand Diodati, maintain that our Lord by " being lifted up," refers to His exaltation into heaven after His resurrection. They think that then, and not till then, could He be said to " draw " men. I cannot see anything in this. Our Lord appears to me to teach plainly, that after His crucifixion, and through the virtue of His crucifixion, He would draw men. That "lifting up " means cru- cifixion is, in my judgment, plainly taught by John iii. 15.